Do not drive or operate machinery

The most fun part about being sick is that I’ve gotten more sleep in the past three days than I’ve had in the past three weeks combined. Who says you can’t catch up with your sleep, eh?

I went to see the doctor and he gave me pills for everything but the flu. Why? Because I only developed the flu half an hour after I left the clinic. Boo.

It’s not fun feeling like your ribcage is about to explode every time you sneeze or cough. It’s probably bruised on the inside by now. I had to make sure my body is in a natural posture every time I feel one coming. I’ve given myself whiplash before, sneezing in the wrong position. The last thing I needed was something else to feel miserable about.

Otherwise, I woke up feeling much better today and found that my body has resumed normal operations. I just need to stretch out a lot of sore muscles.

If you hate sucking on scores of lozenges, my friend Marita once shared with me this more natural remedy:

Lemon
Honey
Water

Andrea passed on Jamie Oliver’s tip of squeezing lemon without putting too much muscle into it. Cut lemons in half, stab innards and twist with fork (you might want to just stabstabstab at first, especially if all your muscle is being used to hold yourself upright at the kitchen counter).

Mix juice in bottle with water and honey to taste. Marita recommends keeping the lemon as undiluted as you can stand it to maximize the antiseptic properties. In addition to being soothing on the throat, honey also has antibacterial properties that should help keep germies at bay.

Sip when necessary.

Given that honey and lemon has much beneficial properties, this should be something we can all sip on everyday, but we need something to look forward to when we’re sick and miserable and hacking a lung up.

Christmas Day 2006

I wanted to post earlier today saying that Christmas or not, it’s business as usual on the finish-damn-article front. Yes, it’s a press holiday, but deadlines don’t go away.

Unfortunately, I’ve been feeling a little under the weather since last night. This afternoon, it exploded into a slight fever and cough. I took a strong Panadol and slept fitfully after my Heroes marathon.

Apart from the pesky cough, I’m ok now. Fever broke, time has been wasted and articles are not going to write themselves.

I know that a lot of people were/are sick this week, so yeah. SUCKS DOESN’T IT?

Merry Christmas.

Tales of the East

In one of my upcoming book columns, you’ll get a proper review of ‘Across the Nightingale Floor‘. Right now, I must squee.

Ok, stories about the East? My standard reaction is *yawn*. I have very little interest in anime and manga, and even less respect for the slews of wannabes the earth spewed out when J-everything became the in thing. You can blame my revulsion of animes on the badly-dubbed crap on TV that was the only thing for kids in the 80′s and early 90′s.

Do not take the above paragraph as an invitation to tell me all about the cool omg-you-must-watch-this animes that are in the market these days. I’ve learned all I needed to know from encounters with previous anime-niacs. NOT LISTENING ANYMORE LALALALALA

The sudden outpouring of WOE IS ME I WAS A GIRL OPPRESSED IN CHINA books (that followed their earlier counterparts from the Middle East because good lord there’s a market for this type of books) didn’t help things along. The first few were ok but you’ve got to be a real masochist to go through the entire lot.

Anyway, the Otori novels take place in a feudal period of a fantasy Japan-like country. The customs, language, architecture, samurai, ninjas and names are distinctively Japanese. But, y’know, never mind that. You can create the most amazing backdrops for your world, but if your writing sucks, none of the fancy stuff will save you.

Can this author write? Hell, yeah. This series is on my list of “get own copy” (since the ones I’m reading are borrowed).

I saw these books in our local book stores earlier this year. It catches the eye because it’s a much smaller size compared to standard paperbacks. It’s described as a trilogy, but each “book” comes in two separate volumes or episodes.

Last night, Andrea remarked that it’s very difficult to get me books as a present anymore because ever since Book Castle came along, there is no telling what I already have. My collection is growing faster than I can read or catalog it! But of course, if anyone feels the urge to get me something, I won’t object to book vouchers. :D

Next Page »