You can take every precaution in the world, but no matter how well planned or prepared you may think you are, a head cold or some new strain of the flu will eventually track you down and smack you to the ground like a bad playground bully. Turns out that my health scare was just the flu, I say 'just the flu' very flippantly, but the alternative to that was far worse, so I am sticking to 'just the flu.'
Of course, 'just the flu' has come with a plethora of discomfort and side effects that have today forced me to hide away from the world, not just for my benefit but also for everyone else's as well. Body aches, headaches, chest pains, severe joint pain, nausea, dizziness, a persistent dry hacking cough and the all so lovely night sweats have all made an appearance over the past five days and I have been left feeling drained, impatient, over-tired and frayed around the edges in ways that I have not felt for a very long time, and do not wish to feel again in a very long time.
It is always the last couple of weeks of the Winter school term that really brings the 'shove over' for me every year. In fact, according to my journal entries, every year for the last 8 years in a row I have had some kind of head cold or flu in the month of June. Thankfully, none of them have required anything more than a couple of days of rest, but still it would appear that 'tis the season for me to feel gross, wear out and generally feel like a slice of shit toast every year.
In light of that, perhaps in the future June would be a fortuitous time for me to take a trip each year to Bahamas in order to escape the dark recesses of Winter and the dreaded lurgy that hunts me down and pounces on me at the same time every year. However, I doubt that my employer would share my enthusiasm for an annual winter retreat, so that idea will probably need to wait until I am retired.
I swear that bears have the right idea when it comes to seasonal self adjustment though. Gorge yourself stupid on all of the deliciousness of an Autumnal harvest, find a comfy place to hide and sleep out the dead of Winter and then pop back into the world when the Spring blooms are just peaking their heads out of the soil. Sounds terrific to me!
I have always found the human need to maintain the status quo during the winter months both ridiculous and counter productive, because let's be honest we all need more rest in the winter time. It's darker, colder and completely uninviting outdoors most of the time. You just want to eat way too much comfort food for your trousers to manage! And getting out of bed in the mornings is often an impossible and monumentally unpleasant task. The writing is on the wall isn't it really? Let's make the months of June, July and August four day working weeks. Everyone gets an extra day off a week to be like a bear and roll about in bed, binge on Netflix and eat stoggy goodies! Hooray, Winter woes solved! Everyone gets more rest time, less cold exposure and a day to play every week. I think that I would actually look forward to Winter a lot more if that was going to happen every year.
And I honestly believe that my brilliant idea would mean that less people would get really sick as well. I mean you would have less exposure to other people and therefore less exposure to other people's germs, you would also be more rested and better fed therefore making you generally more resilient as well and you would be feeling a lot more job satisfaction because the work to life ratio would be more agreeable. We really do need to take a leaf out of the books of the hibernating and migrating creatures of the world because the animals clearly have their shit sorted out a lot better than we do. I'm pretty sure bears don't have to ring in sick or contend with hacking coughs all night during the winter do they?
Of course, 'just the flu' has come with a plethora of discomfort and side effects that have today forced me to hide away from the world, not just for my benefit but also for everyone else's as well. Body aches, headaches, chest pains, severe joint pain, nausea, dizziness, a persistent dry hacking cough and the all so lovely night sweats have all made an appearance over the past five days and I have been left feeling drained, impatient, over-tired and frayed around the edges in ways that I have not felt for a very long time, and do not wish to feel again in a very long time.
It is always the last couple of weeks of the Winter school term that really brings the 'shove over' for me every year. In fact, according to my journal entries, every year for the last 8 years in a row I have had some kind of head cold or flu in the month of June. Thankfully, none of them have required anything more than a couple of days of rest, but still it would appear that 'tis the season for me to feel gross, wear out and generally feel like a slice of shit toast every year.
In light of that, perhaps in the future June would be a fortuitous time for me to take a trip each year to Bahamas in order to escape the dark recesses of Winter and the dreaded lurgy that hunts me down and pounces on me at the same time every year. However, I doubt that my employer would share my enthusiasm for an annual winter retreat, so that idea will probably need to wait until I am retired.
I swear that bears have the right idea when it comes to seasonal self adjustment though. Gorge yourself stupid on all of the deliciousness of an Autumnal harvest, find a comfy place to hide and sleep out the dead of Winter and then pop back into the world when the Spring blooms are just peaking their heads out of the soil. Sounds terrific to me!
I have always found the human need to maintain the status quo during the winter months both ridiculous and counter productive, because let's be honest we all need more rest in the winter time. It's darker, colder and completely uninviting outdoors most of the time. You just want to eat way too much comfort food for your trousers to manage! And getting out of bed in the mornings is often an impossible and monumentally unpleasant task. The writing is on the wall isn't it really? Let's make the months of June, July and August four day working weeks. Everyone gets an extra day off a week to be like a bear and roll about in bed, binge on Netflix and eat stoggy goodies! Hooray, Winter woes solved! Everyone gets more rest time, less cold exposure and a day to play every week. I think that I would actually look forward to Winter a lot more if that was going to happen every year.
And I honestly believe that my brilliant idea would mean that less people would get really sick as well. I mean you would have less exposure to other people and therefore less exposure to other people's germs, you would also be more rested and better fed therefore making you generally more resilient as well and you would be feeling a lot more job satisfaction because the work to life ratio would be more agreeable. We really do need to take a leaf out of the books of the hibernating and migrating creatures of the world because the animals clearly have their shit sorted out a lot better than we do. I'm pretty sure bears don't have to ring in sick or contend with hacking coughs all night during the winter do they?
AMERICAN ANIMALS
Release Date: 2018
Rating: MA 15+
Running Time: 117 mins
Based on the real life library heist at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky in 2004, this film switches between dramatisations of the actual event and interviews with the real people being portrayed, which generates a really interesting and ingenious perspective on this tangled and complex tale about four small time criminals out to make a quick buck.
Art student Spencer and rebellious athletic scholarship student Warren hatch a 'get rich quick' plan that involves heisting two very valuable editions of John James Audubon's The Birds of America from the rare book section of the Transylvania University library. They enlist the help of their childhood friend Erik to assist with logistics and rich kid Chas to act as the getaway driver, and together they attempt a million dollar heist in broad daylight.
This is one of those 'truth is stranger than fiction' tales, where you just cannot understand how these not really bad boys allowed themselves to get swept up in something that is so very bad and insanely stupid. The cast is magnificent and completely on point here, with exceptionally strong performances from the always enigmatic Evan Peters, the strangely hypnotic Barry Keoghan and the most reputable Ann Dowd.
Watching American Animals is a bit like watching a car crash in slow motion, you know it isn't going to end well but you just can't look away! It's genuinely intriguing and cringe worthy viewing.
FINAL SAY: In reality, those things... don't matter. And you're not special.
4 Chilli Peppers
Release Date: 2018
Rating: MA 15+
Running Time: 117 mins
Based on the real life library heist at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky in 2004, this film switches between dramatisations of the actual event and interviews with the real people being portrayed, which generates a really interesting and ingenious perspective on this tangled and complex tale about four small time criminals out to make a quick buck.
Art student Spencer and rebellious athletic scholarship student Warren hatch a 'get rich quick' plan that involves heisting two very valuable editions of John James Audubon's The Birds of America from the rare book section of the Transylvania University library. They enlist the help of their childhood friend Erik to assist with logistics and rich kid Chas to act as the getaway driver, and together they attempt a million dollar heist in broad daylight.
This is one of those 'truth is stranger than fiction' tales, where you just cannot understand how these not really bad boys allowed themselves to get swept up in something that is so very bad and insanely stupid. The cast is magnificent and completely on point here, with exceptionally strong performances from the always enigmatic Evan Peters, the strangely hypnotic Barry Keoghan and the most reputable Ann Dowd.
Watching American Animals is a bit like watching a car crash in slow motion, you know it isn't going to end well but you just can't look away! It's genuinely intriguing and cringe worthy viewing.
FINAL SAY: In reality, those things... don't matter. And you're not special.
4 Chilli Peppers
RSS Feed