The Beginning of the End

Last week I took my Inorganic Chem Lab final. One down, three to go.

It's been madness. A week ago Friday (December 2nd), I awoke with the kind of headache that'd make you want to drop a hammer on your foot just so that you'd have something else to think about. I made it through class that day and on to work. By that time, the headache had been joined by fatigue, hot and cold spells, and a general aching all over my body. At work, I took a break and went in to lie down on my boss's couch. Then the power went out. So we sent everyone home after half an hour, and I got to go home early.

It didn't help. I couldn't sleep for more than about 45 minutes at a stretch on Friday night / Saturday morning. And at about midnight, the nausea hit. I'll spare you the gory details.

Saturday morning I called my home teacher and got a blessing. I also made arrangements for someone else to take care of my Sunday school lesson for the next day and for my paperboy duties. Then I spent the rest of the day in bed or on the living room couches. And Nancy come over to help take care of me. She is absolutely wonderful. When it comes right down to it, I'm a complete sissy when I get sick. She took good care of me, though. She brought me soup and orange juice and crackers and popsicles and fried rice, and she helped me make it through the day. Yeah, she's a keeper.

By the time I went to bed that night, I was feeling almost human. I awoke Sunday morning feeling good enough to go to church after all. The guy who taught my Sunday school lesson did a great job. The lesson was on "Being Good Citizens", and he's currently studying for the bar exam, so he had a lot of good perspectives.

I called Nancy that afternoon and found out that she'd had an allergic reaction to something (probably the Chinese food) from the previous night. so I got to go to her house and take care of her on Sunday afternoon. It was the least I could do, I figured.

Monday morning I awoke feeling drained, like I'd overdone it on Sunday—which I probably had. Lesson: miraculous aid does not preclude the use of common sense. I spent most of the day resting, thankful that the headaches and other nasty symptoms hadn't come back.

Tuesday I went to classes and to work, both of which turned out better than on Friday. I met with my lab group to discuss the reports we still had to write. We were supposed to have met on Monday, but I was sick and Jason had contracted food poisoning. Karol waited for us for a bit, then went home. She was grateful for the break; she's just moved into a new house and was able to get some things done there.

I had the normal round of classes on Wednesday. Then the lab group met in an all-out writing frenzy. Over the course of four hours or so, we were able to take various contributions and make them into four pretty good lab reports. If I never have to deal with the electrolytic production of potassium peroxydisulfate again, I'll be okay with that.

Thursday morning we turned in out lab reports and our lab books and took the final. It was rather unusual in that all the questions were short answer or essay questions. I've never had a chemistry exam before that didn't involve any math, I don't think. That was fine with me. I'm a pretty decent writer, and I feel there needs to be more writing involved with the sciences. The biggest problem with math and science, in my humble opinion, is that people who are good at math and science can't communicate what they know to those who aren't. When I get my own classroom, I'm going to make sure my students don't get out without doing a little writing.

Friday was a reading day, followed by work. We managed to keep the power on for the whole night, and we were able to get quite a bit done. I spent part of the evening prepping for the next day's training class, as well as taking care of my other managerial duties. Fun stuff.

Saturday was a busy day. Training was on the menu early. Four of the scheduled six contestants showed up, all of whom did fine. I got out of there about 3:30, at which time I joined Nancy for an evening together. We went out to dinner, then went to the Conference Center for a Christmas concert presented by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the Orchestra at Temple Square. It was amazing. There were a couple of guest performers, a soprano soloist and a narrator. The spirit of the season was very strong.

Unfortunately, I was starting to feel sick by the end of the concert. I could feel my voice going out during training, and by the end of the concert I had begun to cough. All the excitement, plus the cold temperatures, were conspiring to bring me down.

Sunday morning I went to Sacrament meeting, then came home and lay down. And that's pretty much what I've been doing for the last 36 hours or so. I can feel that I'm turning the corner, though. Good thing, since I have finals on Tuesday and Wednesday, with work on Tuesday night. Nancy and I are going to another Christmas concert on Wednesday night. Then, my very last final is on Friday.

Assuming I can make it through the next four days, I'm going to sleep for a week.