I have Ebola

When I was in college, in the early to mid 1990's, the general public was just becoming aware of the hemorrhagic fever viruses like Ebola. The book The Hot Zone had come out, the movie Outbreak was released, and one of the evening news magazine shows had done a feature on all of those scary new infectious diseases and had talked to people at places like the CDC and USAMRIID. Among my acquaintances, it became the norm--when one was ill with a cold or the flu--to claim to have Ebola (I think this was partly due to the fact that Ebola starts off with flu-like symptoms). It was obviously untrue (where the hell would the average Bostonian college student come in contact with Ebola?) but it was amusing and indicated how miserable you were (ie that you had contracted a horrible disease and wanted to die). After I left college, I read the book The Coming Plague and realized that one did not need to claim to have Ebola when one had the flu because the flu could be bad enough (just look up the 1918 flu pandemic). I suppose nowadays it's more fashionable to claim you have bird flu if you want to be melodramatic, but I think it's not quite the same because sooner or later someone in the US is going to have bird flu and it's going to be bad.

All of this to say: I have a sinus infection. Again.

I went to dinner at a friend's house Friday evening and he had a sinus infection. And while the food was wonderful and I love the friend dearly, frankly, I would have rather he cancelled because then I wouldn't be sick. And normally I wouldn't let this faze me but John is coming tomorrow and I haven't seen him in a month and I really wish I wasn't a giant bag of mucous. (Ewwww)

I've gotten quite a bit of knitting done here and there, though. I started some socks for my sister for Christmas. I started and finished a hat for Roommie for his birthday. I started a pair of mittens for Roommie for Christmas, but I think I may have them done by his birthday and now I am torn whether I should give him both the hat and mittens for his birthday and do something else for Christmas or try to wait to give him the mittens. I'm not good at waiting.

Temporary roommate, A, was practicing knitting with waste yarn until our Knitpicks yarn came in, but the wait was too long (not overly long, less than a week, but still she was getting bored) and so she started a penguin stuffed animal for one of her nephews. She has all of the pieces knit up and the body is stuffed she just has to attach the feet and beak and stitch eyes. Then, she's making a duck for a different nephew. And then she's making six scarves with the Knitpicks yarn. I am not kidding.

I am concentrating on socks for Christmas. Grandma, Mom, and sis are all getting socks. I am making John a scarf to go with the double knit hat I made him last year but I'm not sure if it will be his Christmas present or not (in case you're wondering why a man living in southern CA would need a scarf and a double-knit hat, when he goes to the telescope on top of the mountain in Hawaii it is very cold--cold enough for snow). I'm making some washcloths for John's mom to go with the handmade soap I bought her. I'm hoping I'm keeping my holiday goals reasonable, but I guess you never really know that until it's about a week before Christmas.

Now, if you will excuse me, it is time for some sudafed.