It's Sukkot, and while I should be celebrating the plentiful bounty of this green and brown planet, I'm instead sitting at home fighting off a bad allergy attack head cold something-or-other. As a matter of fact, I was earlier cursing the bounty of the earth, because I had harbored some suspicions that it was some of said bounty that is making me sick. I still remain open to that idea. It started out this morning. That tickle in the back of my throat. That stupid little urge there which, if it could talk, would say, "C'mon, c'mon, cough, just go ahead and do it, you know you want to." And then, you do. And you feel like you've been tricked immediately afterwards, because that feels damn crappy.

I hate being sick, and because I'd already had to take a sick day once this week, I hauled my ass out of bed and got moving. And, with the exception of the dreaded tickle, I felt just fine. And continued to feel fine, even when I got stuck in traffic behind some huge construction vehicle, whose top speed was like 15 mph, driving on the one lane road. Even then, I was fine.

As the day wore on, however, the weather clouded up, it decided to get windy, and before I knew it my nose was crazy runny. As in I went through half a box of Kleenex in the space of my work day. Not a good sign.

And yet, I persisted, trying pointlessly to stay optimistic and make myself believe that I was still healthy. Whoever came up with that crackpot idea about "the power of positive thinking" should be lynched. Immediately. Like, now.

On the plus side (yes, we'll go ahead and call it that), I decided to make myself some food that I'd been too lazy to prepare before: pasta shells and cream of mushroom soup, one of my favorite comfort foods. There's nothing quite like eating that, piping hot, out of a coffee mug. Just hold the mug in your hands, and its warmth and good flavor send your entire being to a happy place. I even pulled out a never-before-used pot, to make the pasta. It's a tiny little pot, and perfect for a one-serving meal.

I was positively thrilled about this. While on any other day, using a brand new pot might seem trivial, or even silly. But on a day like mine today, it really was the high point of the day. And since I'm in this state of crazy allergy-cold-yucky-fuck-all-something, I'll take what I can get.