Good intentions

January is always a time of renewal, reflection and the idea that we can start fresh. Well, for most people. For me? January is usually a time of sickness. It seems, without fail, that family members or I end up with some hacking cough, runny nose, fever or something. This year? Sinus junk. Not sure how else to explain it. First my mom got it, back on New Year's Eve. Then Angela got it, just in time to fly back to Los Angeles. And this week? I have succumbed. I fought the good fight. I took extra vitamins, drank juice, chugged airborne, tried to stay away from people but alas, I have fallen.

In the fall (and frankly, through December) I started to panic whenever I got even a scratchy throat. What if IT happens again. What if I can't breathe. What if I need antibotics. All questions I have no answers for. Other than? I will survive. I have a cold. Just a cold. I keep telling myself that. And so, I took to the couch for a good day of rest and then today, have hobbled back to my computer, Kleenex close by, Vitamin Water close at hand, and the idea that I only need to do the bare minimum to keep my job.

See the nice thing about working from home is that I get to work from home. The not so nice thing? I have to work from home. No matter what. No sick days. I can't get away from work. I can't pretend that I'm too sick to go into the office. So, because others perverse, I will too. (Yeah, yeah, I know. I only have a cold. Whatever.) However, the one I feel sorry for is Angela. She feels like crap and she actually has to go to work. No sick days for her either. That's one of the perks of being a substitute teacher. She doesn't go to work, she doesn't get paid. And not just that. She doesn't go to work? She loses her "days", the amount of time she's accrued this school year working in the same classroom that gives her seniority and extra pay every day. Miss one day and boom! back at day zero. So, yeah, she's at work. But so are all the other sick teachers who have sick days to burn so apparently that's ok. Great system.

Ok, I need to keep grading so I can go back to the couch and watch Alias on Netflix. It's true, I have the whole series on DVD but clicking my little tiny Apple TV remote and having it appear instantly is so much better than loading DVDs.