Sickness brings in the New Year, YIKES

I have been sick since New Year's. Wanting to be more optimistic and positive about the situation is my attitude every morning I wake up and following every large splash of vomit that creases the first layer of the toilet water. What a depressing way to start the year...so here are some quick highlights of the last week of nastiness I have been unfortunate to go through. But if I wasn't sick maybe it would be you writing this not so fun posting? I guess all those times I said, "better him than me" finally has caught up to me.
Bathing in warm water has been a godsend, so long as our 100 year old house continues to pump out the heat. The whole bathing thing has been really my only area of relief during the last several days. Food, my usual first comfort relief has no business being in this posting because I have eaten only a couple bowls of rice and some bananas in the last week. Sports, although i love to watch and talk and play them have provided no sense of satisfaction lately. My roomates, though they are both great, can only shuttle me to and from the hospital and ask me every hour or so how am feeling, which I simply respond with an eye roll and a deep breath. So the constants of food, sports, and friends have done nothing to help me through this shitty situation.

So for most people baths are a welcome sense of relief after a long day of work or activity. However, for this sick kid, bathing has become a science. Five minutes before I get in, I sit on the toilet with my head in my hands and sulk, rub my stomach, contemplate inserting another suppository, drink a full glass glass of water, undress and begin running my hands under the warm water. At this point, the tub is about a quarter full and I step in and it feels fucking great. I stand in the tub while shower water splashes my face and I feel at ease for the first time since I have gotten out of the shower/bath last.
Second step is for me to warm up a bit in the shower stream, and then take the euphoric step of sitting down in the shower and letting the water splash onto my face and stomach and chest, while my legs are fully extended and the tub continues to fill up. (Although this has been a shitty feeling/hangover cure of mine since high school, just recently I have learned there are a number of us shower-bathers out there, though like all nomenclatures, we are few and far between, but are fully committed to our practices, and have been known to espouse of them in public.) So at this point, the water has been running for roughly 12 minutes, I am feeling sooooo much better, and the tub is quickly filling up. I like to stay on the hydration train and try to be sure I have taken in at least half a cup of water by this point. After a full 16 minutes the tub is full and it is time to turn the water off, for the first time.
Relaxation station is in full effect as I close my eyes, crack the window in the bathroom and concentrate on thinking about getting healthy. 10 minutes go by and I suddenly wake up realizing I had fallen asleep in the tub, which for a 6 month baby is bad news, but for me it is just a little startling. Very aware the water temperature has dropped anywhere between 5 and 15 degrees, it is time to drain the tub halfway, while a new flow of very warm, though not hot water, begins to fill my palace again. As I learned early on, there are a few variables that can effect how enjoyable the second half of the bath goes. First, there is the matter of timing. If too much water is released from the tub while the shower is filling it back up, there will not be enough warm water to repeat the empty and fill method a third time. Secondly, temperature is key. If the bath water gets too warm too quick it will make the bathroom super moist and tropical, thus dehydrating me further and continuing this cycle. Since we have no fan in our bathroom, this condensation must be realesed somehow, which means it is time to open the outside window a little further. Not only does this not work very effectively, gettting out of an hour long bath and drying off and stepping naked into a bathroom with endless cold air blowing into it is terrible. Third is attitude. Am I really trying to kick it in the shower for another 20 minutes while it seems to me everyone else in Berkeley is doing something productive, even though we know that is far from the case ever here in Berkeley. And as has been the case time and again this week, the answer has always been, hell yeah I am staying in, and I am even looking forward to getting back in in a couple of hours.

Couple of hours? Is this grown man of 24 years really that down on his luck that he needs to sulk away his pain and discomfort through a series of over abundant water usage? Yes, this is precisely the case. Although I have only had three shower/baths today, and it is 1 pm, what about the sleepless nights you might ask yourself. Unfortunately for some people, when they get sick, rather than sleep like they are supposed to, they stay awake and count the minutes and listen to AM radio. I have counted lots of minutes this week. With sleepless nights so prevalent and the relief of the shower just a few steps away, why deny myself the pleasure when nothing else is going good for me right now? Five days of sickness, 4-8 showers a day, 30 minutes of water running each time doesn't make me feel good about our next month's water bill. I'm pretty sure there is no drought in California right now, but if there is a blip on the radar in Berkeley, I know whose house the authorities are going to come knocking on first.
So I am now in my 5th day of sickness and fortunately have not puked in almost 48 hours, however with no appetite and no real desire to begin eating anytime soon, the road to recovery is still a couple of days away....
Here's to a Happy New Year for all the happy and healthy folks out there, and I too will be back on that team soon, so long as the water bureau does not cut me off.
Sorry to bring down anyone's spirit who took the time to read all the way through this, but why lie when there is so much excitement to share sometimes. I wish everyone in the Moishe Community and abroad good health and even better luck in 2007!
be the change you want to see in your community and spread the message of peace,
Danny