November 07, 2003 - 12:52 PM

Reaching a Fever Pitch

Yesterday. I had a fever of 100; there was a dull ache throughout my body that manifested itself most noticeably in my joints; and I couldn't sit up for too long or else I'd feel the urge to throw up. Being sick sucks.

After several failed attempts to get out of bed, I was able to crawl into the shower and soak for about 30 minutes. I took some Motrin for the aches and called my dad. After hearing my symptoms, he advised me to get lots of rest, drink lots of fluids, and make myself sweat. Since he's been my doctor my whole life, and he's, you know, MY DAD, I listened and did as he instructed. And now I feel much better. Not 100%, but still, I'm not queasy, and the thought of my hungry tummy doesn't make me want to retch. It's all good.

In talking with my dad, he told me that he plans to retire at the end of this year. The past couple of years, he'd been talking about retiring, but this news still came as a shock. As my sister said when I talked to her later last night, we thought that he'd work for the rest of his life because that's the kind of person he is. Sure, he's 61, but he's got more energy than me sometimes, and he hates to waste time doing nothing. He's always busying himself with something, whether it's work at his office or the hospital, house and yard maintenance, tennis (he plays, like, every day, no matter the weather), bible study. My mom even told me that he wants her to teach him how to cook 14 different recipes, and they've gone through 3 of them so far. Hee hee. Isn't that cute?

I guess he is slowing down a bit though, and he's had some small health issues. It's just strange to think that, when I go home for Christmas, my dad will no longer be going to his office to take care of the children of Aberdeen, MD. He's been a pediatrician in that town since I was 2. Now what will he do with his time?

*******

I want to point y'all to Joan of Arcadia again as a good show to watch. Friday nights at 8 on CBS. Did you see last week's episode? Joan trying out for the cheerleading squad was pretty hilarious (and they did a shout out to our hero Sparky Polastri from Bring It On...long live the Upright Citizens' Brigade). What I liked the best, though was the way they handled Joan's friend Grace, and the crush that Joan's dorky younger-by-a-year brother Luke has on her. Grace is a "subdefective" outsider who's sexual orientation is constantly questioned by the kids in school, but she refuses to get defensive and confirm or deny which way she swings. It's her business, hers alone, and everyone else can bugger off.

Despite her ostracized status, Luke likes Grace. He even goes so far as to defend her when his best friend, Friedman, makes a dig at her. Friedman is horrified to realize that Luke is into Grace, and he goes into that scared offensive mode that people who are afraid of "the other" retreat to, spewing the terms "dyke" and "lesbo" like epithetical missiles. He even goes so far as to say that Luke has "tested positive for the presence of gay" because he likes a lesbian. That kind of ignorance...grrr...me want to slap Friedman, hard. Luke is undeterred by his friend's intolerant stupidity and ends up asking Grace if she'd like to partner with him on a science fair project (which, for a geek, is like asking her out on a date). She doesn't say yes, she doesn't say no, she only tells him to ask when the Science Fair gets closer (because it's still 3 months away), bu that leaves a sliver of hope for Luke.

Why do I think this is great? Because it shows the people who use "homo", "lesbian", "dyke", "fag", and "gay" as ways of demeaning others to be the giant suckers of bags of ass that they are. I don't know exactly why it's always riled me up when I've heard people say those things, even little things like "that song is so gay" or "that car is so gay" when they mean that it sucks or is lame. It's not like I'm the champion of terms of homosexuality or anything; I just dislike those ignorant phobes.

Now Listening To : Taste of Joy-Trigger Fables
Random Thought : Anyone have a girlfriend for me? Stipulations: she has to be a girl and live in the L.A. area. And not be a psychokiller.

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