16-24 January: Y and I came back to the U.S. from Sydney, and flew out again on the 25th. We stayed with our respective families for several days, then had one night and one day (almost) to be spastic nervebags about trying to get things done. Tuesday night we went over to a friend's house and I learned children's sign language for "grownup talk" during a discussion of job benefits. Later, our friend started a conversation about
sockets, but had to drop it when his wife said that she was changing the subject. Feh. But her
blueberry cobbler was good and she made us coffee.
Y was sick, probably with a cold, the morning of our flight back to Sydney, and I felt great - a situation that quickly reversed. By the time we landed at Dallas, I felt wretched, and sat for 40 minutes feeling sorry for myself. When we landed at LAX I was sick to the point where I elbowed my way off the plane to the closest airport bathroom, where I threw up for maybe ten minutes. But I think it was unrelated, and just something I ate. Like airplane food. No, it wasn't fish or anything obviously unwise - just something fairly normal.
Another 20 hours to look forward to.
From L.A. to Sydney I threw up again (in the bathroom - I didn't cause a scene or anything) and felt even more wretched, but we had bought NyQuil gelcaps in Dallas that let me sleep for maybe six hours. My body ached the whole time, regardless of how often I walked and stretched, and I didn't feel like doing anything. I had a book called Recollections of Software Pioneers that I had borrowed from my mom to read on the flight, but didn't touch it. I had planned on doing CCNP studying for several hours, and didn't do that until the last two hours. I had my laptop, but didn't take that out either until the last two hours. Basically I just sat in a stupor when I wasn't sleeping, and I vaguely remember watching Bedazzled because the Brazilian music was soothing. The Rushmore soundtrack made me feel better for a while, twice through most of it.
Our layovers were brief; barring taking a supersonic jet, we couldn't have gotten here faster. But having the flu made it seem like endless purgatory.
We've been in Sydney for almost four days. My body doesn't ache anymore and I haven't been barfing, but feel like mucous is my superpower.