The beast goes by many names

"The infection", "The voice snatcher", "Harold's whooping cough". No one knows its true name, form, or source. All that is known is when it comes, and trust me it will, it shows no mercy to those in its path. It starts as a small tickle in the throat upon waking. That's the first clue. Next comes the mild headache and general tiredness. Then the main course, three damn weeks of coughing non-stop. Finally the coup-de-gras, another three weeks without a voice. The upside for me during the whole experience, I usually don't feel all that bad during the whole thing. The initial throat tickle isn't fun, and the ab workout from the coughing is less than ideal, but it's not anything that can prevent me from doing any of my day-to-day. The one thing that does prevent me from my day-to-day is the constant complaining of people around me. Apparently the cough does annoy people around me.

I bring this up because this winter, I not have officially started my fourth round of this great little sickness of mine. First was after the very first chill of the winter this year, sometime early November. That didn't last too long, maybe a week and a half. Next came just before my trip to Israel. In fact, my preparation for my trip to Israel included massive vitamins, and trips to the gym to keep up my body so I wouldn't be sick in Israel. That ended just after the New Year, a good week before my trip. In Israel, my best friend followed me and struck four days before my trip ended, causing me to return on my scheduled flight rather than taking a few extra days to enjoy Israel for myself. That bout was fun, it lasted the full 3-4 weeks. It even got to the point where I was politely asked to stay home for a couple of days.

Now marks the beginning of my fourth bout, arguably much more tame than before, but not nonexistant. My plan is to still keep going to the gym because it somehow keeps the deamons at bay. Also keep up my daily airborne dose. This weekend will be spent at home mostly as well, besides two trips to the gym and one trip to a Hillel event. Hopefully the bed rest and indoors will help things along as well. The worst so far was this afternoon at work. I'm not sure what kicked it off, but at around 3:30 I just had some random coughing fit. By 4 I just had to leave to avoid the accusing eyes of those around me.