Well, that was interesting
Being sick on the couch yields fun finds and guilty pleasures
I don’t get sick often.
I keep my house clean, shoes at the door, and hands washed.
I avoid crowds when I can help it, stay active, and eat healthy, including taking immunity-boosting supplements like B vitamins and zinc.
So, I was really annoyed when I woke up on Sunday morning with a scratchy throat.
I did have a rather eventful weekend leading up to it: an oyster tasting, a dinner date, and a comedy show—and I definitely didn’t help matters by staying out in freezing weather, or walking the dog more than a few times with too few layers on.
Oops.
By Monday, said scratchy throat became full on sore throat accompanied by muscle aches and pains.
I knew something was up—my body temperature, for one.
I took a Covid test which yielded a negative result. Yay.
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I had Covid back in 2022, and let me tell you, I never want to experience that again.
Getting Covid late in the game was all but maddening; I’d been so careful leading up to that point, living in New York City through the worst of it in 2020.
Funnily enough, I caught it two years later while attending a fintech conference in Orlando.
The conference used a messaging app, which became the de facto method for attendees to alert each other they’d contracted Covid while there.
With Covid, I had the worst sore throat I’ve experienced in my life (worse than strep throat in high school); when I tell you it was like swallowing shards of glass...
But then, as if by magic, on the 5th day in the afternoon, my throat just stopped hurting and miraculously, I felt fine, just like that.
I’m not saying Covid was made in a lab, but I’m not not saying it.😉
In all seriousness though, literature points to the fact that each bout of Covid shortens your life expectancy, so I’d like to do my best at not contracting it again.
I hate being sick
This week really tested my mettle.
I generally put a lot of pressure on myself to always be doing things: creating or building, writing, learning or reading, getting something done that adds to a bigger life goal or plan.
So when I’m forced to slow down due to illness, I’m bothered by this interruption to my flow state.
Because I’m not one to linger in bed, I spent most of the week on the couch.
I was lucky to have had my cuddle buddy with me, Mr. Bean, my 1 year and 10-month-old cockapoo.
At one point I looked up whether it was possible for me to get him sick.
It wasn’t—something about influenza viruses being different strains across species.
Though I did recall stories of dogs catching Covid.
As a collective, we too often take our mobility and health for granted, underestimating how debilitating an illness can be to our rhythm.
But in a way, once I accepted defeat that the week’s house projects and creative goals would take a back seat to rest, I made the most of it.
And, I’m grateful I caught this bug while at my home in Charlotte.
In Miami, I have close friends I can call for help, but there’s nothing like having your hard-nosed Chinese mom show up with soup, food, and other unannounced check-ins to speed up your recovery.
My dad, the less intense one, walked the dog for me.
Books: Started, put down, finished
When my brain felt like functioning, I started reading, finished, and put down a couple of books:
Put down: Stolen Focus, Johann Hari
I was excited when I started this book by Hari, a world renowned TED speaker who has discussed depression and anxiety. And while I liked this book at the start (oddly enough it was chosen by two book clubs I’m on the periphery of), I found it proved its point—that our devices are killing our attention spans and ability to maintain human connections—a little too early, and ironically lost my focus. Because it got repetitive and I got bored.
Finished: Verity, Colleen Hoover
What a dark and delightful read! If you’re a Colleen Hoover fan, this was one of my faves. Also, apparently Anne Hathaway has been cast as Verity, Dakota Johnson as Lowen, and Josh Hartnett as Jeremy for the upcoming film adaptation. Exciting!
Started: The Housemaid, Freida McFadden
Ah, give me a good beach read any day of the week. This one is off to a great start…I’m only in chapter 5 so I’ll probably be done by the weekend.
Started: Bad Vibes Only, Nora McInerny
I can’t recall which article I saw that recommended this book, so I picked it up at the library. I’m trying to get more into essay-format books because I’m thinking about authoring another book, this time of essays, so I’d like to see what this is all about.
I’ve been top-heavy on the “make money ‘til you pass out, bro” kind of business and productivity non-fiction titles, so I’m happy about having fun with fiction again.
The rest of the week, I continued to make myself my mom’s homeopathic ginger tea:
And I made my own meals, some as simple as heating a can of Amy’s Organic Chunky Vegetable Soup, to making a full veggie ramen broth which includes tahini, white miso, and sautéed ginger and oyster mushrooms. Yum.
I’m happy to report I still had the energy to wash myself and make my bed every day, do laundry, run the dishwasher, and other disinfecting duties.
Of course, I watched TV
Like, actual primetime TV.
That Dick Wolf sure knows the formula.
Law & Order is still going, now in its 100th season (kidding) and Reid Scott (Dan Egan from Veep) and Maura Tierney have joined the cast (which now also includes Hugh Dancy and Tony Goldwyn, you know, the former president in Scandal and bad guy in Ghost. It’s good(?) again.
I watched Chicago Fire. It’s funny I’ve always stayed loosely connected with the storylines of Chicago Fire—the cast here, too, has evolved…albeit a little unrealistically, because I don’t know many female firefighters, who also marry their coworkers and work in the same fire house.
But you know what’s crazy is when they mesh storylines across a three-hour bonanza of Chicago Fire, Chicago Med, and Chicago PD!
Now that, my friends, is tel-e-vis-ION and beats a Netflix binge most days.
Finally, one thing I could not do this week was pick a new series to watch, from a wide catalog of streaming TV shows and platforms.
Something about the colors, the cheesy teaser trailers, and posters were all too “meh” for me to sort through; it was also highly likely due to my general beatdown mental and physical state.
I did watch the film “A Real Pain,” starring Jesse Eisenberg (who played Zuck) and Kieran Culkin (Roman Roy) which I enjoyed, more because the character who actually ends up being the “pain” is not who I thought it would be.
I also went back to an oldie but goodie: “Alfred Hitchcock Presents.”
I have loved these shows for as long as I can remember, they always deliver.
They are simple, each 25 minutes long, and a masterclass in suspense storytelling and character development, and usually on topics of gambling, blackmail, greed, infidelity, morality, murder, and the human condition.
Finally, I’m not interested in Bachelor nation, however I did follow Matt James and Rachael Kirkconnell on Instagram, so his post about their breakup was a shock, a shock!
You may be interested in this new Call Her Daddy YouTube episode where Rachael finally breaks her silence, and shares how he posted about the breakup to his 1M followers without giving her a heads up, and before her 12-hour flight home without wifi—just cruel.
Her interview is so post-breakup raw and vulnerable you can only feel for the girl and hope she heals and eventually realizes her worth will yield her so, so many more wonderful opportunities.
What about you? How was your week? How was your month? What shows or movies are you digging?
P.S. Happy Chinese Lunar New year!
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Until next time,
Shindy
On Instagram + TikTok
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I’m so happy you’re feeling better!
What a week; I’m so glad that you were close to your parents. I saw Jesse Eisenberg on a show, and we cannot wait to see that movie! I think he’s so underrated.
Much love to you and Mr. Bean always…🩵🩵🩵🩵
So glad you had Mama Bear, Dad, and Beanie to help take care of you. ♥️ A Real Pain is top of my list for movies to check out! We are watching The Tourist, a Netflix series, and it’s so good. Also, Chris talked me into watching Severance, which I had seen promos for many times but the premise turned me off. It’s actually thrilling! I’m hooked! Stay well my friend. 😘