alan's week of sick wonders

I have been shut up in my apartment for several days, fighting an infection of one kind or another. It would perhaps have gone better for me had I not needed to walk three miles to the hospital (and actually, after getting lost in a fevered delirium, it was closer to four). And "need" in the above sentence is used very loosely. My judgment was that I needed fluids and rest, it took me half a day of getting neither fluids nor rest for a doctor to tell me the same damn thing, but unfortunately the fever-pitch surrounding the flu required that I go to the hospital. Fine. Dandy. I am mostly better now, but for a productive cough that is bad in the morning and evening, and an overwhelming sense of boredom and strong desire to return to work (never had that one before, I must say).

When I've had the energy, I've been using my time to research the TOEIC exam, and better strategies for teaching vocabulary and test-taking. When I haven't had the energy, I've been watching movies.

Finally watched Coraline. I was a little disappointed: not a bad film, but there was something off about it. It felt like a pretty good video-game, but as a fantasy it was lacking. The characters inhabiting this phenomenal visual world could not have fallen flatter. Stilted dialog. Half-hearted delivery. And as kids movies go, it's usually ok with me when the themes are heavy-handed, but in this case it seemed like they should have known better. To be fair, I really enjoyed it. The "stage" performances from the neighbors in the other world were fantastic, and the garden scenes were phenomenal. But this is all visual stuff. It was a cute movie. I had been expecting more is all.

Needless to say, I've gotten off my schedule. That is more frustrating than anything else. There's always next week.