I suppose in this economy, a "staycation" does make the most sense.

Well then. Much as that Someecard I lifted for my Inauguration Day post does continue to perfectly sum up how I'm feeling (raise your hand if you're still smiling involuntarily every time you hear the words "President Obama"), Inauguration was a week ago, and I'd best be posting something new, hadn't I? After all, I received an email from 3Carnations today wondering if I'd run off and moved into a Buddhist center. Perhaps some of the rest of you were wondering the same thing.

Nope. Still here, and it's a very good thing I do not live in a Buddhist center, as they likely would have kicked me out by now given that I don't think anyone could peacefully meditate with me barking like a pack-a-day smoker with advanced emphysema for the past five days. I routinely think about the many reasons it's probably best I live alone, but usually they have to do with things like being able to leave the bathroom door open when I pee and having complete control over the TV (which I can actually see from the bathroom when I leave the door open to pee, not that I would ever do something so tacky and barbarian, of course). This week I'm thankful I live alone for another reason, though, and that's that I managed to pick up a case of bronchitis, and I'm well aware that sharing bronchitis is significantly less fun than sharing anything else that comes in a case.

I do feel bad for my coworkers, who despite never having taken any sort of vow to love me in sickness and in health are forced to listen to me cough away all day, and yet bless their hearts, haven't sealed me in a sound- and germ-proof bubble just yet. Hooray. And today I spent my lunch hour at the walk-in clinic in a local grocery store, where the nice physician's assistant readily handed out Zithromax and Codeine-laced cough syrup as if they were candy, a seemingly devil-may-care attitude to this whole "we must stop overprescribing antibiotics" nonsense. I actually passed on the Codeine (Which was totally the wrong move, right? How often do we get the chance to try the good stuff??), but I have high hopes that with the Zithromax alone I will be on the mend soon. Fingers crossed, because I do think I'd miss my lungs if I just inadvertently hacked one out mid-cough.

In case you are curious, however, while I haven't moved into a Buddhist center, the Buddhist is still in the picture, and I very much hope he's not hacking up any internal organs on my account soon too. I also hope I didn't breathe too closely to the guy I had a date with on Thursday, as I turned down his invitation for a second date, and to be rejected and infected in the same evening is something I wouldn't wish on even the most boring of Catch dot Mom man. Which this one wasn't, by the way. Boring, I mean. No, he was perfectly nice and friendly and even fun-ish and mildly interesting. I also felt absolutely zero romantic chemistry with him, however, and while I know it's an ongoing debate whether that sort of thing matters from the start, I'd still prefer to trust my instincts and skip the ho-hum second date this time. I may be irreparably wrecking my dating karma in a way that will come back to haunt me in a manner similar to the so-called best date of '08, but that is a risk I'm going to take, my friends.

Speaking of Catch dot Mom men, I would like to tell you about the latest one to wink at me. His favorite local hot spots include "the airport," and his favorite place "abroad" is New York City. I realize there are times I'm not as smart as I like to think I am. I can think of more than two times when I've snidely mocked the absurdity of something only to realize it was I who was in the wrong. So help me out here, word nerds. I know the Midwest is deemed fly-over land. I know it's a foreign country to many of those on the coast. But New York City? A location "abroad"? Technically, perhaps, but please tell me I'm not the only one who thinks that dude's horizons (or vocabulary) could stand some growth?