I seem to have contracted my annual episode of creeping crud. I don’t blame it on the job, or the season, or the weather. Maybe I should, because it would be a little easier to deal with if I knew where to point the finger. But it’s just one of those things that happens.

Funny, though, how it only happens at this time of year. And it’s also a little strange that as soon as the days turn dark and gloomy, a lump of coal lodges itself in my throat and nothing I can do will shake it loose – until the sun comes out for more than ten minutes a day.

And what’s really interesting is that this episode, annual though it may be, began at just the time my work load got to its heaviest and most stressful level since, oh, ever. I’m just about ready to tell the Boss to take back his kennel and let me move to some place where the sun shines every day. Like Mercury, for example.

I woke up this morning with sinus drainage that was so bad it made me dizzy and nauseous. I was achy all over and had no appetite. Does it sound like I’m sick? Is it a good enough excuse to spend another day in the twilight zone between half-alive and half-dead?

And why was it that I ate nothing until nearly ten o’clock tonight? Well, I couldn’t even look at any real food, for one thing. And I certainly didn’t feel up to cooking anything. I knew I had some tomato soup somewhere in the house, but it took me until way late tonight to find it. It was the only thing I felt I could get down, if you can believe that. Canned soup, with soda crackers. It was better than nothing, but barely.