Do I get sick days?

That's probably a question I should have asked during orientation. Because if the chills, headache, fever, and aches and pain I'm experiencing are indication, I just got hit majorly with the flu.

I blame it on two things: trying to be green and walking to school two days in a row (I think I'll wait till Spring officially hits before I do that again) and the horrible parking at my apartment (which often requires I walk a block or so if I happen to make it home after 9 p.m... which is often).

When I started sneezing yesterday, I didn't attribute it to much. But then my sinuses and head started hurting, so I figured allergies (although I've NEVER had allergies, but you can develop them later in life. So I figured why not?). I took some sinus and cold stuff last night and this morning and they cleared me up briefly and then mid-day... it hit.

All the lil' 4th graders kept staring at me in pity. Because if I looked anywhere close to how I felt then it was PATHETIC! Somehow I made it to 3 p.m. I was freezing even though I'm sure the heater was on in the classroom, and my shoulders all the way to my thighs felt like I had just gone through a last-minute workout on "The Biggest Loser."

I take more sinus and cold crap and head off to work. The moment I walked into those doors I knew it was a mistake. I should have called in, curled up in bed, and just said, "I'm done!" But nope... instead I blew my nose incessantly, coughed into my sleeve, and began shivering so badly that BOTH of my students today randomly stop working, look at me, and go, "Are you okay?"

Their concern was truly heart-warming. However I did not reward them with an honest answer. Gave them that B.S. allergy line instead.

In the last hour, I thought I was going to die. I was FREEZING, my eyes were burning, and I was shaking so badly I just began to shift in my seat to pretend I was fidgeting. I kept reliving the last (and first!) time I had the flu. In the peak of a Chicago winter, in the middle of my first quarter of a rigorous grad school program. I didn't have a car and had to walk to CVS and school--misery! One of the days the teacher just finally set me home and told me not to come back. I broke my glasses from sneezing so hard on the walk home.

Thank you Stan & Ergo for this comic.

No way do I want to repeat that. And yet, looks like I just might be.

I drove home afraid I'd get into an accident because I was concentrating more on keeping my teeth clenched so I wouldn't accidentally bite myself from the non-stop clattering they were doing. The whole way I prayed, "Lord, let there be a spot in my building lot. Please." He loves me so, because there was one.

So now I'm drugged up some more, still shaking badly, and wondering why the heck am I blogging?

I have school tomorrow! I need to sleep and get better.

Unless I get sick days. Then I might just have to use one.