List

1. The radio - I don't have one. But it doesn't matter; I have the internet. All my language teachers say you have to listen to the radio in another language, even if you can't follow. Just to get used to different voices, different sounds, different accents. I sort of think it's fun to do half an hour of each language on a graduated scale - first doing half an hour of Arabic on Radio Monte Carlo Moyen-Orient (can't understand a damn word), followed by a half an hour of Spanish on RFI (requires full concentration to get between half and three-quarters of the info; it helps that half to three-quarters of the time on any given station is dedicated to Irak). Then, it's onto French on the same channel (understand everything if listening more or less attentively), to wind everything up with a relaxing half-hour to hour (depending on my availability, of course) on NPR. I read on someone's site once that there's something about turning 30 that makes you want to listen to NPR. So I was eight years ahead of schedule.

2. Oatmeal - My entire life I only semi-liked oatmeal because I had the luxury of a microwave. Microwaved oatmeal in no way competes with the glory of a quality stove-made bowl of hearty oats. Something absolutely delicious for those that have already accepted that oatmeal is the best breakfast food ever: try substituting the regular milk with vanilla soy milk. Amazing.

3. Books - On Monday night I started Paul Auster's The Music of Chance. It was finished before noon on Tuesday. As I plan on spending the majority of the next three-to-four days in a reclined position as much as possible, I have stocked up a pile of books to entertain me outside of my two-to-three hour daily "radio" requirement. I would love to go hunt down some of the books on the Master List (every time I write "Master List" with capital letters, I feel like someone has said it in a big, booming voice and it is echoing down a hallway in my mind. I like that), but I fear that would require unnecessary movement to and fro the bookstore. This is to be avoided at all costs over the next few days. I'm still (psychotically) planning on attending the essential classes, but I have no guilt about missing those that do not matter.

4. Codeine - I know, it's really bad to say that painkillers help when things suck big donkey balls, but they really do. I had never taken painkillers before, but when the Boy got into his motorcycle accident last year, the doctors doped him up for several weeks. He eventually decided to take the pain like a man, and so we have a little thing of them left over. When I had a pretty painful "situation" happen last year, I took them at night so that I could sleep without waking up in tears (at the time, I was taking entrance exams for schools, and sleep was vital). I did the same last night. The dose of codeine they gave him is not very strong, but enough to knock you out for a few hours. Particularly amusing is the moment you know you're going to go off to la-la-land, but you're still hanging on to your surroundings for a few more seconds. It's the same feeling - except the opposite - as when you wake up in the morning and you are still half-dreaming, but are about to come to. Usually you manage to realize that whatever you are thinking/dreaming is absolutely insane. With the codeine, this just happens in the reverse order: you start thinking absolutely insane things, but then just allow yourself to go there because, hey, you're really damn tired. Last night, the last thing I remember thinking before going to the darkside was how great it would be if we could write on air, and the letters would just hang suspended wherever they were written. I had a vision: I was on a bus, trying to explain something, and I pulled out a pen and started writing on the air. The ink was a thick brown color that resulted in very sturdy letters. Instead of having to erase, I just grabbed the letters with my hands and threw them on the floor like garbage. I crumpled them up like a wad of paper. Then I started over again, writing on the air. I guess if that was really the way it was, we would have a letter-pollution problem (people not throwing away their letters after writing) in much the same way we have a paper-pollution problem today. Graffiti would also taken on an entirely different meaning.

5. Tea - Nothing is more soothing than a hot cup of tea. Even if it doesn't necessarily soothe physical discomfort, it somehow calms the brain. Which, right now, is honestly in as much pain as my bod.

6. Flashcards - Sure, it's very junior high. But that doesn't mean I'm above it. If I've got something to learn and lots of free hours to do it in, I think flashcards kick ass. The Frenchies tell me that only Americans do this. And it's true - during my brief stay in the French journalism school, I never once saw those people pull out flashcards. They do, however, all take notes with a ruler and multi-colored pens. You cannot possibly imagine how bizarre it is to be in an auditorium with a hundred people that are taking history notes as if doing geometry. They're very anal about it: headings and subheadings are underlined in the approiately color-coded system, and margins are to be fully respected. Even some of the really sloppy, lazy boys had the most precise, organized notes. I really couldn't understand it. And they didn't understand my system: take all notes for all subjects in one notebook, all on the right-hand page. When all the right-hand pages have been completed, flip the notebook over and start from the other side. My notebooks have no lines, either. Lines make my writing all messy. Without lines, my notes are quite neat. Well, as neat as they can be without using a ruler, I suppose. Anyway, flashcards. So I make myself a bunch of verb flashcards, and then I can pass away at least an hour or so (in a reclined position) while feeling as if I am advancing in some way. I actually do a fair amount of homework when I am home "sick" - but I do an excessive amount of flashcarding.