on being sick

I am reminded how much I hate being sick. It's quite simple, I just have no patience for it. You see, I'm not good at sitting still, or at least not good at it when I don't want to be. A lot of people can give in to their cold and deal with it and sleep the day away. I'm not one of those people. I obsess about the work I'm not getting done, I usually end up working anyway, I try to do things as if I'm not sick and grumpy. Really, it's perfectly ridiculous, I know, but it's how I operate. Once I had a cold in the middle of summer and was stuck on my couch for days. Not sure what to do with myself I got out my paints and started mixing. What came of it was a painting of a brown tweed couch painted on a large green background. In the left over space around the couch I scribbled in thalo green the title, "The fury of being sick in summer". Of course, none of my friends got it. Except Nisse, who could relate all too well and would soon steal the painting from me for her kitchen on Lincoln, a theft I gladly permitted.

So today I didn't know what to do with myself. I made it through a morning meeting and back to the office. Steam ran out fast and I began the fade. The vice clamped down on my head and throat again. There is even an opening tonight at the gallery at work, and I felt so bad for leaving, but I had to. I came home. I had to force myself to not turn on the computer and check my work email. I knew napping was what I was supposed to do, but again, tell me what to do when I don't want to do it and chances are I'm not doing it. I chose a happy medium, an activity that didn't require any talking or much moving, yet allowed for listening to good LPs on the stereo and some creativity. And what came out of today? Here's a sample of one of them.

(Saguaro Cactus, 6.5" x 10", collage on paper, aef'08)