Subject: TAN: Take Ten Darkfriends and Call Me in the Morning From: Keeper of the Chronicles Reply-To: colel@earthlink.net Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written.robert-jordan NNTP-Posting-Host: 1cust5.tnt41.bos2.da.uu.net (63.46.194.5) There was a wind. It blew hot and muggly, it blew cold and muggy, it blew hot and dry, and it blew cold and muggy. Take notes, this will be important later. Fortunately, on Friday, the wind was from the right direction, which meant that Logan was running on time. My plane pushed back from the gate at 5:58 for a 6:00 departure. We taxied for a while, as one is wont to do at Logan International. Then on comes the captain. "Folks, just taxiing out here, we've lost about 3 quarts of oil. I'm not real comfortable flying the plane over to Detroit without having the crew check it, so we're going to taxi back in to the gate. We'll give you an update in about fifteen minutes." Much groaning ensues, and I start to worry *a* *lot*, because I know how things tend to happen at Logan if you don't manage to pull out on schedule. And I know that my arrival is the latest scheduled one, and that Maggie and Anne have planned dinner around the airport arrivals, including Madhu and me. Forty minutes later, the captain comes back on. Oil leak fixed, we're taking off right away. One hour and ten minutes later, we touch down in Detroit, *THREE* minutes after our originally scheduled arrival time. I was seriously impressed by Northwest. Now, that wind that could settle on neither a temperature nor a humidity level ended up making me sick. Tuesday I started to feel a little tickle in my throat. Wednesday my voice was quite ragged. Thursday I woke up unable to speak at all. Now, this is the normal course of a four day cold for me. No problem, I'll be better by the time I catch my flight on Friday. Hah. Silly Aes Sedai, the dark one is touching you. Friday I woke up at 4:30 with a stunning pain in my right ear. I literally thought my ear and Eustachian tube were going to separate themselves from the rest of my skull. Some Tylenol and sudafed and an email to Maggie and Anne, I was feeling better. I dozed until it was time to go to work. Then started the feverish calculations to make sure that my decongestant was at the peak of its performance for take off and landing. I ended up slightly overdosing on it, and was extremely nauseated by the time I actually got to Detroit. I've never seen two faces looking quite as sweet as Anne and Madhu at my gate. I've never seen seven other faces looking quite as sweet as the ones waiting at Anne's apartment for me when I got there. Maggie's food was magnificent, and I was very disappointed that I was unable to consume more than a few bites of each delicious dish. mmmmmm. I crashed out early, and so missed the pond expedition. But I am given to understand that there was, in fact, a duck. Saturday morning I dragged my poor warder out of bed and over to the nearby clinic. This was an incredible adventure. Two hour later, I had been poked, prodded, given three separate breathing tests, a blood test, and had six x-ray films shot (only five of which actually turned out). Mind, I had *not* eaten breakfast. The clinicians insisted on eating theirs between tests on me. My body's normal reaction to having a needle stuck in it's veins is severe shock for such a small thing. By some miracle, I didn't pass out, and managed to get home, where I made a bee line to the nearest quick sugar source. Me, to Christina: "Mommy, can you pour juice for me?" It sounded a whole lot like ".....croak.....croakcroak.....croak" but fortunately she understood. I dosed myself with food, drugs, and doused myself with a shower, and we were off to Ann Arbor. I don't know if anyone else noted this, but at one point, our group split off into two sub-groups. Both groups ended up doing substantially the same things, simply in a different order, such that when we came back together there was much marvelling at how we'd not run into each other. A bit of wandering together, and we were just about done with the art fair. And then I spied the ice cream truck. We stopped, and much gorging on cool frosty treats ensued. I was sitting talking to Madhu, and I looked down into my lemon sherbet. There was a big, black hair in it. Now, I know that it didn't belong to me, or Madhu, and was too deeply embedded to have accidentally floated off a passer-by. So I politely got back in line, and waited. When it was my turn, I tried to innocuously indicate to the woman that there was a hair in my ice cream. She didn't get it, so I had to repeat myself loud enough for the people behind me to hear me. Me: This is a hair. It's not mine. It was in my ice cream, but I've been in line so long, it's melted." As soon as she got it, however, she very politely gave me my money back and killed that can of sherbet. Back to Annie's we go, by way of the Barrel. I had only seen Good Will Hunting once, and before I lived in Boston. I was fascinated (and probably irritating as all hell) by all the Real Live Local Boston Shit in that movie. Sushi. Yum. I crashed out early again, struggling to make it through to the end of the Princess Bride "Hello, lady!" I drifted into consciousnesss a few times to hear much hilarity and shouting of "Bullshit! BULL-shit! BULL-SHIIIIIIT!" *snicker* I had fun dreams. I woke up Sunday morning to discover that I'd apparently chosen the wrong side of Steve to sleep on. I woke up cuddling the Very Nice Endtable. Steve woke up nearly snuggling with Zack. I wish *I* had been the pickle in that sandwich. Sunday was much snacking of food, bantering of words, and packing of stuff. More adventures in the mini van culminated with us back on the campus of UM. I wish I had a .jpeg of Jeff's decisive direction giving as we walked to BD's Mongolian Barbeque. Yummy barbeque. Maggie's mice were snuggled, attack-tickled, had macaroni stuffed in their ears, and much good noshing of food ensued. Alex kindly explained to me that the difference between a boogersnot and a snottybooger were. *burp* loves me some mongolian barbeque. And then, alack, alas, it was time for leavetakings. I was very sad, and felt sicker than I had the ENTIRE weekend. Hence my conclusion that Darkfriends have highly medicinal properties. Socials should be covered by my medical insurance as "Preventative Medicine." I have relatively little else to add except a few laudatory notes to people various and sundry at the social: 1. Maggie and Anne. It is all about you guys. 2. Maggie and Anne for being my honorary mommies and helping me find a doctor. 3. Everyone in general for putting up with my special needs this weekend, from listening very carefully to hear what I was trying to say to you all to being very, very, very, very courteous with your cigarette smoke. 4. Steve Ginter. Yes, I have a few built-in biases toward this boy, but those aside, he never ceases to amaze me at the incredible things he does for people without thought or complaint. He takes very good care of a lot of us. And buys us pretty flowers. 5. Anne and Madhu, who sponsored my trip. To you I will be eternally grateful that I didn't spend the Weekend of My Worst Ear Infection Since 1988 alone, miserable, in my apartment, but instead passed a wonderful weekend with some of the people I love most in the world. Quotes to follow in a separate post. Leah -- Leah L. Cole colel @ earthlink.net "Veni, vedi, dedi gremium bonum" --the Humblest Lap on the Net "It's like Crouching Snapper, Hidden Pepper" --Iron Chef