A Little Sick

I really thought that I was going to do it last night. I really thought that I was going to break the no-vomit streak.

The last time I threw up, I was 8 years old.

I have no clue why, but around 8:00 last night, I started feeling nauseous. I went to lay down, but the nausea built steadily until about 2 AM. At this point I gave up. “OK, stomach.” I said. “You win. The streak is over. Let's go do this thing.”

So I went to sit in the bathroom. And, I swear, my stomach couldn't remember how to do it. It was awkward, really. We had come to an agreement, or so I thought – I was going to let it vomit, and then the nausea would go away. But I sat there awkwardly, and I just thought . . . wait, how does this work again? Do I need to initiate this thing? What's happening?

I waited for about 30 minutes with the taste of my dinner right up in the back of my throat before I decided to go back to bed. No pukage. Just sustained, unpleasant nausea.

Today, I feel moderately crummy. Still nauseous. Low-grade fever. Achy and tired. And being sick here fucking blows. I'm sitting in bed, bored out of my mind – no daytime TV, no nothing to distract me. I need to go to town to buy more gasoline to power the generator to charge my phone and laptop, and I can't find the energy to do it. Even just typing this post is wiping me out.

To make things worse, for some reason, one of the churches nearby is having some kind of marathon service. Starting at about 10 PM last night, and continuing until 5 AM, and then starting again about an hour ago, some idiot with a loudspeaker has been yell-preaching, screaming until his voice is hoarse. There's been lots of extremely loud, off-key singing, and drums, and even a keyboardist who knows 3 chords. I swear to God, I came this close to storming out of the house, tracking him down, and spewing chunks all over his keyboard (“C F C G C? C F C G C?? C fucking F C G fucking C?!?!?? Learn a fucking A chord, asshole!! BLARRRRRRGH”).

Oh well, it could be a hell of a lot worse. As African illnesses go, this is pretty darn mild. But it was kind of weird how fast it came on. And it just goes to show how easy it is to get sick here – as I said before, things grow crazy fast in this heat and humidity. Bread molds in two days, and several times I've picked up some veggies I bought a few days before to find them crawling with bugs or worms. And everybody wants to greet you with a handshake – including the obviously ill. So there's plenty of opportunity still to end the no-vomit streak.

EDIT: Turns out the middle-of-the-night noise was a funeral. Guess I'm glad I didn't puke on the keyboard.