T'is the season to be coughing

The first cold of the season has arrived at our doorstep. As newly acquired husband bounces out of the house and into this place of workship where posters are drawn, prizes are given out,amateur music videos created in the hallways and they have team huddles and deep dives, I stay at home feeling too good to be sick and too bad to be healthy. It's called working from home.

The first round of the day has me reading the news, writing a lot of emails to co-workers so that it is clear that I am really working (which I am, co-workers!), then some soft style medication, essentially all that herbal stuff that and maybe a Nutella sandwich. At this point I am contemplating a nap, just when the monsters come out of the woodworks.

Lady living above us finally dragged football bouncing, screeching child out of the door, screeching gets louder, then subsides. Lady next door is gently humming a tune or possibly not so gently because I can hear it. "It's the season to be jolly...tralalalalaaa" and now that is stuck in my head. Lady above us now returns with only one wailing child in tow, he goes back into his living room above my head and it becomes clear that it has not in fact his brother who was doing the ball bouncing. Fabulous. Oh, now comes Mom, doing something that sounds like she is dragging some sort of apparatus along the floors, WHY do you do that? Ah, she is vacuuming. People apparently do that on Wednesdays. Why don't we ever do that?

Time for round two: taking that nap. In the other room I go to let vacuum lady have her space. I lie down, the phone rings, I don't answer it. I am working people! Other lady stops humming, leans on wall that separates our two apartments and now she starts screeching. This is a different family, not the one with the priorly screeching child, "you are a liar, you are a fucking liar". Oh, he is so in the dog house. Poor guy. And that voice! Would not want to live with her. I return to the living room, vacuuming all done above my head, but now we got a helicopter circling across the dark dark gray sky. People, I give up, working from home is hard, but I guess it's better than being a lazy sick girl.

Round three: lets get out the heavy artillery. Yep, here she comes: Night Nurse. Finally. One more bite of Nutella and then sweet dreams to me.

P.S. Anything, anything at all you may know about Korea and petrochemicals, you call me. I got more specific instructions for you.