My father and I went shoppong for a few last-minute presents today...and ended up on an 8 hour trip to Springfield, I'll. The roads were terrible, but we were careful. Now I can sit back and relax for a bit. The Holiday rush is over for now. Whew!

This morning I spent a couple of hours split between the doctor's office, the university pharmacy, and Wal-Mart. I am happy to report that I am not dying, but my wallet hurts right now.

As it turns out, I have a virus. Which one? Dunno. Neither does my doctor. I named it Stan on the way home from the pharmacy. Apparently Stan is similar to a cold, but then he moves into my chest and simultaneously causes all of the symptoms of a head cold and then adds the symptoms of a chest cold AND bronchitis to my list of maladies.

On top of Stan, I am also suffering from reactive bronchial asthma...which sounds like I pissed off my bronchial passages and this is their revenge. What it means is that I now have asthma...which was caused by Stan. In essence, my bronchial tubes are more rigid than they should be, making it more difficult for me to breathe. I don't know how this happened, but my doctor told me that it was fairly rare for individuals with no history of asthma. Lucky me.

So I have to take Muscinex DM two times a day to help break up the phlegm in my chest. I also have to take Emergen- C twice a day to help knock out the cold-like symptoms and to help my body fight everything off. In addition, I am taking the Z-Pack (Zithromax) to knock out the virus. Finally, I was given a prescription for some cough medicine which contains oxycontin (obviously a controlled substance), so I am only allowed to take it a short while before bed, because it will kick me in the head.

I was grateful for all the medicine and everything, but my co-pay for everything today was close to $100. That is unacceptable. I should have passed on the $40 bottle of "Liquid Gold," as the guy in the pharmacy referred to it. Apparently it has a high street value. Maybe I can sell a few teaspoons to recoup some of my costs. ;)

Kidding.

Ok so that is it for now. I have been banned from working today and tomorrow (doctor's orders); so I think I may do some creative writing after a shot or so of Liquid Gold. Hey, it worked for Hunter S. Thompson...

I was looking for something to make me feel better this afternoon at Wal-Mart, when I came across something that "claims" it will make me feel better...but in reality it just made me sad. Apparenly Wal-Mart sells Enzyte. You know what it is; it "makes men more than what they were intended to be..." or so it claims. I don't buy into bullshit marketing (that often).

So Wal-Mart is not just an evil corperation, but it also sells fake "concoctions" (Sorry, I couldn't resist)that trick morons into spending more money for a larger penis. Give me a break, Wal-Mart. You won't sell Cosmopolitan because it has scantily-clad women on the cover, but you will sell fake cock-creme (or is it a pill? I don't know).

So I am very close to receiving my "economic stimulus" package from the government.  Should I pay off a credit card with this check?  Should I spend it on movies, CDs and books?  Should I put it into the bank, to save it for a rainy day?  Maybe a combination of the previous ideas?

(In case anyone wonders, I will be getting $600; or roughly five tanks of gas come this summer.)  

Ideas are always helpful.  Pictures are even better.  :)