I have two types of illnesses that happen in my life. I get the kind that hits you like a ton of bricks right away, where it is tough to even find the energy to make it to the pharmacy for some relief but then it is all over in 24-48 hours. I can deal with this because I believe in the power of getting the right medicine, food, and rest. I can deal with that and feel as though I handle it pretty well.

Then there is the other kind of cold / sickness and unfortunately it is the kind that I have right now.

This is just a minor and rather irritating cold that never really fully rears its ugly head, but lingers and just makes you feel as they say "a bit under the weather."

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The cold that I have now doesn't prevent me from doing things in my life. I'm not incapacitated and am capable of doing things in my life. Hell, I went for an 8k run last night hoping that the shock to the system would help the cold move on. I also haven't had any alcohol for the past 2 days in the hopes that this would also encourage said cold to move on.

What is happening is I've got an incredibly minor sinus issue going on where I will have a sneezing fit like 2 times a day and then wake up in the middle of the night with my nose impossibly clogged on one side. I have remedies for both of these things but they aren't things that make me feel like I need to stay in bed all day. I just have to have tissues on me at all times and am constantly taking some sort of nasal medication.

To make matters worse; in Vietnam it is impossible to get the kind of sinus medication that actually works like Sudafed and Actifed which contain Pseudoephedrine. This is because apparently people take this medicine and turn it into meth or something like that and therefore, while it is possible for me to buy enough Xanax to kill everyone in my condo without a prescription, I can't even get a couple of pills of this stuff even if someone did write me a prescription - which they won't. All of the other things that they have to sort out a nagging sinus problem simply doesn't work so your only choice in Vietnam - and it was this way in Thailand as well - is to simply ride it out.

This has been going on for 5 days already now and every day I wake up hoping that the cold has moved on but it just friggin lingers and never goes away. I've done all the drinking of hot beverages and eating soup and have limited the stuff I do in a day and mostly stay at home resting but every day I wake up and the lingering "cloud of minor illness" is still there.

This brought something else to my mind that was an issue a couple of years ago.

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Remember back in a time when everywhere you went everyone was wearing those stupid masks that it had already been proven don't actually do anything? Well I was one of the people that refused to do it. Go ahead and call me a science-denier if you want to but I wasn't having it. I do remember that during those times that people were extremely afraid to cough or sneeze in public though because anyone that had any sickness already presumed they had Covid. I recall something I saw online that said "are we allowed to be regular sick? or is everything still Covid?"

I think we are well beyond that fearmongering point in time but it's just funny to me that basically the entire world went through a period of time where they were afraid to cough or sneeze in public.

Today is Thursday, so I have my weekly bowling outing and for the first time in a while I am actually not looking forward to it. It is the time of week when I act the most animated and do a lot of shouting and have to give speeches twice in the day to a group of people and I'm not really feeling up to it all because of a silly and extremely minor cold that refuses to go away. Today I will be taking the last Sudafed that I have in my possession that I had a friend bring back over with them from the States. I don't know what I will do after that.... probably wander around my house with tissues hanging out of my nose.

The point of all of this was to rant and to point out that I would much rather be EXTREMELY SICK for a couple of days than have this minor inconvenience of a cold for what looks like is going to me a fortnight.