Being Sick and Midterms Just Don't Mix Well

I hate being sick.  I'm usually only sick once a year and usually around this time.  Still, it's enough for me to realize how much I hate being sick.  A week ago Sunday I was enjoying the Superbowl and Monday night I was in class as usual, but by the time I was going to bed that night I felt my lymph nodes getting bigger and a cough developing.  I even took vitamins and medicine to stem the effects.

It was no use.  By Tuesday it was obvious that I had a cold.  I had to miss my Strategy and Finance classes that night hoping that I would be okay for my Finance midterm on Thursday.  Wednesday I woke feeling a little better and I was able to get a lot of studying and work done, but by the afternoon I realized that I still wasn't well enough to go to class.

On Thursday morning I was feeling even worse than I was on Wednesday.  I ended up taking some daytime medicine before going in to a study group in the afternoon.  It made my nose run even more than it had been.  Still, I slogged through the study session with friends (who I hope I didn't get sick), my Strategy class, and finally my Finance midterm.

Being sick had given me a lot of time to study and I felt like I was doing great on the midterm, until I got to the last question.  It was asking about a reading that the professor had assigned the day I was out.  In his defense I should have emailed him that I was out sick or one of my friends in class (and at my study group) should have told me.  At the time though I was a little pissed.  In the end though I wrote the best answer I could and turned in the test assured that my answers on the rest of the test would cover the last question.

By Friday I was feeling much better, so I took the motorcycle out for a ride down to pick up Erin.  We didn't want to miss the bright skies and warmer temperatures that had visited Colorado for last week.  By the time I got back to my place though I was exhausted and Erin was kind enough to come by and cook me some chicken soup.

Over the weekend I've gotten significantly better as we worked on wedding stuff.  There always seems to be one more thing to do for the wedding, but at least it feels like we're on the ball about getting it taken care of.  As for school, the midterm presentations and papers keep coming.  As expected this is coinciding with an increase in work from freelancing which also needs to be finished as soon as possible.  Place on top of that a student club that I can't seem to get enough people active in, bills to pay, and taxes and I start feeling down.

As I start to get stressed and feeling defeated though I realize that that's the way life goes.  It comes in waves and sometimes those waves build up on one another.  Like sitting in a boat with waves coming in from all sides it can seem like the boat's going to capsize any minute.  The answer isn't to abandon ship though.  I've learned the best way to get through the storm is to point the boat at the biggest wave, kick the engines into gear, and just get past one wave after another.  In a month or two (or six) it will be all behind me and I'll be sitting in the sun enjoying a drink with my beautiful new wife.  Until then, I've got work to do.