Arc Tangent

I returned from an awesome weekend in Melbourne on Tuesday afternoon, to find Canberra absolutely, bitterly, butt-freezingly cold. From shopping, awesome food and coffee, Winter Sound System, over a cramped and uncomfortable flight of stomach-churning turbulence, into the throes of what feels like an icy Northern winter from hell.

Aaaaaaawesome. (Sarcasm! How very original!)

I called in to work to tell them I was working from home today, owing to having been exposed to people who were coughing or exhibiting flu-like symptoms on Sunday. Better safe than sorry, right? I feel fine though, so I work merrily away.

Lunchtime rolls around, and one of my friends (who was down in Melbourne with me) SMSes me to let me know he’s feeling awful and heading off to the Doctor for testing.

Uhohs.

A few hours later, another friend who was down with us goes down with flu-like symptoms. That’s 2/4 friends showing signs of some infection. So far, not groovy. I’ve let work know, and I’ve been instructed not to come in until Monday, assuming no symptoms show.

I still feel fine. No aches, no fever, no headache. Slightly tired, but that’s more due to a broken night of sleep than anything. Of course, knowing that friends are sick means every little muscular twinge, every slight sensation of light-headedness, has become a source of paranoia and cause for self-analysis. Tea is consumed, multivitamins taken, the central heater turned up a little, all to prevent the possibility of the dreaded lurgie striking.

Talk about tense. Sure it’s not life or death, but I really don’t want to get sick! I want to be back at the gym, dammit!

So I’m under both voluntary and work-mandated quarantine. Neato.