Reason #18 of why I don’t like flying is that it’s roughly a coinflip as to whether or not I’ll come down SARS or some other infectious disease from the legion microbe factories called children.  This time the coin came up “Temporary Icy Grip of Death” instead of “Just Fine” and I came down with a wicked case of I don’t know what.  The first notable symptom was chills, which I first countered by wearing one then two lab coats.  I popped the collars so it looked like I was making a fashion statement.  Being surrounded by engineers and scientists, no one noticed.

The next notable symptom is by far the weirdest I’ve encountered.  All music sounded 30% slower.  My first response was to check that it wasn’t a device issue but both songs on the radio and over Youtube sounded slower.  Voice and ambient noises seemed unaffected.

My reaction to a potential infection is like the TSA to a bomb-threat.  I take no risks and simply sleep until it’s gone.  I had the type of sniffle caused by a descended soft palette so I went through my normal routine of a tall glass of water and throwing the cat outside to make sure it wasn’t allergies.  20 minutes passed and it was still there so I went to bed.  I woke up at 7 AM, still there back to bed.  Same at 9, 11:30, and 2.  Around 3:30 PM the tickle was gone and I declared myself well.  This tactic does have its downfalls: I had called in sick but went to a Scout meeting that evening with my boss where I was loud.  Very loud.  “He’s not sick” loud.