I haven’t posted anything in a while — I’ve been sick since Thursday and it doesn’t seem to be getting much better. I don’t do sick well — I worry about my classes, getting behind in the semester schedule, and rescheduling exams, when I should just be relaxing so my body can fight whatever’s going on inside me.

When the semester began, administration e-mailed faculty and told us that due to H1N1 fears, they were advising students to stay home if they felt sick. They told us that we could not require notes from doctors, as that would give students a disincentive to stay home if they felt sick but couldn’t get to a doctor. This basically gives students a get-out-of-jail-free card in case they haven’t studied for an exam. There’s no doubt that some students will take advantage of it, so some (including me) were a bit annoyed by the policy. It means that many of us will have to write another version of an exam and hope that students aren’t playing us for suckers. But I understand the issues at play and the administration’s concern about the flu, and I realize there’s no perfect solution here. Their primary concern is limiting the spread of the flu, and everything else comes second.

Fortunately, I don’t have H1N1 — my temperature has been about 2 degrees below normal, the opposite effect of H1N1. But I decided that it was better to be safe and cancel class today and stay home in bed. I didn’t want to give anybody what I have, and with my immune system compromised, I didn’t really want to risk catching the flu from someone at school. I was hoping that I could rest up and get better but that didn’t happen today. So I’ll stay in bed tomorrow, catch up on Maury (“You are… NOT the father!” ), and hopefully turn the corner on this thing so I can at least go to my classes on Wednesday.

And yes, I’m drinking lots of orange juice, Mom.