Friday

I'm feeling a little better today, thank you very much. This has been a most interesting cold. I'm still suffering some symptoms, but the generalized ick has gone away. I don't know if it's a benefit of exercising, or a characteristic of this particular bug, but the whole ordeal was pretty lightweight. Every single night during the whole thing I ran at least a kilometer and a quarter on the treadmill, most of those nights I lifted weights as well. Every day I woke up depressed that the cold hadn't "gotten bad" yet--I guess I was expressing concern that the hellish malaise that generally clobbers me the third day had yet to materialize. Now I think the whole cold is beginning to go away. I'm in a pretty good mood about this. I don't know if it proves I'm in better shape than I used to be, but it certainly proves that my gym routine has taken root: I never even thought about skipping a day. Tales from the gym: last night something strange happened. Often the lounge guys stick around after locking up to play pool. Once, I even heard balls being racked over my MP3s--three am and they were still here shooting a game in the dark. I've long since shrugged off concerns over the stealth of my midnight exercise. Having the staff hanging around doesn't bother me like it might've two weeks ago. But last night I opened the door to the gym and found a guy just standing there in the dark, doing nothing. Then, another guy ducked around the corner, saw me, and diverted toward the closed swimming pool. Both of these guys furiously ignored me, sprinting off in opposite directions the second my back was turned. I dare not speculate. [Cavin]