Cold, psoon, balls, bird

SERVING SPOON! That was the word I wanted, when I was talking to The Man this morning.

"The big spoon, you know, we've got two," didn't work. He didn't know what I was talking about. When he finally figured it out he said,

"But that's not a SPOON!" and I said,

"YES, IT IS!" and the argument was just about to take off when we decided that we would call it a psoon. His idea, not mine, but I wish I'd thought of it. Psoon is a lovely word, pronounced exactly as it is spelt. And yes, you'll find it's quite easy to pronounce ps. ("Just like in 'pussy,' said The Man, and I explained that pussy has a u, and psoon doesn't. Then I told him that I can't blog that, because pussy has ANOTHER meaning, and will get me all the wrong kinds of hits via search engines. That's why I'm not blogging it. Putting it in parentheses means that it's not really here.)

The reason I wanted to tell him about the psoon was that the psoon had got caught by its little loop (on the end, for hanging it up) in the drying basket, and when I dislodged it, rather suddenly, the big knife which was also in there jumped up and bit my finger. I may have bled into the chicken curry, but I didn't tell him that, because in any case I was greedy and ate what was left so he didn't need to worry about it. Does eating my own blood make me an auto-vampire? I showed him the (tiny) cut on my finger hoping for a little sympathy but he just told me I was aho (stupid). I am not aho. It was an accident. If you have been chopping chilli and then have a pee (if you are a man) THAT is aho, and I have never done that. Guess who has? Ha!

The other news, besides this tiny cut on my finger, is that I have caught a cold. It is not a bad cold, at least not so far. My temperature shot up last night so I went to bed, and when I woke up the measures I've been taking seemed to have worked. I still have a sore throat but my temperature is back to normal and my nose isn't dripping much at all. All in all, I think I'm doing rather well. In fact catching a cold two weeks before classes start is bloody good planning, if you ask me.

If you're wondering what my anti-cold measures are, I took two different kinds of kampo, also Vitamin C and laxatives, did nasal irrigation, then went to bed with two hot water bottles and several layers of warmth, and slept a lot. I also took some calcium by mistake, but you never know, that might have helped, too. (I thought it was Vitamin C, only reading the C before I helped myself to a handful.) The laxatives were because I always get constipated when I have a cold and I'm sure it's connected.

Not everybody is enamoured of nasal irrigation, I know, but it does help, in my opinion, once you get past the 'eek!' factor. It certainly helps you to breathe easier at night when you have a cold.

Today I stayed at home and did nothing. It rained a little and was generally a gray sort of day, so it wasn't exactly a sacrifice to not go out. I spent some time on the Internet, meaning to catch up on my blog reading but making the mistake of going to Pharyngula first, which I haven't caught up with for a while. That meant that I ended up following links all over the place, and never did get to number two on my list. I can now tell you, from experience, that it is possible to waste an ENTIRE DAY if you go to Pharyngula unprepared and without a strong will not to get distracted. There was even a wonderfully revolting post about earwax. (And other bodily secretions. You have been warned.) I told you about the different kinds of earwax but on Pharyngula you can learn what it is made of.

One of the places I got distracted at (via Pharyngula), is here, which is supposed to show how your computer works. Actually, I think they had a peek inside my head. But you probably shouldn't start watching that one if you're sleepy. There is a risk that you'll still be glued to your chair a couple of hours after the page loads, hypnotised by the little balls.

Oh, and I also found this picture on my disk of the little bird I wanted to ask CRMJ about. What is it? I've been checking this world bird guide, but not knowing where to start is a problem. The nearest I could find was the Pied Water-Tyrant, but it's not quite right.


So that was my day. Having a cold, naming the psoon, finding out what my earwax is made of, wandering the web, being hypnotised by little balls, and virtual birdwatching.

How was yours?