Blog Archives - Rachael Jurek

Quasi Viral Insurgence

1/30/2009

Apparently this is what I have been sick with... Sure.

Although my testing for Mono was negative it appears I picked up a virus. Many of us had mono when we were younger but didn't realize it. We most likely thought it was a cold. Then as adults we are something like 98% immune or something like that.

I had two students last semester who had mono for sure. Just before Christmas I started feeling a little "off." Then the day after I got home from the Timberwolves game I knew something wasn't right. By that weekend I was sleeping 18 hours a day and had the worst sore throat ever.

My body was acting as if it had caught the mono virus even if it was something different. I'm trying to "psyche" out my brain by telling it it should continue the accepting the limited intake of food it has for the past three weeks, but feel normal otherwise. Then I'll be able to fit into even more of my "skinny" jeans!

Yes, I'm making a positive out of the situation but I'm also feeling much better.

I hope those of you who never knew you had mono don't ever experience Quasi Viral Resurgence. But if you you are sick for more than three weeks and during one of those weeks you have a fever and sore throat (but no head congestion, chest congestion and very little cough) and your blood tests come back normal you too might be suffering from a quasi viral resurgence.

Now I will end with one of my most hated phrases too often used in Milwaukee, "Just so you know."

10:11 PM -- reposted from my former myspace blog

We don't kill no more

1/2/2009

This is the statement I heard over and over today while at McDonald's...

First, I usually don't eat at McDonald's because it typically makes me sick to do so. But after the festivities of New Year's Eve I needed me some McDonald's Orange Drink something fierce!

I had been on a walk with my friend Ariel to try and "clear my head." And I finally reached the stage of being able to swallow and potential eat something. All of the good places to eat were closed for New Year's - So Mc'y Dees it was.

We ordered our food and sat down. There were two homeless men sitting in the middle of the dining area. They had the paper and one of them had a coffee. The one appeared to be extremely wind burned and was having a pretty bad day by the sounds of it. He was having flashbacks from most likely Viet Nam. He kept saying, "We don't kill no More. Nope after we got back to the states we don't kill no more." He muttered this over and over. He talked about the helicopters and the guns. "They took our guns away when we got to the states and we don't kill no more." His friend just sat clutching his coffee not saying a word.

I was actually quite impressed with three young men who were in another section of the dining area as they could have easily made fun of the men or yelled back jeering remarks. But they didn't. It was as if everyone in the McDonald's accepted these men served our country, and our Country failed them. Letting them have a little warmth was the least anyone could do.

Since I was not in the eating mood we gave our fries and left over portion of sandwich to the men who took them graciously. For someone to be so appreciative of french fries almost makes you cry. But the last statement uttered actually brought tears to my eyes.

In his final blurt before going out to smoke a cigarette the man with the Post-war trama said one more time, "After we got back to the states we don't kill no more... But we did."

Happy New Year. Please remember to love thy neighbor, even if you may not agree, it's the least you can do. - Reposted from the original myspace blog