silent

I have laryngitis and have been on mute for two full days now. It is quite torturous. It came on Tuesday night and by Wednesday I was hoarse and it was painful to talk. I stayed home from work yesterday because of all this talk about swine flu and universal precautions and isolating yourself if you feel ill. Not that I thought I had swine flu for one second, but it was kind of hypocritical to talk to kids all day with my potentially germy mouth.

So I stayed home and was effing bored. Sleeping in was probably good for me, but being by myself for twelve hours was not. And it's not like I could get anything done, like call my doctor or make summer plans because I CAN'T TALK ON THE PHONE. Texting and gchatting are limited when people are at work. I watched movies, read, took a super long walk, napped, and brushed my teeth a few times.

At night I went to choir (to listen) and sat in the back so as not to infect anyone. Unfortunately, it was audition day for the solo of the song I myself brought to the choir because I wanted to sing the solo. There was not a chance in hell I would be able to try out -- I couldn't make any sound come out of my throat, much less a high F. I asked the musical director to hear me next week, but as they are about to put our concert programs on print, next week is too late. I like to believe that things will work out the way they are supposed to, but it really stings about this song.

Today I went to school because I just could not stand staying home again plus it was clear this wasn't swine flu (duh). Teaching was ok, as I typed instructions into a Word document and projected it onto the wall with the ELMO, plus my classroom management is fairly solid. Our field trip was ok because we had helpful docents guiding us. Overall, though, the day was kind of lonely. I couldn't really be myself.

Now I'm just having some more lonely, biding my time until I can be amongst people again.