Malaise.

Really, I have no reason in the world to be down in the dumps.

I have a wonderful wife (previous post about last weekend notwithstanding), a son who is going to grow up to be a fine young man despite the rocky start to his life, a house in the country, a job that pays fairly well in spite of what I have to put up with ... really, it's the American Dream, if you think about it. Or, at the very least, my American Dream. Your mileage may vary, as the kids used to say.

(Dusty Rhodes billed himself as "The American Dream," but it always sounded like "Amewican Dweem." The man could not enunciate.)

Part of my problem is the suddenness with which illness sat in this week. It had rained on eight consecutive days (not for eight consecutive days, mind you), and on the first clear day afterwards, I came home from work and mowed around the house so it would look like someone was still living here. (As if the grill on the porch and children's toys in the yard weren't a dead giveaway.)

After mowing a section of the yard to my satisfaction, I went in the house, showered, re-dressed in clean clothes, and thought, "My, I'm a little bit chilly!" Didn't give it a second thought - the shower seemed kind of warm, and the house is still a little bit cool. About a half-hour later, the aching started; again, I was in denial: my body is not used to the work of mowing yet this year, and so I'm sore. So?

An hour later ... still cold. I took my temperature: 101. Yikes.

To paraphrase an earlier post: Where did *that* come from?

The illness left my body almost as quickly as it came, though I unfortunately had to use a day of leave to recover. But paranoia sat in during the height of my fever (which approached 102): bird flu west nile bird flu west nile bird flu west nile. Had to be one of those two merry maladies. West Nile, after all, has been found in the next county over, and bird flu is so prevalent in the news that every time I have a twinge of pain anymore, I'm sure the end is near. Thanks, news media, for feeding my paranoia!

(The Captain says to never trust birds. I thought he was joking. But, as noted before, the Captain's not wrong about much.)

More about the current malaise later.