Out of the cold

Well, not quite a hundred percent out of the cold, but much much better.  These viruses are hard to beat, I'm grateful that I didn't have to go to work (since I don't have a job) and could rest most of the time.  I had absolutely no energy, but today I walked a bit and vacuumed and went to Friends In Deed, so it was a very productive day.  And I am feeling better, just not completely.  I'm missing a party for the Writers' Guild tonight because it's on 125th Street and I don't have the energy to schlep that far. Tomorrow night, a group of my Mama Gena women are getting together for a reunion at the Harvard Club and I want to feel well enough to go to that.

I have to say that I'm on Match.com and it struck me today, as I was reading some profiles, how difficult it is - and also brave I guess - to put your "ad" for yourself on-line and hope that someone really special finds you.  I know that many people have found their partners on these websites, but I'm just not sure it's possible.  

I do have good news...really good news.  It appears that our play that had the reading this past summer in the Berkshires is going to have another reading in Manhattan this coming March.  The director, Matt Penn, is going to direct again and I don't know who the cast will be, but I'm sure they'll find great people and I'm looking forward to it.  They're searching for a venue that will hold about 150 people. 


I'm looking forward to feeling healthy again - walking the dogs in the cold, with a cold is not fun.  I enjoy walking them most of the year, but December - March is really rough.  Today, Lucy dragged me into the jewelry store Me & Ro (she has excellent taste) and I had fun trying on some very lovely jewelry.  Mary Louise Parker wears all their jewelry on "Weeds" - so I guess I'd have to be a drug dealer to be able to afford it.  

I would think that there would be many people in the city who love dogs and would love to take them for a week or two during the winter?  No? 

Curbed

Okay, I have to admit after 5 seasons of grudgingly and only occasionally enjoying "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and after reading my friend Mia's strong support of the show on her blog ("Under the Stinkwood Tree") - I ordered season 6 on Netflix.  And since I have a cold which is slowly improving, I thought it couldn't hurt to laugh....but would the show actually make me laugh?  Or would I just find him annoying as I often do? 


The first episode, Larry and his wife invite a family, who have been displaced after a huge hurricane, to move in with them. I laughed my ass off.  (Which actually isn't hard to do, since I've lost about twenty pounds this year.)

But seriously, this is funny.  Thanks, Larry.

How do you just have a cold?

A good friend of mine, C, came down with a cold the same day I did and we've been talking on the phone.  Last night, we both had fevers and felt terrible.  I was completely stuffed up and had chills.  I went to bed and slept pretty well, but at 6:30 a.m. my dog Lucy needed to go out for a walk, so I got out of bed and walked her and Lola.  It was a beautiful morning, the rainstorm last night had passed through the city and we enjoyed the walk.  I returned to bed and slept past ten a.m.  I can't remember the last time I slept that late.  But I woke up and felt markedly better, no fever, less stuffy.  I think I'm doing better, but I just spoke to my friend C and she sounded really terrible.  She went to the doctor and he said she has a sinus infection and probably the H1N1 virus.  He put her on an antibiotic and suggested chicken soup and tea and rest.  Then another friend of mine, M, called just now and she was knocked out for three days and went back to work today. 

I am not used to resting this much, but I discovered the show "Glee" and have watched a few episodes.  My brilliant daughter Zoe recommended it to me.  I watched Larry Gelbart on the Archives of American Television and it was fascinating to hear his opinions on all the people he worked with.  I even watched a little bit of the tree lighting in Rockefeller Center.  I'm trying not to panic about work and what I'm going to do.  

First things first: heal myself.  This year has been a rough one and I'm quite happy that it's almost over.  I can't keep up with the news right now: more troops to Afghanistan (not pleased about that) and the health care debate in the Senate, and everything else I've been too distracted to pay attention to and too tired to stay up and watch Jon Stewart.  


At least I can breathe.  Literally, being able to breathe is a big deal.

Letting go

This entire year, when I thought I couldn't take any more stress and I'd probably get sick with something at any moment, I somehow managed to avoid colds, the flu, whatever was making the rounds.

But this weekend, I finally couldn't dodge the bullet and now I'm dealing with a pretty bad cold.  I picked up plenty of chicken soup at Zabar's on Sunday.  I've tried Sambucal, Zicam, Sudafed, Umkca, Vitamin C, Vitamin D, my nettie pot, tea, showers, steam, and my conclusion is it just has to run its course.  I feel better after using the nettie pot, but half an hour later I feel terrible again.  I have no energy and I always get depressed whenever I get sick.  

To fill up my time, I've been watching long interviews with Tom Fontana, Carl Reiner and Mary Tyler Moore on a fascinating website called Archive of American Television.  The interviews are between 4-8 hours.  I even watched a few minutes of the interviews of the headwriters of "The Young and the Restless," one of the soaps I used to write.  I couldn't take more than a few minutes of Bill Bell and Kay Alden, but I do find these long interviews fascinating.  Tom Fontana wrote two of my favorite shows, "St. Elsewhere" and "Homicide, Life on the Streets" and someday I'll have the stomach to watch all of "Oz."  And Carl Reiner's advice from his watchmaker father was: never force anything.  If it's not working, stop trying, turn it around, give it some time, think about it, let it go. I like that.


I guess being sick is a bit like that, you can't force yourself to get well, you just have to let go and stay with the discomfort.