Week 8 2026

FJDKLSJFLKSDJLK fuckin disgusting waste of a week.

Last weekend was quite a disappointment on some regards. This entire week's focus is on one thing: THE FUCKING SUPER FLU.

Last Saturday I was at my In-laws in San Francisco. On that day, they weren't sick. By the time Monday rolled around, both mother and father in laws' both had the sniffles and some headache. Me? In typical fashion, I thought I had ALLERGIES. I ALWAYS THINK ITS ALLERGIES. Oh my nose is a little runny, ah well it's been pretty cold outside iinit? Must be allergies. Hey I've got a slight headache...but I've been outside all morning...it's gotta be allergies. If my fuckin fart smells a little different, its fuckin allergies. You get the idea. Pretty much everytime I start feeling a little different in the head - I automatically think its allergies.

Monday rolls around, my body's feelin a little colder than normal. Kathleen on the other hand, perfectly fine. Later that evening I start sniffling a little more than usual. Probably allergies.

Tuesday morning - wake up normal but didn't get good sleep - fuck the schedule, let me fit in another hour of sleep and roll into my therapy session at 10. Therapy session rolls around, I'm feeling a little more sluggish than normal, and I'm struggling to find warmer clothes to wear on camera. Therapy session starts - a step forward in life, a step back back in life, I'm still doin okay. Keep on goin Ryan, keep goin. About half way into the therapy session I'm complaining to my therapist that I'm not feeling very fresh and my nose is starting to run...a lot. The therapy session ends and I go on with my morning, cooking for both my wife and myself, drinking matcha that I bought from the day before. I take a sip of mine, take a sip of Kath's, still chugging along with the normal breakfast I'm whipping up.

I go to work, reluctantly I'm on training duty yet again (god damnit), but this time with an MLT student. The student, a scholarly gentleman in his mid 40's, kinda nerdy looking, Chinese, head full of thick pointy asian hair, same height as myself, more on the overweight side, never once let down his guard of professionalism and gave me answers that he felt comfortable answering. I can tell the man was really accomplished, had been published on several scientific papers, in deep desire to change careers to something more stable and "not willing to sleep on floors" anymore. He seemed like a really nice guy upfront but I can tell he wasn't comfortable with taking risks like AT ALL. He took pretty much forever to do every task that I asked of him, but he did everything with the best detail. He seemed to scoff at any idea of investing in the stock market or investing in himself further than being an MLT. Brilliant guy but didn't seem really open-minded. Anyway. I get him to help me with maintenance and I allowed him to leave at 6 pm. By that time, all my coworkers knew I wasn't feeling well by how many damn tissues and wyp-alls I was blowing my nose through. I left promptly at 7pm after having dinner with them.

I came home early, happy to be home, but the misery only just started. I spent that Tuesday night plugging both my nostrils with at least a square of toilet paper each and wished both my in-laws and my own family a happy Chinese New Year.

I slept on the couch that night.

Next day, Wednesday, I woke up with enough lower back pain to give a centipede scoliosis. I was pretty much bedridden all Wednesday from the lower back pain and trying to keep my head tilted back to keep my nose from dripping like a faucet on blast. Called out sick from work at 11 am. I made some jook for myself. Didn't do anything else productive at home, didn't care to watch tv shows, play video games, go outside, nothing. Nyquil to sleep, fuck it.

Thursday - Same shit again, nose - straight leaking again for the 3rd straight day. Call out sick at 11am. Watch 2 episodes of Season 2 of The Wire. Something different happens now at around 7 pm...I start getting cold. Like, REALLY cold. I can't fucking move because any movement will create wind that will bring me chills. I'm just trying to sit still and be mindful of my core warmth. My hand outside the blanket makes me uncomfortable. It's only 65 degrees in the house and I'm trembling. It's 9 at night now and my body goes into fever mode and now I've got chills AND a fever. The FUCK man. Kathleen has been at work since 2pm, she ain't even home yet. I miss her dearly by this time. I just want somebody to comfort me and baby me god damnit. She gets home at 11, keeps her mask on, blows up a inflatable bed, and sleeps alone in the living room. So much for affection ugh. Nyquil to sleep again

Friday - Woke up all damn sweaty. Keep in mind, I've been wearing the same Uniqlo heat-tech thermal underwear (top and bottom) for the past week since Tuesday night. Nose still leaking, still blowing my nose everywhere, washing my hands every single time I touch my face, fucking annoying as hell. Kathleen orders some COVID/FLU rapid tests - which I've never seen/used before.

Not even a minute in, this fuckin Flu A line shows up positive. I'm still feverish, still got chills and still leaking from the nose like crazy. This time I text my boss, apologize for my lack of presence (cause I actually care about my co-workers), tell her I'm calling out sick, cause nobody's answering the fuckin phone at work. I think by 3 pm I get some semblance of normal life returning by receiving random phone calls from my best friends. Special thanks to Mike H, Franklin, Nathan, Matt Z. I'd get random chill spells throughout the evening and if I recall correctly I showered for the first time in two days by Friday.

Saturday and Sunday I'm starting to come back to normal but I'm still blowing my nose every hour. The snot is still yellow/clear as I write this. I didn't spend any money all week and splurged a little on Saturday by gambling on TooGoodToGo. For those who don't know - TooGoodToGo is an app that supports local food/grocery/restaurant businesses by allowing them to sell off goods that are not exactly fresh but not disgusting enough to throw into the trash.

I am by no means a gambler, but I don't mind me a little low-stakes gambling from time to time especially when it comes to food. Shit I mean, eating week old food is a gamble from time to time is it not? Why not gamble with a couple bucks over some restaurant quality food that's still technically fresh?

First experience: TooGoodtoGo from the Mehak Indian Cuisine outta Berkeley:

NOT BAD FOR AN 8 DOLLAR GAMBLE. I had so much excess sauce from the tikka masala that I used it to cover up some of the week old chicken breast that I cooked the week prior LOL. 5/5. Would do again.

Second Experience: TooGoodToGo from California Fish Grill outta El Cerrito Plaza.

MAN This one was a fucking gamble. This one definitely did not deliver to my standards based on the description provided. They really teased me on their surprise bag. They advertised that they sometimes offer clam chowder, roasted corn, coleslaw... BUT THEIR BITCHASSES SURPRISED ME WITH RICE LOL

MOFUCKA I EAT RICE EVERYFUCKIN DAY, I'M CHINESE COME ON. Alright alright no complaints, I'll just use this as my meal prep rice for the week to come.

Weekend highlights tho? Just starting to feel better, I've still got lighter sniffles, and I guess I'm ready to come back to work. I just hate the fact that I did NOT get to enjoy ANY of my sick days to do cool shit at all. Saved me some money at least (shrug)

NEW WEEK NEW ME