Snik, snik, Sick

I don't think anybody can say that they've never got ill. Some people just get it more often than others. I remember as a child, that I just knew when I was gonna get sick. Twice annually was a certain thing, mostly fever or flu. Back then, I knew why that was. Like I said it so many times in The Taster's blog, I'm a meatatarian, so if it was not necessary I'd not eat any veggies. My parents always complained to the other parents (why do parents love to do that?) how the new generation doesn't like veggies and that they only eat meat and junk.



However I was never fond of getting ill, I know some of my friends, who'd love to get sick. They tell me about the extra attention and the extra care from their parents, which I can't say that I did recall. There was one time that I got what's called parotitis, an inflammation of one or both parotid glands. In simple English: One or both of your cheeks will swell up if you have it. I still remember everyone in the family made fun of it and even draw tiger on my cheek with the medicine. I thought it was pretty funny too. Since the Hakka people call it 'zhu tew pi', which literally means pig's skin. The facial around the cheeks will be so swollen that the skin feels so tight and hardy, but very sensitive and painful. So they believed...by drawing a tiger on my cheek, it'd eat the pigskin and I'd be fine after that. Now I look back, it was quite funny, but I'd never want to experience that again.

Now a tad older and wise enough to know that a human body need certain vitamins and minerals to prevent one from getting sick, I'm trying to incorporate veggies whenever possible. And even now, I'm getting sick from time to time. Not that often anymore, but every time it seems like I've outgrown it and I wonder if it was so tough the last time. I'm aware of the viruses getting stronger and new variations are appearing every year, but somehow I'd never really focus on it as long as I don't get sick. And me-getting-sick has a certain procedure. Yeah, I thought it was only me who liked procedure, I was not even aware that my body also liked procedures. It starts with a squeaky throat, then my body temperature starts to rise. After a whole day of rest, the fever seems to nearly go away and the nose starts leaking and the eyes start watering. That's the start of the flu, after which I'll stay with a persistent cough for weeks or even months. Yeah... and that's why every time I wonder if it was so tough the last time, because every time seems so severe and I'll be knocked out for several days.

Now I'm at the stage where my flu is starting to go away, so hopefully my body will skip the cough and just leave me at peace.