AJ Alanson, Author

I scoffed, you may remember, “Bring it on, quademic,” after I’d survived three out of four in January, but I just couldn’t quite kick the covid. Then I remembered – one of the now-seven times I’ve had covid, I became a long-hauler and the only thing that broke the cycle was…gulping down a syringe-full of more covid! Yup, and that time it worked (after a few days of questioning my free will).

So, this time I think, can’t shake it? Binge it, however I decide to add the flu vaccine chaser. Hey, vaccines work. My daughter got both the flu and covid prior to the quademic and just walked past the sick-patient rooms in our house, like, breathing through her nose, guzzling sodas, and eating burritos. There’s hope right?

Admittedly, I’m pretty run down when I shuffle into the pharmacy, belly up to the bar, and ask for a double, but little did I know that while I had left my quarantine, ANOTHER (#$@*&%(# – too graphic to describe here, or anywhere, ever) stomach bug hits at the same time as I’m weak from the last three viruses and buzzing on two new vaccines. After two months, a full 1/6 of 2025, I wake to find my manager has learned a new trick. Not fetch, roll over, or shake, but “Play Sick.”