Going home today.

And I'm sick! Can't even swallow without cringing and for the sake of being melodramatic, there was blood in the phlegm that I coughed out. *cue sad violin background music and thunder*

Anyhow I'm going home today! I haven't started packing yet because I'm still doing my laundry, and my parents are currently in Johor on the way south to Singapore to pick me up. I know, I have the best parents in the world. Originally I was taking a flight home at 2pm this afternoon, but then an important workshop was scheduled (a workshop regarding research funding, which is kinda the lifeline to my research), so my parents agreed to fetch me home after the workshop instead.

My throat hurts so much, I'm dedicating this paragraph to it. Here you go.

I'm drinking some herbal medicine that my Chinese friend Feng Yang gave to me. It sucks being sick but it's sorta nice to have people fuss over you a bit. Only yesterday did I realize that I had no clue about what to do while having a fever, since I hadn't had one since quite some time ago, and I was home then so my mum took care of everything. Do you wrap yourself up under the blankets and sweat it out, or would that only increase your body temperature? I think I've heard theories from both ends. And what aren't you supposed to eat when you've got a fever? Woe betide any kid who becomes my child. After a night of intense sweating and hourly pissing (no shit - hmm do I spot a pun here?) the fever resided. All that was left is this raging sore throat.

Just went down to get my laundry. As a strategy to the norm of not smiling at people here, I've been taking the middle path in walking around with a half-smile so when expressionless people encounter me they don't have to face a full-fledged toothy grin; but decent people can respond with half-smiles of their own and we can take it from there. (Which is often a nod and a slight sidle away from this half-smiling weirdo and a sigh of relief when the lift doors open.)

OK I should go pack. Throat still hurts like a bitch if you want to know. 5 seconds later. Yeap it's still hurting. No signs of stopping.