Sick day — Blog — Healy Chen

First and last of the year

After going the entire 2024 without once being sick, it took but six days into 2025 for me to catch a cold. I guess it was my turn. At least it’s not COVID! (Are they even counting COVID deaths these days?) My record of never testing positive for the coronavirus remains intact.

Honestly, I rather be not sick and at work, than being sick at home. Staying home is not so glamorous when you are completely lethargic. It’s not like I can do chores or go for a drive on the mountains. I don’t have the energy to workout (this is especially rough). The only thing to do is slump over the couch and watch TV, which is torture for a type-A productivity chaser such as myself.

Perhaps this is nature forcing me to take a break.

With the common cold, you’re just kind of wasting away the day as quickly as possible, so you can get to sleep. Slumber is where the real virus fighting happens, at least that’s how I think of it. I always feel better (than the day before) after a night’s sleep.

As it is anytime I get sick, I am reminded how great it is to be normal and healthy. I shall savor the first meal I eat once I am fully recovered. To be able to actually taste the food is something I won’t take for granted for at least a whole week. A great dish for those with a cold: oatmeal and two eggs. (Bring oatmeal to a boil, then add in two eggs. Stir until egg is cooked, then add milk to the desired consistency.) Takes five minutes to make, and it goes down as easy as porridge. Obviously tastes like nothing, but your buds aren’t working properly anyways.

I can’t wait to be done with this.

Things are happening!

Hey so what a crazy day thus far. I was ready to walk to work when I received a phone call from my housemate (I was already out the door so a shout downstairs wouldn’t have sufficed). He says his pregnant wife’s (a fellow housemate, obviously) water just broke. Things are happening, so I’m needed to take a sick day and look after the dog. It’s all good: I need very little motivation (slash excuse) to not go to work. And mind you I like my job a lot.

So right now I am just chilling at the house with the dog, whilst waiting for the good thing to happen. How long a woman stay in labor varies, right? The babies (it’s twins) will either come out later today, or sometime tomorrow. God willing the labor period isn’t anymore longer than that! I am most excited (among many other excitements) to finally find out the names. I guess it’s unlucky to reveal the name before the baby comes out? Therefore none of the friends know the names yet. We’ll find out when the boys pop out of the mommy.

And then everything will be different after that. The house will be a constant backdrop of baby noises, interspersed with momentary periods of silence. Noise-cancelling headphone technology will come in real handy for me. Earplugs for sure when I go to sleep. Someone’s going to still get the proper amounts of sleep in this house, and it’s going to be me. Because I need to be in peak condition whenever my help will most certainly be asked for in the coming future.

Half joking aside, it’s rather emotional to think such a big life event is happening for my close friends. I’ve other friends with kids, but this particular one hits figuratively close to home: we’ll all be under the same roof. The fact that I’ll get to witness (and hear) the process on a daily basis is kind of special. Looking forward to it!