"...one stomach flu away from my goal weight."

Gotta love flu season. On Saturday my stomach was feeling a bit queasy, but I thought it was due to not eating for several hours and being a little stopped up. I felt better in the evening and we had a fantastic light meal at Spacca Napoli, an Italian pizzeria that makes those delicious, paper thin Sicilian pizzas. But Sunday after church it was a rapid decline, and by 3 pm I was curled up on the sofa with a fever of 100.8 and severe nausea. I can't remember the last time I ran a fever, and I am very rarely nauseous. Yesterday was not much better, and since I had no choice but to drag myself to Plainfield to teach for five hours, I was not in the best of spirits. Today I am feeling a bit better, but the tummy is still not quite back to normal. I have to try to focus on the good side: since I've only taken in about a thousand calories since Saturday night, I'm probably down a few pounds! But I'd like my appetite back soon -- life is very dull when you don't look forward to your next delicious meal.

I leave for my first leg of the OFY tour this Sunday, and I just received the briefing email about the week. I google mapped all the destinations, and some of them are really far! One school is very far north, almost to the UP! Looks like I'll be spending some quality time in the tour van. Better get some good books and upload some good tunes to the old iPod. I'm really looking foward to going on the road -- it sounds so rockstar-esque, going on the road! Yep, riding around northern Wisconsin in a white fifteen passenger van, carrying a giant dragon from school to school, Super 8 Motels -- I'm living the rock star life! It's always hilarious to me that people think the life of a performer, any performer, is so glamorous. Maybe Renee Fleming's life is glamorous, but mine certainly isn't. It may be "exciting" in the way that I don't go to an office everyday, don't receive a salary or even a regular paycheck, and don't always know when the next job will come along; but it's not all flowers and applause and curtain calls. But shhhhh don't tell the donors.

So I'll hopefully be reporting from Wisconsin next week, provided the hotel has wireless service. I'll probably end up at a Panera Bread or a coffee house to get Wi-Fi -- if I'm lucky. Something tells me these tiny towns may not even have Paneras. It will be an adventure, that's for sure!