GEEKOLOGY 101: Remember when being home sick was awesome..?

So yesterday I was too sick to finish out my day at work and had to go home or pass out on my computer keyboard.

Once home, I was left with the task of trying to keep my overactive mind stimulated enough so I could rest and recoup from this illness that was ravaging my sinus glands as well as my joints.

So I settled down with a bowl of chicken noodle soup and set out on that task.

Always, in my life, I have needed noise around me to sleep, rest, concentrate, whatever.

Even right now, as I write this column, I have episodes of The Office playing in my right ear.  

Maybe I am just crazy or whatever, it is just the way I have always been.

So as I lay on my couch wondering what to have playing in the background of my well-needed and eventual slumber, I was struck with a thought.

Remember when you were in high school and staying home was right up there with a snow day?

I used to love staying home sick with the flu, the mumps, whatever, I just didn’t want to end up in school that day.

Plus my parents didn’t ever want to be “those parents” that brought their kid to school only to have them infect all the other kids there.

I don’t know what I did during those days home by myself but I do remember it making an impression on me.

Enough of one that it still makes me think on it even today.

I do know that I did watch a LOT of television back then.

Didn’t matter what or when, I could turn on something and get some mental enjoyment out of it.

Or I would just pop in Star Wars and watch it for the upteenth million time.

Now as an adult, that doesnt’ really work for me.

Maybe it was the fact that as a teenager, I could kick the sickness out of my system moments after mommy & daddy pulled out of the driveway.

Maybe it was just not needing as much mental stimulation back then.

Whatever the case I was at a loss yesterday at things to do to get me counting sheep.

So I tried a plethora of different ideas to see if I could get sent off to La La land.

At first I tried catching up on all my social media games, i.e. Words with Friends, Draw Something, etc.

That didn’t work. The fact that it required too much attention actually worked against what I was trying to accomplish.

So I put the iPad away.

Second, I tried looking through my usual television listings via Hulu, Netflix, etc and couldn’t find a thing that really caught my eye.

Oh there was an episode of Castle ready but I knew there was no way that watching that was going to nod me off to sleepy head time.

So as the hours ticked away and I felt worse and worse, it finally dawned on me...the heater.

I turned on some random show, turned on our space heater and pulled my Eagles blanket to just below my chin.

The constant hum of the heater teamed with the randomness of the television show (Disappeared on Investigation Discovery) did the trick and I was out like a light.

The next thing I knew, there was a face hovering just above mine. My littlest one decided that he was going to stand there and wait until I woke up and said hi.

It was a little frightening to wake up to a face hovering above me but it was a cute face so I gave him a pass.

So I know what to do next time. I just really hope there isn’t a next time.

Because, unlike my younger self, I am just going to have to do a better job of staying healthy and avoiding this situation in the future.

Gary Darling is the geekiest employee at the Maryville Daily Forum. His email is:

gdarling@maryvilledailyforum.com. Drop him a line sometime!