After the universe's sneeze

(Here's the team greeting. My lovely wife and I actually did manage to have our First! Ever! evening alone in our own house, but then...)

My Fellow Dragons:

I've got some good news and some bad news.

The good news: I'm now below 200 pounds! I hopped on the scale this morning and I was 199.5 pounds! And it's been so easy to do! I simply haven't eaten since Tuesday!

The bad news: I've had the flu. I've had no appetite. And one of the after effects of the flu has been a facial infection that has me on antibiotics with the doctor's warning "If it gets worse by Saturday or there's no improvement by Sunday you need to go to the hospital for an i.v. of antibiotics."

It has been a week of "Typhoid Mary Meets Piotr the Plague Master" at the household: I had to do a quick bail on Sunday's post-game victory drinks because my lovely wife was sick and, as it turned out, I had to rush her to the local clinic because she came down with horrendous strep throat. Geel, who had a fever Saturday night when he was off skiing with friends, had to go to the doctor on Monday because he also developed strep throat. And Zed still has the cold he came down with last Friday, but last night it came with an ear infection.

As for me, I was feeling like a million bucks until Monday night around nine o'clock when I began feeling chilled, I started shivering and my teeth started chattering. I then spent the whole sleepless night sweating through t-shirt after t-shirt and pissing like a race horse. That was Monday. Tuesday was sleeping all day. And Thursday was yet another trip to the doctor because my glans were swollen and my cheek and the upper bridge of my nose were sensitive to the touch. Hence the antibiotics and the "get to the hospital if it doesn't get better" suggestion.

The only cool thing about all this is that I have no appetite whatsoever and my usual "I'm hungry therefore cranky" state of being has been eliminated. I am completely and utterly indifferent to food. Today is the first day I'm kind of hungry, but up until now it's been lots of liquids, the occasional banana and piece of toast and tons of Gatorade. The last full meal I had was Monday night's leftover steak and garlic mashed potatoes from Saturday's evening out.

All of which is a long-winded explanation of why it's damned unlikely I will be playing Sunday. It would be foolish to even contemplate playing but (a) we're off to Mexico and if I miss this game I won't be playing for three weeks, and (b) I'm too dedicated/stubborn/stupid to take a stand today and say I cannot play on Sunday.

Unless of course I'm in the hospital with an i.v. in my arm. I guess that would be a pretty good excuse for not playing. Oh if only there was a doctor reading this e-mail who could give me some guidance!

This Sunday is a re-match against the Zulu's. They skunked us 4-0 in our last outing, but they were recently beaten by the Beer Raider 6-2 and we just beat them last week, and last Sunday they lost to the Tiger Sharks 5-2 who we also demolished a couple of weeks ago. They are on a three game losing streak; we are on a three game winning streak. Momentum is in our favour.

In other words: revenge will be ours and tears they shall cry into their collective losers' beer!

I'd like to say I'll be joining you, but as you can see it is most unlikely. I'm hoping a bunch of you still have the team roster I forwarded a couple of weeks ago. Please make sure the names and numbers are all correct.

And that is all. Please let us know if you are unable attend -- and hopefully your reasons are healthier than mine.

Stay well,
Kevin.