Left brain

A.: Don't close that tab, please- I'll come back and work on it more.
Mom: Work on what?
A.: Word puzzles... (see NYT Puzzles.
Mom, rolling her eyes: Oh, that stuff. All it does is exercise your left brain. That's very American. Left brain, left brain.
A.: [Shrug.]

***

I'm not feeling well, and the zinc I took to fight what I hope is not a cold, I took with not enough food, which was not without consequence.

Mom: Instead of taking some chemical, why not take some Tylenol?

Pause

Mom: It'll make you feel better.
A.: I don't want to feel better, I want to fight the cold.

More importantly, I want to go for a run, but I really shouldn't. Although... there was a time, as a grad student, when I had a very miserable cold, and in spite of it went on a forty-mile bike ride. And then took a half-hour nap and went to work for four hours. The next day, I felt better than ever.

***

I had this epiphany as we were drinking tea. Serenity, if you're reading this, I think you'll approve.

So, I'm sitting there thinking, should I really have that piece of dried papaya, when it hits me that I am not fat. I mean, I know that, and I also know that my clothes do not fit the way they used to, ergo I should back off the dried papaya. But backing off the dried papaya over the last six months has not improved the fit of my clothes. But then again, whom am I kidding? I haven't honestly backed off of anything. So I'm back to where I started, and Serenity probably does not approve.