Subway observations

I took the subway, or in Milan talk, "the Metro" today for the first time in months and was reminded of how there are very few things that I find more aesthetically absurd than drawn-on eyebrows. It's like a terrible accident... one of those horrible scenes that you can't bear to see, yet can't manage to tear your eyes from at the same time. Why do so many women feel the need to completely shave off their real eyebrows and draw a thin, dark line above the area where their brow stubble is peaking through? I saw 2 in the arc of 20 minutes... if we extrapolate that statistically to the entire Milan metro area population it means there are quite a few women in this city that are afflicted with the drawn-on brow syndrome. Is there some sort of psychological disorder that causes them to rip out their real brows? Is it a cultural thing that I'm unaware of? I find it odd.

Also, all of you 20-something young ladies out there, if you are going to wear leggings as pants, don't act annoyed when men, and women for that matter, stare at your ass. Leggings are meant to be worn under tunics, long sweaters, skirts or even shirt dresses. They are not meant to be worn with nothing else covering your ass. Everybody knows that even opaque leggings are not 100% opaque. We can still see your underwear, and yes, we are all looking because, let's face it, riding the subway is boring... and also the battery on my cell phone is almost dead so I can't creep facebook at the moment. 

biologically unfit

I'm still sick. I swear I have the weakest immune system possible without having some auto-immune disorder.

Just as I thought I was getting better... BAM... fever, throat on fire, and some not-your-typical-monday-morning crappiness hit me like a ton of bricks.

Turns out my body has become a bit resistant to amoxicillan. Wonderful. My mother lovingly told me with a laugh that I'll surely be the first to go whenever the world gets crazy enough for biological warfare.

I guess it makes sense though. I mean, I've only been eating antibiotics like candy since I was born. Constant ear infections for the first 2 years of my life, then constant tonsillitis until I was six and had them removed. Then, at least one case of strept throat a year until I graduated from college. Now at least it seems I only get hit bad once every two years, but each time it seems worse. Is that an age thing?

I also love that my family doc here insisted that it was tonsillitis, even after I told him I had my tonsils removed 25 years ago. His specialty is dermatology, but still, come on! On Tuesday I finally went to an ears/nose/throat specialist who confirmed that my tonsils had not grown back, my throat was just so swollen and funky looking that apparently only a specialist would be able to tell that I didn't actually have tonsils.

10 more days of a stronger antibiotic... another week in bed. I feel bad about missing so much work, especially since all of my new classes at the television station just started up the week before I got sick. But, I got an email saying that all the students are happy to have me as their teacher and they can't wait for me to get back... so that was reassuring.

Alberto, in the meantime, is becoming an awesome cook. I knew something good would come from all of this.