Well, I went and done it again. By not taking care of myself, by trying to do too much in a limited timeframe, I've worn myself down and caught a cold. This happened to me back around the beginning of September, when a Saturday trip to Fukuoka followed by mountain hiking on Sunday left me waay to exhausted to be good for work the next week.
This time, it was a variety of factors. Wednesday and Thursday, I had classes at the elementary school, which can still be quite the stressful experience even after a year of experience. Then on Friday, like a fool, I stayed up way to late playing Halo 3 online. Saturday was busy- I had to wash clothes, get a haircut, head over to Ryan's to watch the Indians game, and then drive way out to Ozai to play futsal. That was followed by a trip to Joyfull and another long drive back.
Sunday, still without any time to get really good rest, I got up and went to watch an exhibition game of the local pro basketball team, the Heat Devils. It was a little bit better than I expected, sp good overall, but then I headed back to Ryan's again to watch game 2 of the ALCS, a good game but really, really long.
Then it was time to go back home and get ready for school again the next day, which just my luck, featured two demonstration classes that I had to participate in, these were heavily prepped and planned for classes, a very big deal, and one of them was watched by about 20 other visiting teachers. No, that's not stressful at all. Then, one of the older teachers who had taped the class gave us a thourough review of class, what we did right, what we did wrong, etc.
Well that ended at about 430/5 oclock, and I thought, alright I'm home free! But wait! Mishiro sensei, who meant well, was taking the 2nd years' teachers out for yakiniku- his treat! I couldn't say no, and we went and ate a ton of yakiniku- like three platters worth. Actually it was almost disgusting, but everyone left the place full, that's for sure.
By Monday I was already getting a scratchy throat, and conditions continued to deteriorate throughout the day. Next my nose started running, I got a headache, muscle stiffness, all of that good stuff. I mailed Ryan to let him know that I wouldn't be making it to watch Game 3, and with my classes over I asked to leave a little bit early. I spent the rest of the night reading Wikipedia, definitely not feeling too hot.
Last night was horrible. I spent the night in a half-asleep, half-awake daze, and it got really cold, so I was freezing too. I was really glad to see the sun coming up this morning. I called into work, and so far today I've been taking it very easy, and hopefully getting better.
I just have to watch it more often. In Japan, with its crazy work schedules and obligations, things can really sneak up on you before you know it. I obviously was overloaded with stuff to do, and then that just wore me down to a point where it was easy to get sick. My educated guess would be I got sick at the basketball game, being in an arena full of so many people, I probably picked it up then. The game was fun though. I just have to learn to take it easier sometimes.