I think the fish that this restaurant used for my sandwich last night is getting the last laugh. I don’t think I am going to be able to make it into work… so on top of nausea, will come the guilt. I can take a vacation with no problem, but when I call in sick, I feel like a loafer. When I went to school I only missed days when I was sick – I even went to high school when it was closed (in my defense, it was during winter and I missed the school closing announcement). Granted, I liked getting the extra days off from the snow (as rare as it was), but it never occurred to me that I could skip a day. I guess that carried over to work. I call I sic, I feel guilt. Vacations are fine and permissible, they’re accounted for and approved – no one loses. Sick days? Not approved. They’re like the brother-in-laws of the work world as far as I’m concerned. They show up on your couch uninvited, make the house smell weird and bug you about getting more beer… but if you need a body moved, then they’re the one to call since their silence can be bought. As much as I know that the people on the phones would be better served by someone who is not jumping up to purge themselves every few minutes, I feel that if I am not there doing something, I am… lesser as a person.

Enough of that – on to the writing! I am getting ready to introduce more androids into the novel: Mindy (handles the medical issues and integrity [making sure the exterior hulls don’t come apart]) who is going to get a lot of questions concerning people getting a radiation bath and making sure that no one takes more medicine than what’s needed. What I am finding interesting is trying to imbue the other androids (or if you have to get technical androids and gynoids) with a sense of personality, but keep them in the uncanny valley so to speak. The only one I want to have a real genuine personality is Gail, the main character for obvious reasons. I don’t know if I should give the others a bit of a personality (with the exception of Nathan – he needs to be the adversary to Gail… which means he gets less of an personality than the others). So far, however, I am pleased with what’s going on in the story.

My stomach is still squirrelly, so I am doubling down on soup and ginger ale for the day. With any luck, this will… pass and I will be better off by Monday. For now, it’s just going to be me, the TV, ginger ale and maybe a trip out to get something safe for dinner. I am going to try to write and take advantage of the day. Wish me luck.

Sincerely,

Seething Apathy