One thing done

My students finished their exam a bit early (I hope what that means is that they studied hard, knew the stuff, and earned pretty good grades), so I ran over to get my flu shot.

This was the easiest and least-stressful time I've ever had of it. Last year, I went to a local pharmacy and waited over an hour - and then, the pharmacist hit my arm a little too low. This year, the county health department set up on campus - and they brought their "shot nurse," who knows how to give these kinds of shots fast and so that you (mostly) don't feel it.

Also, there was no one else there when I went in - I was able to go and pay (it costs us $25, unless we're old enough to qualify for Medicare, but $25 is worth it if I can avoid the flu), and then get the shot before I had a chance to work up much dread over it.

Other years, I remember:

a. Going to the county health department, waiting in a long line, being behind someone with a 7 or 8 year old child who had to get the injected vaccine and was NOT happy about it

b. Going to the student health services on campus and being crammed like a sardine in a jumbled mass of people, and no one knew for sure who was next in line. And the room was overheated.

c. Waiting in a line that snaked out the door of the student union. (I think that was a year they were warning it was an especially bad strain of flu going around - or maybe that was the year that the swine flu was part of the shot).

Waiting in a crowd, being around crying children, and being in an overheated place are all things that make me go "I'm gonna bail. I'm going to chicken out and not do this." (And yet, I never have...probably because I remember the last time I got the flu, back around 1994, and was sick for a month and had to go on an inhaler because it progressed to asthmatic bronchitis.)

But now I need to GRADE LIKE THE WIND so maybe I can go home this evening and put my feet up, especially if I'm feeling a little bad from the shot. (Sometimes I get some minor symptoms; what's happening is your immune system is going to work against the inactivated virus so you do sometimes feel a little sick.)