A Bout of Chicken Pox

Time heals everything, even time itself.

I heard a speaker who once said that if you wanted to know the value of each second, ask someone who had a close call with accident. I never had the chance to ask one. But I might have a luck in asking a random husband that I see sitting next to a women’s clothing shop in the mall. He probably knows the true value of every second he spends to get by the time waiting for her wife to return from shopping.

This is what my scar-ridden face looked like in the aftermath of a Chicken Pox attack. The picture is a bit over-exposed so much of the scars aren’t visible but if you look closely, there are lots of dark spots around my temples and cheeks. The person behind me is Prabin, our new Nepali manager. We hitched a ride on the back of a small truck on the way home.

It’s a good thing that we only get infected by Varicella Zoster virus a.k.a. Chicken Pox once in our life time. No one likes to have troublesome scars from time to time. But according to the doctors, even after a successful bout with the virus, not all of which are eradicated from our body. Some of the surviving viruses can hide in our body and avoid the detection of the immune cells. Later on in life, when our immune system gets weaker due to old age, they can travel back to the skin surface and inflict on us a slightly altered version of itself called shingles.

Setting what the palindrome was saying aside; these days, I am following a not-so-strict exercise routine. I usually exercise on every other day. The physical regimen involves riding a stationary bike for 30 minutes, followed by doing three sets of different dumbbell exercises. I finish the routine by working on the abs roller. 

This is the second time that I have peeled off a medium-sized pineapple. The first was when I was nine years old. I don’t like eating pineapple that much not because peeling its spikey skin off is a bit challenging, but because I didn’t like the taste and texture.  

Here’s a fake tattoo that I drew on my left arm using a small brush dipped in an India ink. I find it difficult to draw on the human skin as opposed to drawing on paper. Unlike the sedentary paper, human skin is elastic, it responds to room temperature and has contours that differ from person to person. Someday, I’m thinking of retiring as a tattoo artist. But given my age right now, I would be too old by then. 

That begs a question, who would want to have their skin tattooed on by someone with shaky hands anyway? I think I'll pass.

Here’s an egg recipe that I invented. I like to use the word “invented” because it feels like I have done something so relevant in the history of mankind. I didn’t have a name for it yet but the basic recipes are: oil, garlic, onion, salt, potato and egg. 

Here’s a Mechado that I cooked. This and Ginisang Munggo are the two recipes that I always like to cook every now and then. The reason being that is so I can whipped out a dish of this or two at any given time without having to ask Google for the recipe.

These days, I’m eating a bit hefty to recover the weights that I lost during the Chicken Pox bout. Remember that when you get infected by this virus, there is nothing that you can do much. You are in the mercy of your own immune system. You can increase its efficacy by eating healthy foods and drinking lots of fluids, but the flu and fever that come along with the infection will keep you, most of the time in bed, and make you feel weaker that you’ll hardly feel hungry at all.

But luckily, time is your best friend. Your body will heal in time. The total period of recovery is just around a week although some may take it up to two weeks.

That’s all for me this weekend. Bye!