the sophomore epidemic

I couldn't find a thermometer in my house, so I ignored the possibility of a temperature and went to sleep on the sofa for about four hours. Which reminds me, I still remember the days we didn't have a sofa. I think we finally got around to getting one when I was in fifth, sixth grade. We used to have those old grey chairs and I would curl up underneath them. My sisters, too. Three of them, I think. My mom, dad, and grandma. And then the three kids would fit underneath, fetal position. At some point I think it became crowded for me. But yeah anyway, we finally got a sofa, and I was just thinking of what life would be like if we had never gotten one.

My hands are cold. They are always cold when I want them to be warm. Why is that? Bad circulation. Adriana felt ill today. She said Angela was cold, which shocked me. My personal heater must never be cold. I need to pee.

Anyway, "the sophomore epidemic," as it is so fondly put by several affected sophomores, as well as several unaffected ones.

_Mengyao
_Gaurav
_Nandita
_Tiffany
_Vincent
_Monica
_Emma Yee
_James
_Danita
_Daniel
_Edmund
_somewhere in here, add Vishal and Harpreet
_Rashelle
_Adriana?

_Me? Absolutely not. I refuse to be sick, it will not happen.

BLEGH.

I want to puke, so that I might have a reason for feeling like this.

Up until...eighth grade, perhaps, I would get coughs throughout the year on a regular basis. I'd get a cough every October, right before Halloween, and again in December, then another one in June. I remember one year when I had a cough all summer because I couldn't help but stay sick, because I'd have swimming lessons Monday through Thursday, and then Friday night I would have choir. Which was stupid of me, I should have lip-synced to get better. Speaking of which, I miss choir. I miss the people and the uniform and Sylvia and all the mothers running around right before a performance, smearing their lipstick on the girls and the guys, and the little boys with their unnaturally pink lips. And then the power, the impact of all our voices together. I still remember that last night before new additions were made to the purple class, when we were in the school's band room. I think it was in San Jose. We sang our hearts out, and the parents gathered at the doorway (because it was a huge doorway), along with the kids from Blue and Green, and we sounded real. I didn't even realize it until later, when Lucia told Yuning and me that we had sounded..I forgot what word she used, this was in seventh grade...my seventh grade, that is..I think Yuning was in eighth, and Lucia was in..fourth? At any rate, we were impressive. And I remember feeling proud.

Then the next week they dumped a bunch of kids in from Blue and Green and our voice was childish again.