SARS
Ok, this SARS thing is seriously getting out of control. Even though I'm thousands of miles away from its epicenter, I'm feeling the effects here. First there is Mom, who's been nagging me about this thing for the past 2 weeks. She faxed me 38 pages of Chinese articles on the disease last week!! And I thought her previous incessant nagging about avoiding terrorist attacks by staying away from crowded places and landmarks was bad! Now I get a healthy double dose of paranoia from dear old mom every time I talk to the parents.
Then there is my sister, who's also pretty concerned for me. Yesterday when I called her from the subway station, she told me to shut my mouth on the train to avoid breathing in potential droplets in the air from infected people. It's comforting to know that someone who works in a freaking hospital is so cool and calm about this whole epidemic.
Of course, all these warnings have had an effect on me too. I have avoided Chinatown for the past two weeks because I'm a bit weary of the chance that I may get it from someone who got infected while visiting relatives back home recently. I haven't bought any pastries or gotten a cheap haircut there all because of this damn disease!! This morning on the way to work, I felt a little nervous because a Chinese guy sitting next to me coughed once. The Asian girl sitting near me just had a coughing fit!!
I'm not really that afraid of dying from the disease since I'm young and healthy. It's the fact that I will be quarantined and not allowed to work or do anything fun that scares me. Nik, your suggestion that I may meet someone special while in quarantine is not exactly comforting!! Boy, think of the stories we will be able to tell our kids: "I met your dad while we were both drugged silly and breathing from ventilators..." I'm also pissed off that my family may cancel our trip to China this summer. I haven't been back in almost 13 years!! I need to go back to visit!!
On the other hand I find all this mass hysteria/paranoia from Chinese people (and I guess Asian people in general) pretty funny in a way. I guess the thousands of years of wars, famines, foreign invasions (damn those Mongols!!), natural disasters, and tyranny have weeded out those that weren't particularly cautious or alert or lucky, for that matter. The proverbial lazy grasshoppers have been purged from the gene pool. Now all that remains are a billion plus teeming risk-averse ants who always plan ahead and play it safe.
Ok, this SARS thing is seriously getting out of control. Even though I'm thousands of miles away from its epicenter, I'm feeling the effects here. First there is Mom, who's been nagging me about this thing for the past 2 weeks. She faxed me 38 pages of Chinese articles on the disease last week!! And I thought her previous incessant nagging about avoiding terrorist attacks by staying away from crowded places and landmarks was bad! Now I get a healthy double dose of paranoia from dear old mom every time I talk to the parents.
Then there is my sister, who's also pretty concerned for me. Yesterday when I called her from the subway station, she told me to shut my mouth on the train to avoid breathing in potential droplets in the air from infected people. It's comforting to know that someone who works in a freaking hospital is so cool and calm about this whole epidemic.
Of course, all these warnings have had an effect on me too. I have avoided Chinatown for the past two weeks because I'm a bit weary of the chance that I may get it from someone who got infected while visiting relatives back home recently. I haven't bought any pastries or gotten a cheap haircut there all because of this damn disease!! This morning on the way to work, I felt a little nervous because a Chinese guy sitting next to me coughed once. The Asian girl sitting near me just had a coughing fit!!
I'm not really that afraid of dying from the disease since I'm young and healthy. It's the fact that I will be quarantined and not allowed to work or do anything fun that scares me. Nik, your suggestion that I may meet someone special while in quarantine is not exactly comforting!! Boy, think of the stories we will be able to tell our kids: "I met your dad while we were both drugged silly and breathing from ventilators..." I'm also pissed off that my family may cancel our trip to China this summer. I haven't been back in almost 13 years!! I need to go back to visit!!
On the other hand I find all this mass hysteria/paranoia from Chinese people (and I guess Asian people in general) pretty funny in a way. I guess the thousands of years of wars, famines, foreign invasions (damn those Mongols!!), natural disasters, and tyranny have weeded out those that weren't particularly cautious or alert or lucky, for that matter. The proverbial lazy grasshoppers have been purged from the gene pool. Now all that remains are a billion plus teeming risk-averse ants who always plan ahead and play it safe.
posted by Gary at
12:00 AM
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