I’m currently suffering from a cold. Not a bad cold, as I usually tend to get, but a cold never the less. Tickly throat. Runny eyes (and nose) and sudden sneezing followed by coughing fits that never seem to go away. I’ve had this cold for the past few weeks, and I’m used to it now. I’m actually used to having a cold full stop, what with suffering from Hay Fever during the summer (although this –er- last year my Hay Fever wasn’t so bad) so I’m fine with the cold.
However, this time around, something unusual has happened to me.
I ate some chips the other night; Thursday night, it was. Lovely, hot, homemade potato chips that started out delicious. Exquisite, in fact. After a few moments, however, the chips decided that they would morph into sharp, solid and cold chunks of potato pieces on my plate. I continued to eat them, as they still tasted the same, and I tried to pretend that the gum-shredding texture wasn’t there. In the end, I’d had my fill, and settled down, with a couple of achy teeth and a cut gum here and there. Nothing too extreme.
Friday morning I woke early to get ready for work. My gums felt tender, and my teeth throbbed slightly, but apart from that they were fine. This niggle stayed with me throughout the day, but it was a background niggle. It didn’t affect my performance in work in any way (although I may use it as an excuse when I go back into work if I didn’t do something as good as I could have – well, it could have been a factor that I didn’t know about at the time…)
Saturday morning, the morning of New Year’s Eve, I woke early again. My mouth did not feel like my own. I looked in the mirror to find that my whole upper lip had swollen to at least four times its size! (OK, it may have been slightly smaller than that but it felt four times as big. It felt four times as heavy anyway!) I wasn’t in any pain from the teeth or the gums, they had just ballooned. My upper lip reminded me of Bart Simpson’s top lip… I couldn’t see anything beneath it!
I got through New Year’s Eve day pretending that my upper lip was its normal size, and I don’t think that anyone noticed it being out of proportion, as I’m currently a little overweight, and could pull it off. Some people pull off a shirt being slightly too tight, or trousers being slightly too long. I pull off an upper lip being slightly too hefty.
New Year’s Eve eve was quiet. I didn’t want to go out, so spent the night in, in front of the TV in the candle-lit lounge of Aquatom Mansion. I could hear the people in the outside world setting their fireworks off, which started at 9pm for some reason. I thought I’d fell asleep and missed the evening when I heard the first explosion thinking instead that they were hailing the arrival of midnight, but no. It was an early firework.
Come midnight, I looked out of my window and saw the sky ablaze with hundreds of colours, exploding, expanding and disappearing, with a multitude of pops and fizzles. I also saw hundreds of Chinese Lanterns floating slowly up into the skies. I imagined each and everyone of them carrying someone’s wish, hope or dream into the Universe, and I wished them well. There weren’t as many as in this photo, but they were a spectacular sight all the same.
I went to sleep at around 1am, which was good going considering I had planned to go to bed at 9pm, but never mind. There’ll be plenty of time for me to have an early night in this New Year.
So, today. I woke up early once again, and looked in the mirror. The swelling has gone down now, but the left-side of my upper lip is still a bit chunky. I think, anyway. It’s quite hard to tell when one has chubby cheeks to start off with. Mouth washes galore have reduced it in size, and I think I am beginning to look like the normal version of me.
Well, the current normal version of me anyhow.
I’ve already said this, but I’ll say it once more to anyone who reads this… All the very best for 2012. Like those who sent their dreams into the Universe on their lanterns, I wish your dreams, hopes and wishes well also. Happy New Year!
The Mansionic Perspective 
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