My column this week, called CHARACTERS, is about my attraction to alternative people, and my quest to live my life according to my own rules. I also talk a bit about my wonderful Grandmere, who was a character in her own right.

I’m feeling a little under the weather. It started yesterday morning, around 3 a.m., no, scratch that, it began Tuesday evening when, after returning home from our weekly visit to Laurel, I passed out, suddenly overcome with exhaustion, at 8 p.m. Then, at 3 a.m. (Wednesday morning), I awoke with a sore throat. I thought it was just dry, I mean the air conditioning runs full blast all night, so I gulped the water I keep by my bed and went back to sleep, but the irritation persisted. Then yesterday, after writing an article, chauffeuring a dear friend to and from the dentist, and watching a really good horror movie (28 Days Later) at another friend’s house, one who is holed up with a broken leg, the throat thing became unbearable. I asked my temporarily crippled friend to look at my throat, and she said, “Yeah, it’s totally red.” So we ran to the drug store, where I stocked up on zinc and chloraseptic, and then went to Dave and Busters. It was my first time, more on that later. The point is, I’m still feeling icky. I slept in this morning, sucked on some zinc (which, by the way, has totally killed my taste buds), and here I am. Low energy, but thinking that if I play my tiles right, I might just cut this cold off at the pass, and not have to get David sick right in time for our international flight. Now that was a mouthful. Speaking of which, I’m due for a pleasantly numbing spritz to the throat.