The Very Best Ways to Spend a Sick Day

I caught some kind of bug last week that left me feeling like I was hungover for several days in a row: Throbbing headaches, persistent flat-spins, cold sweats. The weird part was, those were basically the only symptoms. I had plenty of energy, I was still pretty sharp, and as long I stayed absolutely still and didn't try to read anything, I felt okay. In other words, I felt fine as long as I didn't do anything at all. Which is where things get tricky.

When I was in 4th grade, days like that were easy to fill. Give me a VHS of Ghostbusters, Sandlot, and Demolition Man and I could keep myself entertained basically forever. Nowadays, it takes a little more planning to figure out how handle a mild illness. How do you make huge chunks of a time disappear without either getting bored to death or causing your symptoms to flare so badly that you start to feel really bad?

At first I was pretty ambitious: I had the entire last season of The Americans to catch up on, which seemed like just what the doctor ordered until I realized that The Americans requires an emotional and mental fortitude that was well beyond my capacity. About two or three nauseating moral compromises into the season—and possessing an extremely poor grasp of the plot—I decided I needed something a little less challenging.

Armed with several boxes of sorbet popsicles (y'all heard of this coconut sorbet stuff? It's amazing!) I decided to celebrate the career of David Costabile by re-watching Billions and the second season Suits. They are two deeply unchallenging shows that manage to fulfill my very specific need for something that's basically " Entourage, but less toxic". Whether those shows meet those criteria is debatable, but I increasingly started to live for David Costabile's sleazy charisma. There is something wonderful about a skilled character actor taking two-dimensional stock roles and managing to imply a level of complexity and self-awareness that the material itself never possesses.

When I wasn't binging the television equivalent of Cheetos, I was getting back into Battlefield 1—basically trying to get my fill of that game before the series returns to World War 2 with Battlefield V. I worked out a pretty good cycle of drinking the hottest herbal teas I could stand, as often as I could endure them considering the heat wave, and playing marathon sessions of Battlefield 1 operations (brewing more tea between rounds).

I was supremely ineffective as a teammate (sorry, comrades) but I managed to make myself useful as a medic and an anti-vehicle specialist. Basically, as long as I didn't have to make any difficult shots or react to enemies with any kind of alacrity, I was a solid WWI soldier. Plus, the tea seemed to help ease the congestion in my sinuses that I suspected was causing my persistent dizziness.

Between those epic time wasters, and plenty of naps, I managed to ride-out a pretty nasty summer bug without getting too miserable—though it wasn't until the heat broke outside and I was able to get some fresh air that I really shook-off the last of my illness. But you know, I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy myself a little. It all got old pretty fast, but there was something deeply restful about basically putting my brain to sleep for five days and living a life where my greatest act of willpower was drinking a cup of too-hot green tea. It was the kind of complete break that I always tell myself I'm going to take, but never actually do. Having a bad summer cold forced the issue, and I'm kind of glad it did.

What about you? What was your favorite way to spend a sick day when you were a kid, and what's your favorite way to beat an illness now that you're older?

Let me know in today's open thread!