Just a spoon full of (fake) sugar

I am still sick. Day seven now.

After two bouts -- in six months, not too bad -- of violent stomach aches and vomiting, I finally summoned up the courage to go to the pharmacie yesterday and try to explain what was going on in hopes of receiving some magic pills.

I'm not so sure I correctly explained my situation. Though I was able to tell her what I did not have. It's not heartburn before/during/after meals and it's not nausea. Well after thinking it over for five minutes, the pharmacienne gave me a 3 Euro packet of some kinds of pills. She told me to take them whenever I feel sick, no more than three times a day. They are to be placed and dissolved in the mouth, no water necessary.

I then turned to my friend Sarah and said, "Oh, these must be like Tums," which would indeed be some sort of an ease to the pains I've been having as of late.

However, upon closer inspection after already purchasing the pills, I noticed they're made with ASPARTAME!

Earlier in this cold/flu thing, I'd been sucking down throat losenges like they're candy -- not too far from the truth, but I did have a real bad sore throat. Then I'd notice my stomach would begin to hurt after taking them because, shock of all shocks, they're made with fake sugar.

Apparently I can't handle more than one small dose of fake sugar, AKA Aspartame, a day.

Hopefully this goes down better than the last ones I tried....

Oh yeah:

(Happy Spring!)

And speaking of Spring, I'm kind of bummed I missed out on MLB Spring Training in Arizona this year. I've gone three times and have missed out on two because I've been here in France. And I never in my life got to make it out to Dodgertown, what with the Dodgers leaving Vero Beach as their spring training site, opting to join the rest of the West Coast in Arizona next year.

Either way, I AM going to as many games as possible this summer when I return to the United States to make up for the 2.5 months of baseball I'll be missing abroad!! Though, I'm not sure how excited I'll be to watch some ball if Barry Bonds gets picked up by someone else. The A-hole needs to retire already.

Opening Day is only five days away!