One truism about college life: At some point, you will have to study for a test or complete a paper or project while you have the flu. If you have to write anything for a class while you're sick, your finished product may be rather bizarre.
Once, when I was sick, I had to write four radio commercial scripts for a class. I'd gotten perfect scores on the previous scripts I'd written, but when you can't breathe well, have chills, and ache all over, you might have trouble turning out your best work. Fortunately, I received an A- on my four scripts. I still think, however, that I elicited that grade largely because of three commercials I'd written. I suspect that the flu-induced ad I wrote about a grating clown, Bozo Bob, brought my average down. In my commercial, Bozo Bob panned the stereos that competing electronics stores sold, saying they were made of twigs and patched together with duct tape. In the margin, the teacher wrote, "A store might not want to antagonize its competition so directly."
The lesson I learned from this: Always think ahead. Have solid material on paper, or at least in mind, so you don't have to struggle if you get sick.
