Breathe in. Breathe out.

I hunched over in my chair as my friend curled my hair for "Antigone." The heat from the iron radiated off my neck, icy with sweat. My stomach, boiling with acid, burned inside of me. I wondered how in the world I could have forgotten this horrible feeling -- the feeling of a stomach bug crawling up my intestines.

In the case of severe storms, we disremember jagged flashes of lightning, squalls of wind, and torrents of rain. That is, we forget about them until we're in the middle of a tempest. Likewise, we tend to omit the horrific pains of a stomach whirlwind from our mind until the tornado sirens go off in our throat.

1. The "Catch-22" of food

During any stomach mishap, you tend to lose a significant amount of weight. People tell you to eat, but you simply cannot. The idea of food nauseates you, and your stomach likes to play a game of let's-bring-back-medieval-torture-methods whenever you attempt to consume anything.

2. Temperature fluctuations

A stomach bug often prescribes the victim for a bedridden day. However, this proves a trial because the body likes to change temperature as much as some of my professors alter their syllabus plans. I have wavered between a 96.5 and a 105.5 temperature (35.8-40.8 Celcius) during the times I have suffered a stomach bug.

3. Water of death

If your stomach resembles mine in any way, you cannot down any water during a sick season. The water of life quickly transforms into the water of death when it causes your nausea to spike.

4. Ginger ale and crackers

These serve as your only diet for the next few days. Doctors also recommend bread, rice, applesauce, and toast (BRAT). However, if you have a cafeteria like our school's, you may not find half of the items you need.

5. Lack of sleep

With an upset stomach, sleep often never comes with the constant pains in your throat and intestines. Ironically, my most recent stomach bug spurred from a lack of sleep.

6. Trying desperately not to throw up

I have my breathing down to a science at this point. Backstage in between scenes of "Antigone," I would sprawl on the couch in the costume shop and insert steady inhales and exhales. I never vomited but came close before every scene.

Don't forgive and don't forget a stomach bug.