Here's my plea for sympathy: I had plans to attend a huge party with lots of Celtic musicians, a host with good taste in booze and plenty of Irish dancing. On NY's eve eve, I started coughing and couldn't stop, was diagnosed with an acute sinus infection, acute bronchitis, and had a fever of 102 in spite of ibuprofen. The codeine cough syrup which I was prescribed wasn't enough to get me high, besides I felt too miserable to even want to be high, so I eschewed any alcoholic accompaniment. The only good thing was that my doctor is a friend, so the prescriptions were gratis samples, although I did have to go to his house to pick them up.