It was the first time I found myself really annoyed. "You must be joking, Lassie!" That was my initial reaction after a friend called to tell me the frightening news about SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, on a normal day in mid-April.

It wasn't a joke, as you know. And then my life changed, just like that, without any warning.

"Eat more, sleep more, and never let the cold catch you," Mama was always saying. Now she delighted in feeding me more. I had no-excuse or any defense to argue. In the first few days I ate and slept like a pig, a healthy pig, all for the good of self-protection. The idea of a diet flashed in my mind for no more than a second. To live with an average shape or to die looking good - that's an easy choice.

But I couldn't be happier to find that I could stay healthy by bicycling. I took great joy riding my half-shabby old-fashioned bike for more than one hour from home to the university, and back.

Believe me though, it wasn't all fun and I wasn't training to become an Olympic cyclist either. No, I'm not crazy enough to ride three hours a day in the heat, soaked in a sweaty T-shirt just for exercise. The cycling kept me away from public transportation.

You could say I'm a coward. I have to confess I didn't want to step on any bus unless all the windows and skylights were wide open.

Fortunately, I wasn't alone. Passengers on the buses and metros, many now wearing masks, seemed to be nervous - that's natural, fear took over from rational decision making during this unexpected crisis. Things were worse when I found I couldn't breathe properly wearing my 16-layer cotton mask.

When I first heard in February of an increasing number of atypical pneumonia cases - the name SARS didn't exist yet - in Guangdong Province, I thought the disease was so far away and not that serious.

I was wrong. SARS had spread to Hong Kong, Beijing, and other countries such as Singapore and Canada. Shanghai, my city, was now in a battle to prevent the spread of the deadly virus.

At home, a battle against SARS also started.

My parents warned me not to go shopping. My father was busy downloading news, prevention methods and analysis related to SARS to share with the family.

The home prevention system worked. I visited the supermarket only once in the past month. SARS awareness made me delay purchasing summer dresses, forget about dining out or traveling during the Labor Day holidays.

You can never be too cautious, I thought.

Still, there was one place I had to go - school.

On April 30, I was home as no more classes were scheduled before the holidays. At 12:30 sharp in the afternoon, however, I was told to stay on campus until 6 pm. Every student was required to register for health reasons.

What a drag. I had just stepped into my room to console myself with a Coke and a large tub of ice cream and the next thing I know, I'm cycling for another hour-and-a-half ride back to school. The next day I had back pain - it was all because of SARS.

Even worse, I was required to go to school for an extra four days, despite the back pain, as all local universities canceled holidays. All of my classmates hated the decision, but understood the reasons behind it. The problem is students weren't allowed to leave campus that weekend, how boring!

Living on campus means synchronizing daily routines. Every morning, all six girls in my dormitory wake up to the punctual 6:30 broadcast about SARS. At lunch a liquid medicine sprayer was used to kill the potential air-born virus that might be lurking in the dorm. At 10:30 pm we reported our health conditions for the last time and then relaxed before going to bed.

No one is interested in studying these days. We flinched learning final exams would be one week earlier because of SARS. I hoped there wouldn't be many all-night study sessions. It's not that I don't care about performing well, it's just that I cannot concentrate on studying these days.

To protect the campus, everyone is required to show their student cards when entering school buildings. We were happy to comply and hoped the check would keep others from entering our clean campus, even our boyfriends.

Yes, boyfriends. One of my dorm mates couldn't be happier to see her boyfriend, a Beijing native, although he couldn't visit campus.

Then my dorm mate felt sorry for her boyfriend, thinking it unwise for him to visit Shanghai. He should stay away from Shanghai for the health of her and everyone else, she thought. But if he stayed in Beijing he could be in more danger.

What a mess. You see, SARS may disturb your life but it should never disturb your way of thinking about the ones you love.

Facing the threat of SARS has put us all on edge, but what's important is that life goes on. At least I learned to tackle the SARS problem. It's a nightmare, but it will end.

Anyway, tomorrow is another day.

(eastday.com May 28, 2003)