"Of what use is a lengthy oration to a sick patient? A sick person finds most talk annoying, except when he is urged to take heart and to let medical science cure him, if possible." Indeed.
From Invective contra medicum quedam, aka "Against a Physician". Petrarch - Invectives. Ed. and trans. by David Marsh. (I Tatti series, 2003) p. 129.

I had a lovely afternoon tea* with rozk today. Leaving the house for a contained period of time is always good for the quality of my work day. Less time to work, but more exercise, more encounters with human beings, more convenient errand-running opportunities, and a brain refreshed upon returning home.

Last night, I dreamed that I met Delia Sherman. She was a sloth (a perky Folivora, not a lazy person), dressed in '80s style office wear, including a very, very shiny red polyester blouse. She didn't participate in the conversation (nor had I realized sloths could be literarily inclined). Everyone else apparently already knew her, so found it perfectly normal that she was a sloth. Oddest of this is that I've never read her books or short stories, nor do I know her. I can only credit an ongoing awareness of her existence to d_aulnoy and vschanoes.

* Where "tea" was coffee in her case and orange juice in mine. But it was definitely in the afternoon.