I never wanna hear you say I want it that way

I don't know how much you know about leprosy.

Don't panic - it's not highly contagious after treatment. And apparently, unlike the rabies, for example, you've got a while before you suffer any permanent damage. Which I guess in the rabies case that would be death.

So leprosy is definitely preferable to rabies.

In case you're wondering.

You're probably also wondering what's with the leprosy, Lis?

Let me sum up.

A friend emailed Tori and me and said she probably had leprosy. Or maybe heat rash. And, she added, isn't leprosy now a non-PC term? Or somebody's disease, at any rate?

Tori Googled and said "Yes, it's also called Hansen's disease (like the boy band?)."

And so, far more intriguing than leprosy - which I grew up worrying about - is the idea of a disease in which you'd wake up and find you were a member of a boy band.

Don't you think?

This would be really awkward, and even more so if you were a woman.

I don't know if it would be bacterial or viral. And would it be sexually transmitted? I think probably. Would it be treatable? I think yes, although I'm not sure what treatment would entail.

If you have thoughts on this, I'd love to hear them.

But really, picture this:

You'd get out of bed thinking you were all normal. You'd open the medicine cabinet to take out your toothbrush, and in doing so, you'd catch a glimpse of yourself in the mirror.

You'd be half asleep and not really paying attention, but you'd startle, thinking it was someone else.

You'd look behind you, open and close the mirrored door a couple times. You'd think you looked familiar, although not at all like yourself...

And then all of a sudden your skin would go cold and the hair on the back of your neck would stand up. Pop music would fill your ears. It would hit you in a rush.

"Fuck! I'm a Backstreet Boy!"