Ack! Pollen!

Allergies. Millions of north americans have allergies. I am one of these fortunate many.

"And the world shall have beauty," said the Lord. "And it shall have trees, and flowers, and grass, and warm shall its days be. And it shall have seasons in which it will renew itself and the people I put on it shall delight in its wonder. And some of them shall have allergies. BAM!"

As he creates allergies, I picture God with a handful of pepper, doing the Emeril thing, "BAM!" and a handful of itty-bitty humans sneezing their fool heads off... thus allergies are created.

I am not one of the unfortunate many that have life-threatening allergies. I am allergic to spring. To a lesser degree summer. To an even lesser degree, some kitties and puppies.

I recall a first grade experience, sitting in the hall of the old elementary school, my eyes swollen nearly shut, filled with water so badly it looked like I was crying for a week, my nose red and running a marathon, sneezing and wheezing, waiting for my mom to arrive at the school with Orange Triaminic, the drug of choice in my childhood. Mmm... that stuff was good. Red Triaminic, the stuff we took for colds and flus, not a pleasant thing, but the thick orangey syrup of Orange Triaminic was a saviour to me for many years.

In recent years, a plethora of drugs has gone through my system in an attempt to ward off the evil spirits of springtime allergens. Most provide some relief from the worst symptoms, but it's a bandaid situation. I struggle through the days, cranky and irritable, waiting for spring to end. I suppose this is a big factor in Autumn being my favorite time of the year.

I have minor allergy symptoms for about two or three months each spring. But, sometime in May or June I go through a period of one to three weeks of pure hell. Allergy attacks so bad that I want to curl up in a ball and hide from the world. There are some drugs that relieve all the symptoms so well that it is scary, but those drugs render me useless. Liquid Benydril, my last resort in the battle against seasonal allergies, clears out my system so fully I actually feel like I had a sinus and nasal enema. The downside is that if I am able to stay awake after a dose of the stuff, I am unable to think. At all. Period. Brain go numb. I literally sit in a chair and blink. Television is the only thing I am able to process, because TV doesn't really require thinking. Read a book? Can't. Conversation with people? Can't. Work? Can't. I become useless. Thus Liquid Benydril, as a last resort to stop the most severe allergy attacks I get, renders me useless. Catch 22? Damn right it is.

So I've been moody and cranky and whiney lately Plllb!! It's my version of PMS, except it's an annual occurrence and fuck you if you cross my path because, bitch, I'm gonna tear you a new asshole!

Heehee, it's soooo nice to vent. All in all, allergies and flu aside, life's been damn good lately. My best friend is moving back to the east coast this fall, she wants to share an apartment... I'm soooo happy! She's so awesome! The Buddha's coming back! Yay!

And now after wasting 2 hours at work, I think I'll go do some of that stuff that I get paid for. And get a Kleenex. *sniffle sniffle*