Round Up

So I've been slowly sliding further and further into allergy-related hell over the past month. Once upon a time, when I lived at home and we had a cat, I was constantly fighting a futile war against my own head that threatened to finish me off at a moment's notice. Now that I'm older and have identified my weaknesses, much like Superman and those unfortunate rocks, so long as I stay away from my feral nemeses, I'm usually good to go.

Apparently this is not the case this summer, as each morning my head feels heavier and heavier and I'll have an occasional day where I just cannot stop sneezing. I haven't been able to identify a source, which is unfortunate on many levels, primarily because the main drawback to this allergy is that it screws with my voice, making my already almost-unintelligible mumblings completely useless to transferring any information. Especially over the phone. Which is kind of important in my glorified secretarial job that I've got going.

This weekend, I finally broke down and went to the store to get some potent cocktails of antihistamines and whathaveyou to try and combat the problem at its source. However, the first try of some Benadryll had no effect whatsoever except that it made my lips swell up like Goldie Hawn's in The First Wives Club. Which, y'know, is awesome and exactly what I was going for.

My second try was on Sunday, and I went from the Benadryll to the old school Sudafed. Which (by my body's standards) is like looking for a buzz from cough syrup and then switching over to crack cocaine when that doesn't work. I've never been one for drugs. Don't know if it's my weight, or my constitution or what, but anything remotely strong knocks me on my ass and hard. A simple dose of Dramamine for a plane ride is enough to put me in a near stupor for a full 24 hours.

I took the Sudafed at around 1:00 on Sunday. I only have jump cut memories of the rest of the day up until about 10:00. And most of them are horribly intertwined with the Law & Order SVU marathon that I had on TV all day long. But once I regained actual consciousness, the whole house was cleaned and the dishes were done, so I'm thinking it's not as bad as all that. And I do feel pretty refreshed, sinus-wise. But I fear to take it ever again.

Is it endearing or just depressing that I can't take over-the-counter drugs without hideous consequences? Don't answer that.
-------------------------------

Other news from the frontlines:

• I really enjoyed Batman Begins, but I have nothing intelligent to say on the subject, so I'll leave it at that. Oh, and Christian Bale and Cillian Murphy are both smoking hot.
• Friday was a most horrible day and left me a fiery rage that I rarely, if ever, find myself in. But it managed to end in a not-entirely-hideous fashion, and with a work bonus of a couple dozen farmer's market tomatoes. ...Yeah, I have no idea what that was about either.
• I, along with most everyone I know, got spectacularly drunk on Saturday night, and it was a flawless time. I felt a little out of place drinking fruity mixed drinks of light rum while everyone else was either downing dark beer or tequila shots, but I stand by my choice, as I was awake by 9:00 the next morning with no ill effects.
• I got the cutest little ottoman on Sunday morning for $5.00 and it perfectly compliments both chairs in the living room. The feeling of bargain hunting and fashionable decor is a heady and potent combination to me. I'm quite sure this will be the only time I ever experience it.