Gillian, the food lady that went before me, talked about fasts and fish allergies. I’m still trying to figure out how that relates to the theme of the chain, new beginnings, but I guess it relates back to rebooting which was talked about a few links back. To fast is to deny yourself something for an extended period of time then gorge once you can have it again. You purge (reboot) and gorge (repeat the vicious cycle). At least that’s my view of it, hence children giving up candy and swallowing whole Cadbury Creme Eggs on Easter. It makes sense.

Spring is in and of itself a new beginning. A new yearly beginning and my time of suffering. Right around the time the trees and shrubbery are starting anew, my eyes start to get itchy and the sneezes come in droves. Damn pollen, how reactive you make me. It’s starting earlier this year which sucks big time. Usually I don’t feel much until closer to May. Being the beginning of April, this is a sure fire sign that this year’s fresh start is going to make me suffer like a Red Sox fan with statistics (that would make more sense if I linked to the post but I’ll be reposting it here soon anyway, you’ll get it then).

Up until last year, I was fully capable of snarfing six to seven Benadryl a day to stave off my allergies and remain fully functional. I know some of you are wondering how the hell I did that without slipping into a coma. I have no idea. I’ve just always been immune to Benadryl’s side effects. But, alas, my luck ran out and last year was the first year I slept because of those damn pills. So I had to switch around and find something else. And switch around I did because nothing seemed to work like Benadryl did. Yay for suffering. Now with yet another prescription drug available over the counter (is it Zyrtec?), I have another option, albeit an expensive one.

I wouldn’t have minded if I was still at my last job where I could slack off to no end because I did all of 2 hours of work a day but seeing as how I just started a new one (and a much more demanding one to boot), drooling on my desk from a Benadryl overdose might not make the best of impressions. And imagine my writing! Considering I do pen to paper, just think of the smudging! The work I can manage because I’m essentially sitting in a bubble with filtered air running through my nose so allergies don’t really bother me there. It’s at home and I’m afraid my writing, until everything blooms, is going to suffer for it. It’ll be even worse if I have to come home and pop a Benadryl in order to relieve myself of the itchy eyes and snot-spewing sneezing (you’re welcome for that image). It wasn’t much of an issue before because I haven’t been as serious as I am now about my writing until this past autumn (slacker, I know) but I do the bulk of it when I get home from work.

Hopefully Zyrtec is strong enough because that other stuff, what’s it called. You know, the cloudy . . . Claratin. That does shit for me other than sit in my stomach and fester. Maybe walking around with a bubble on my head would be beneficial. At least my eyes wouldn’t swell shut and my hair would look perpetually good but there’s always that problem of breathing. Would I have to carry a tank of oxygen around with me and have it attached to my Spring Defense Bubble?

Maybe Freshhell has the key to the mystery. Until she finds the answers to my woes, why not check out some of the other links in the chain (bricks in the wall?).

Auria Cortes
Polenth’s Quill
Unfocused Me
Spittin’ (out words) Like a Llama
Food History
Fantastical Imagination
Life In Scribbletown
For The First Time
Polyamory From the Inside Out
Livininsanity
Spynotes
A Wayward Journey
Virtual Wordsmith

DTKelly wrote about how, in reality, your dog owns you, not the other way around. Of course, as any dog owner knows, that couldn’t be more true. What parent would allow their kid to gnaw the hell out of their comforter while simultaneously disemboweling it or constantly pee on the floor (he is house trained, I swear, he’s just a bastard) without shipping them off to a boarding school? Or a psychologist? While he doesn’t get away with it, I’m not going to string him up from the rafters either but don’t get me wrong, sometimes the urge creeps it’s way up. I fight it back and I just end up with a popped capillary.

It’s equally counter-productive to have your poochy pal flogging you about the arms with his favorite spiked chew toy while you’re writing because he’s desperately vying for your attention. I should say this, I always write pen to paper first, and this is when he tends to do this. Even more grating on the story I’m trying to tell is when he attempts to gnaw on the pen that I’m using to write. My handwriting is hardly legible to begin with when I’m pumping out text. A dog adding in his piece of the plot need not apply.

Not having a proper desk in my bedroom (yeah, I live at home and don’t have the space, like an office, I so desire), I keep most of my writing on the floor since I don’t have any other place to put it. Seeing as my dog tends to piddle in the middle of the night and the wood floors aren’t level, I’ve had some envelopes that have drowned in the wastes of doggy, not to mention research books and DVDs. Methinks some kind of office furniture and media holder is in order. To date (*knock on wood*), my writing remains safe.

I think I should also say that I’m convinced I have the ADHD posterdog of Miniature Pinschers. “Write? What is this ‘write’ you speak of? I want you to play with me now! No? Ok. You don’t need this stuffing in your quilt then or, really, the quilt itself. What’s that you say? You don’t like that you can fit your head through the holes in it and fear strangling yourself in the night? Well perhaps you should have tossed me my Frisbee when I asked you nicely. But nooooooooooo. You were too busy worldbuilding. Now what was our lesson for today? While you’re contemplating that, I’m going to go gnaw on the banister.”

Yeah, I’ve already tried sedatives. He laughs at the recommended 3 drops once daily into his food. He also laughs at the superseded 6 drops once daily into his food. Anyone got any Haldol because this natural shit just isn’t doing it. Dammit . . . he’s eating the couch . . .

Check out the other blog chain gang as the fiesta soldiers on–

Secret Government EGGO Project
Fantastical Imagination
For the First Time
Virtual Wordsmith
Polyspace
My Life, You’re Welcome to It
Polenth’s Quill
Food History
Spontaneous Derivation
Spittin’ (out words) Like a Llama
Fresh Hell
SLAKE
Forbidden Snowflake
Virginia Lee’s Vagaries
AW Chain