February 03, 2005 :: 12:44 a.m.
my pet infection
So I have this weird thing that's happening. It's happened before, twice, maybe three times since I moved to Lancaster. I don't recall it happening before that, at least not this way.
What is this thing, you ask? Poison ivy, that's what.
Now, here's the thing. It's February. It is the dead of fucking winter here in Pennsylvania. Things are not thriving and growing and spreading their evil, itchy oils all over the place. More importantly, I'm not out frolicking in the woods and rubbing up against infectious foliage. When it happened in August, I figured I touched some poison ivy without noticing. When it happened again shortly after that, I started to get suspicious but chalked it up to the same thing. But this time? It's cold. Like below-freezing cold. Nothing is healthy and green and I haven't been in contact with any plant life outside of the frozen broccoli in my freezer in months. So now I'm confused. More than that, though, I am majorly fucking pissed off.
I mean, really. What the fucking fuck is this? This is the THIRD TIME I have sprouted a bad-ass case of poison ivy on my hands in the last 6 months. This particular case, while very annoying, is still mild, but for all I know I'll wake up tomorrow and my palms will be completely covered in itchy bubbles. It's happened before. Hell, it's happening now! And I cannot for the life of me figure out what's causing it. It has to be something I touched in the last week or so, because when I'm really sensitive to poison ivy and it sprouts up pretty quickly. It has to be something I haven't touched in the last 2 or 3 months. And it has to be something that no one else touched, because no one else has come down with a sudden case of scratchy palms.
I honestly can't think of an item that fits that description. It can't really be anything in my apartment, because Adam would almost certainly have come in contact with it as well. It can't be my pets at home, because my mom and Mason handle them all the time. I just seriously do not know. Not a damn clue.
Weirder still, though, is the way that this shit is identical to the last case, and how that case was identical to the first one. It's exactly the same. Both palms and pretty much all the fingers are affected. A little bit down the left wrist. Big nasty bubbles of the shit, which is unfortunately how it always works with me. It's bizarre. It truly has me stumped, and I'm just getting more confused (not to mention increasingly irritated) with each subsequent outbreak.
Do I have chronic poison ivy? Why don't I have it anywhere else? Why doesn't anyone else have it? GRRRRARGHALJKNGFSJBFLJSD!
And why oh why does the urge to pop open those little liquid-filled bastards never go away? It's like sitting in front of a gourmet meal and trying not to take a bite. I'm going to go absolutely mad.
back & forth
Wait, there's more!
I like pina coladas - March 30, 2005
must... finish... projects... - March 22, 2005
Mr. Postman delivers the good stuff - March 18, 2005
when everything is bad - March 16, 2005
of fruits and menstruation - March 15, 2005