Thursday, April 17, 2008 | by nathan

Blowin’ In The Wind

Oklahoma has been living up to its reputation lately; the wind is sweeping down the plains like a mother. I stayed home from work yesterday because when I woke up I felt pinned to the bed by centrifugal force, the way you feel after a night of really hard drinking. My head had been throbbing the night before but I’d managed to get to sleep; when I woke up it felt like I’d had brain surgery and they’d left the saw in. I tried to get in the shower and get ready for work - I really did - but I just couldn’t seem to manage it.

Having allergies really is the worst; you’re not contagious, so usually if you’re suffering from an attack there’s still really no excuse not to go to work, but you spend a whole lot of your time feeling sort of vaguely sick and congested. I’ve tried every medicine, prescription and over-the-counter, and found them to be of some help, though not a great boon. Allergy shots didn’t seem to help much, and when it gets really bad the only thing that really helps me to breathe is Afrin, which can be addicting if taken more than 2-3 days in a row. Exercise really helps, as it does for everything.

Have you noticed that? Have you noticed that in every single "scary medical story" they do on the news, it’s always like, "NEW RESEARCH SHOWS THAT PEOPLE WHO EAT ORANGES ARE 6% MORE LIKELY TO GET COLORECTAL CANCER!!!!!    … except unless they got regular exercise, then not so much."

I feel like my body just works better on a fundamental level when I’m getting regular exercise. I’ve been to the gym once this week, as we’ve been trying to get our backyard sorted out and that hasn’t left time for much else after work. Monday night I put down two cherry tomato plants, six bell pepper plants - two in each color: red, yellow, and orange - and jalapenos. I planted two mint plants in pots and put my first strawberries in the ground last night. Brian, meanwhile, has tilled the grass from our flower beds and cut down some very ugly bushes and weeds and pioneer trees we had going back there. Talk to me in two months when I have more vegetables than I know what to do with and see how much I like gardening.

Anyway, my allergies are better today, thanks to a nice little cocktail of pain killers, antihistamines, and nasal sprays, and the sleep-of-the-dead brought on by Advil PM last night. Here’s hoping yesterday was the worst of it.