The Good, the Bad, and the Congested

I ate lunch outside Monday and Tuesday. On Monday it was pleasant, but with a cool edge; on Tuesday, the weather was glorious: 70, sunny, light breeze ... perfection. I would be very upset at the rain that came in today, were it not for the hope* that it will wash some of this effing pollen away from me. Oh, please. The yellow is so thick on the ground that I used it to detect uneven pavement this morning: hmmm, there's a thicker blob of yellow, is that a bad bump? And it was. When I drove through a rain shower, I was surprised by how much more clearly I could see through my back window. Must remember to clean that more often, this time of year.
*If the rain were more constant, "hope" would not come into it, but today's rain has been very on-again, off-again.

I still had some congestion-coughing in the night, and was clogged today; as expected, using the neti pot was not a one-and-done, all-better experience, nice as that would have been. I will keep it up for a bit and see how it goes. I have reached the point in this allergy cycle where Kleenex are starting to feel like sandpaper on my nose, so something needs to improve. I will not miss coughing up gunk, either; making myself gag with a bodily function is ... not something I enjoy. And the sentence "My cheekbones hurt" is one I could do without.

And I don't see why using the neti pot would have made me terribly tired, so probably it's a coincidence, but I had terrible trouble getting up and moving this morning. The alarm first goes off at 5:40, and I generally hit the snooze button a few times before getting up. This morning, I dragged myself up and it was ten to seven! Whoa. I did take a tylenol pm last night, but it doesn't generally have that much of an effect.

It's been challenging at work, too, with all this congestion. I hate to be the one coughing and clearing my throat all the time, because it bothers me when other people do that all day long. Recently, in fact, several people who sit near me all seemed to be having a bad day, colds or allergies or who knows, and I thought I was the only one bothered by it, when I got an e-mail from my nearest neighbor saying, "I am getting sick just listening to the snuffling (redacted) team. It’s only a matter of time."

My reply:

I was just thinking that. We need a plexiglass wall. Or perhaps we could build one out of orange peels?
And for the love of god, the snuffling! Gag. What disgusting noises humans can produce.

To which she said:

"Omg right??? BLOW. YOUR. NOSE."

(Trust me, this one was bad. Perhaps it's a cultural thing? This person was ... really enthusiastic, anyway.)

She went on to say:

"I’m going to have to put headphones on. I think it is in my top 3 office pet peeves."

So of course I had to ask what the other two were. She said, "Nail clipping, and loudly talking in another language."

I can't decide what my top three would be, personally. I mean, there are plenty of things that annoy me (including, when I have a headache, why keyboards and [some] mice are So Stinking Loud), but top three? Hard to narrow it down. What about you?

*****
Today was my aunt's birthday, my father's sister; she died more than ten years ago, which seems so long ago now. Today is also a bad day for at least two people close to me, one an anniversary and one with current troubles. I wish I could do more for them. Why does life have to be so hard?

*****
Happier thoughts: I leave for Florida two weeks from Friday, so I'm into the pre-trip preparation period where I assess what I want/need to get done before I go, and plan when to do it. The packing list is made but will be continually tweaked up to Packing Day. I have knitting prep to do and clothing decisions to make.

And yes, I do enjoy all this. Imagining the trip, and how to be best prepared for it, extends my enjoyment of the trip itself. I wouldn't enjoy a last-minute trip half as much. (Would you?) I have time this weekend, and then the following weekend I have, not Saturday (road trip! Webs tent sale! Whee!), but Sunday to Get Things Done (super-important things like painting my toenails, key when heading into flip-flop weather). Other than that, it's evenings, so I need to plan (for instance, either I decide what clothes I want to bring, and thus not wear them just before I go, or I have to do laundry at the last minute). Must plan! And anticipate! And pre-enjoy my trip! I know just how excited I'm going to be on the plane, so thinking of it makes me happy. Four whole days! Two half days! An afternoon of overlap with my brother, who is visiting before I am! Ahhhh....