allergic (to thoughts of mother earth)

Okay, so it's not a lyric, but it is a song title, and it's wildly appropriate for my current state. I came home tonight after a brutal round of meetings, and I spent an hour and a half planting flowers. It was very relaxing - far more relaxing and fulfilling than watching several 'Scrubs' reruns would have been.

However, I'm deathly allergic to the outdoors, and I like to pretend that I'm not - but since I'm also out of my allergy drugs and have to go back to the doctor to get signoff of having Allegra paid for by my insurance plan, playing outside isn't exactly smart. Within minutes, I'm sneezing and coughing and my eyes are itching. It's also making me more sensitive to allergens in general - I definitely have oral allergies to tomatoes, bananas, and watermelon, which is unfortunate because they're three of my favorite foods, and I eat them all regularly. My lips swell up, the roof of my mouth itches like crazy, and yet I persevere and pretend that nothing is wrong. I'm so stupid! And according to this wikipedia article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_allergy_syndrome) I have other oral allergies to look forward to:

People allergic to ragweed may be allergic to:
* banana
* cantaloupe
* cucumber
* honey dew
* watermelon
* zucchini
* Potential: Dandelions or chamomile tea

People allergic to grass may be allergic to:
* melons
* tomatoes
* oranges


Bleh! Eh, whatever. I have to keep gardening - while I've planted ~35 plants, I still have ~50 to go. Yes, I went overboard. At this rate, my entire backyard will be full of flowers, which should be awesome. However, I have to get them all planted before the weekend, or else they will die because I won't be able to water them. Unless, of course, I took them with me to SoCal and babysat them, but that would just be silly. And also, gardening is relaxing, despite being spiced up somewhat by my nagging concern about whether I will continue breathing.

The rest of my workday was either annoying or boring; after sunset, I came inside and worked for the past four hours (while talking a bit to Walter, yay). Now, I should really go to bed - tomorrow morning, I have to spend four hours in presentation skills training, which is super annoying, because it involves being videotaped while the trainers yell at me for talking too fast, swaying from side to side while standing, etc. Anyway, wish me luck!

P.S. Roopa, when you return from Chennai, we will have a lovely garden party with tea, cucumber sandwiches, and deviled eggs!