I Took Drugs But I Didn't Get High At All.

. . . I'm feeling pretty low, actually. Yes children, it's that time of year again: Mountain Cedar Pollination Season! You only get a couple of months a year to enjoy it, but boy is it fun! Austin is about the worst place in the world to move to by one criterion: allergens. Observe the following image from a local TV station:



You will note that, at no time in the year in Central Texas* is the air free of airborne pollens. Add mold on top of that every time it rains, and you may begin to see why more people have to get prescription allergy medicine here than anywhere else.

But the worst for me so far is the when the mountain cedar pollenates. By taking doses of various drugs that have alarmingly high numbers of "0"s in the dose measurements, I am restored to close-enough-to-normal-to-be-productive. It would help if I kept track of what helped, and if it continues to get worse (which is likely, because I did move here) I will have to start a journal of medication. Right now I have a headache, my sinuses are dry on one side and runny on the other, and my eyes itch. That is better than feeling like I'm drowning in fluid in my lungs, with lethargy to beat the band and a nose like a faucet.

That would be Cedar Fever. If you move here, you will spend a few years wondering what all the fuss is about, then your sensitivities will gradually increase with exposure over time. And you become a connoseur of over-the-counter allergy medicines. Then you get to tell everyone what your allergist gave you to restore you to normal life again. Other than that, it's generally a great place to live.

*Central Texas is what the people who live near Austin call the area, because being in Austin proper sucks for a thousand reasons, mostly due to liberals running the city and not having single-member districts on the city council