Will I ever learn?

One of our car windows was accidentally broken when we moved into our apartment. If you do the math, you'll realize that this was... 20 months ago. If that broken car window was a baby it'd be walking by now. Yes, it's still broken. Not gone, just in a million intact pieces with a layer or two of extremely weathered packing tape over it. Needless to say the car did not pass inspection when it was due for a tag at the end of November. So the plan has been to go car shopping and cleverly avoid paying $150 for a new window. $150 is extremely crazy to me, considering the window broken is that tiny triangular window in the backseat. But apparently that's the hardest window to fix so it's the most expensive. Of course it is. Anyway, sheer lazyness has kept us from looking for a new car over the last month. Now with only days before we go to Oklahoma I'm scrambling to try to find someone who will fix it for only $150. You see, our temporary tag expires December 27, but by that time I'll already be in Oklahoma. I'm sure there's a lesson in here about how I shouldn't put things off. I've had ample lessons like this in the past, but I doubt this one will stick either.

Shiver

We'll be heading to Oklahoma soon for the holidays. Right now everything there is coated with ice. A couple of years ago when we visited there were massive wildfires everywhere. Next year, I fully expect a plague of locusts.

Eventful

Wayne's birthday was a few weeks ago. To celebrate he bought himself some Red Stripe and, for me, a small bottle of tequilla. I'm not a fan of tequilla per se, but one time I drank it and we had a long interesting talk about monkey toupees (there were sketches involved) and since then he's decided that's my drink of choice. I don't actually drink much at all. I've never been a fan of the flavor, unless we're talking Malibu + Sprite or Buttery Nipples. In fact, the last drink I had was some fruity wine cooler thing back in July. I don't avoid alcohol because of the flavor (as I said the night of the monkey toupee - the first half of the bottle tastes terrible, but the second half is pretty good!) or because of any moral issues. I avoid it because it makes my face really hot. Sunburn hot. Not pleasant and, when drinking in public, a little embarassing.

Over time it occurred to me that I must be mildly allergic to alcohol, hence the face hotness. When I felt the urge to drink, though, it never really bothered me. A few drinks in and it would go away (or at least I would forget about it). Lately however, I've been having weird allergic reactions. Two different kinds of medicine and some random-as-yet-unknown-agent have made me break out in hives.

So on Friday, when I finally decided to have a shot or two of that tequilla, I jokingly told Wayne to call 911 if I happened to go into anaphylactic shock. I opened the bottle and took one swallow (yes, straight from the bottle cause that's just how I roll) and a minute or two later I started feeling the burn. My face felt super hot. HOT! I waited a few minutes to make sure my throat wasn't going to close up. When I happened to pass a mirror a couple minutes later...! It was crazy. My face wasn't just red - it looked like I'd smeared red lipstick all over my face. Even my ears and my neck were red. My face was puffy. I had huge splotchy hives all over my neck, back, side, ELBOWS. Strangely enough the area around my scar (from recent shoulder surgery) was red, too. I decided it would not be the best decision to keep drinking at that point. I took some benedryl instead (after only ONE gulp of alcohol, mind you). After an hour or so I was (mostly) back to normal and very sleepy.

You know what the worst part is? I was that person who never had a hang over. Now I'll never have a hang over, but for all the wrong reasons.

(And as an unrelated side note... Saturday night I broke the hell out of my tooth while eating some crab rangoon. It wasn't the food's fault, though. It was my tongue ring. I bit it. Chomped it, really. Those things are dangerous. Granted I'd had mine for almost 10 years before I did any damage, but still. I took it out and now it feels weird. Phantom barbell syndrome. Is that a thing? I wouldn't doubt it.)