Allergic to the stench of failure (or are those dust mites...?)

Hello Funseekers!

Well, after three weeks of waking up, sneezing eighty times consecutively and then blowing my nose into three rolls of TP, I decided to brave the free medical clinic. Free, but not without paying in my time of course. Two hours later, my worst suspicion was cleared - I do NOT have a sinus infection, and I was sent away with nasal spray with a vague explanation that perhaps I'm allergic to something.

Well, I'm allergic to a lot of things, but most of them are food related. However, I (somewhere in the past ten years) developed a fairly harsh allergy to cats, and now I'm wondering what else there could be. After all, I am almost completely certain I am not housing an infestation of domestic felines.

I've narrowed it down to my apartment. So I have decided there can only be ONE explanation. I am allergic to the stench of failure and wasted opportunities. I'm sure that once I become again a productive citizen of society, I will no longer have sneezing attacks and random body itching.

Okay, oooor it's my apartment. Someone suggested dust mites. Yum! The thing that really picks my bum is that I am *constantly* cleaning my damned apartment. Something's definitely amiss though. I officially live in a "sick" apartment, which is just way to fitting. I couldn't make that shit up. It's also a little ironic considering I refer to my apartment as my "haven" and lock myself inside so I can be alone with my icky-poo thoughts. My haven of cognitive distortions, black mould, dust mites, and other allergens.

For those who will suggest it, YES, I use my neti pot and "nasal lavage" every day. That's fancy French for "warshing yer nostrils", dontcha know. Now I also have a steroidal nasal spray that works like a hot damn! All that is left is to... investigate for the culprit.

I looked for any hidden cats, but found nothing. Dust - I did my old fashioned best by dusting with a wet cloth and vacuuming with hepa-filter bags. I guarantee I'm the only person in my apartment who regularly cleans my ceiling fan and under my refrigerator. So what's left? Let's just hope I figure it out before my sinuses dry up and fall out.

On a related topic, I have had my annual notice of rent increase. In a moment of crankiness, I decided to give my building manager a deal - keep rent the same, or raise it and give me new carpet. I figure that whatever is causing my nasal woes must be related to the decade old carpet - and whatever may live underneath (let's just not go there.) I'm taking a stand! I pay way above price for a glorified shoebox with a refrigerator that freezes milk, a bathroom drain that doesn't drain, cigarette-burnt carpet, 1970's ceiling fan which is not only hanging on by one screw, but which has also been TAGGED by a past tenant, and a medley of contruction work right outside my window, day after day, year after year.

I love my little home and I don't want to give it up. If they keep increasing the rent, however, I'm going to have to start claiming Dora as a dependent and collecting unemployment on her behalf. It's hard to find a job without opposable thumbs, you know.

I could go so much further with this financial rant, because rent increase is actually the least of my worries. But I honestly don't have the energy to get into the medical employment insurance rant today. All I will say is that if they don't come through in the next three days, I will be wandering the streets with my bedraggled mutt, my red curly hair and nothing to survive on but my impish street sense.

Daddy Warbucks' may apply within.

PS