Day 17, 1 of about 3,000,000

In America, at least.

So let me tell you about my morning:

At the karate school I train and work at every Saturday is judo day. Judo is a martial arts sport involving lots of throwing people around, falling after being thrown to the ground, using your partner's weight against them. Today was the first judo day we've had there in two weeks because of holidays and incompatible schedules and I had been looking forward to it for a while.

So after stuffing my breakfast into me as I drove to the karate school and hoping I wouldn't see that food again as I was being thrown around, I got uniformed up and got going with the class. All was going well until about a half hour into the hour and a half long class. A half hour into the class brought with it an unbearable itching in three places: both armpits and, ahem, the perineum. First, let me tell you having a wild, uncontrollable itch down there is SO not an enjoyable experience. Not in the very, very slightest. Now, I knew right away that I was having an allergic reaction to something but I didn't know what, all I knew was that it was going to get the best of me. After trying to fight it out I gave up, because it was getting that bad, and went to the bathroom, baby powder in hand, to try and alleviate the itching. That didn't work. I was excused from the class to go and sit up in the office and wait this thing out.

In the meantime, the itching didn't stop, it did however decrease, and my face turned a pretty bright red. Right down the middle of it. It looked like I had been hit in the face with a burning hot piece of thick metal, funny but uncomfortable. All of this did subside eventually to where I'm now sitting at my computer, with a normal face, feeling pretty all right.

I bring all of this up because the reaction I had was due to the fact that I have numerous and pretty serious food allergies to legumes and beans. The worst of the worse are my allergies to peanuts and hazelnuts. Whenever I eat any of those things my throat constricts, I break out in itchy hives, and I get horribly awful stomach cramps for about one to two hours, sometimes longer. Well, apparently, one of the other students at the judo class either eats a lot of food cooked in peanut oil or cooks a lot of food in peanut oil. It seems that my peanut allergy was a lot worse than I originally thought it was and just by being and breathing around this person I inadvertently took in some of the peanut oil particles coming off of him through his sweat.

What an interesting morning it's been.

By the time I got home I was feeling well enough to go through my daily exercises, but not well enough to train like I normally do. I took it much easier than I usually do because of how I was feeling (and also because of the Benadryl coursing through my body, making me sleepy). I was hoping I would never get to a point in this project where I wouldn't be able to train as well as I know I can but things do happen, whether I want them to or not. It's a part of life, sucky as that part might be.

I need to keep in mind that while I might not have been able to work today like I have in the past few days it was a necessary sacrifice. I definitely do not want to push myself beyond my physical limits and have to take even more time resting and not doing what I need to do to be successful with this project. Letting my ego get in the way that much would be a very bad move on my part. That would all be a horrible tragedy.