Feel the Burn

Believe me, I do. This time of the year my eyes are burning, itchy, and red all the time (at the same time). This is mostly caused by grass and tree pollen. I have also started to notice that it is increased by another irritant...cigarette and cigar smoke. Sometimes it's the smell alone that makes my eyes burn. I don't have much against people who smoke, and I feel bad that I'm allergic to them...like my dad and my grandma. The past couple of days it seems that all the smokers on campus want to sit by me in class. Yesterday, in math lecture, a man sat 3 seats down from me and you would not have believed how strongly he smelled of cigarillos (I only know that because that's what my dad smokes). It was like this huge wave passed over me and instantaneously, my eyes felt like sandpaper and of course I didn't have my eye drops. I spent the rest of the class blinking like crazy.

It happened again today in bio lecture. There were a million open seats, but a person who smoked chose to sit one seat over from me. The mixture of the cigarette smell with my perfume was too much for my poor little oculars to handle. They itched and burned and this time added a gooey layer of nastiness, making it difficult to read the lecture slides. Once again I didn't have my eyes drops. You'd think I would have learned by now.

In retrospect, these people should feel bad that their unhealthy habit causes me so much misery.