personal enjoyment

ikea

I went to Ikea to buy bookcases today. As usual, the were too expensive and I had to opt for the cheep "put-it-together-yourself" ones. So, I went into the back to find them in the aptly named "find-it- yourself-in-a-mass-of-unmarked-boxes" section. I must have been looking around for two, maybe three minutes before I felt a sneeze coming on. I suppose there must have been a lot of dust in the air, because it didn't seem like one of those normal sneezes that just comes to tickle and clear my nose, but something much bigger, though I hadn't imagined how big. I felt the irrepressible urge to sneeze fill me and I stopped in my tracks, obeying it's call if only to try to suppress it. I clenched my teeth and pursed my lips, trying to keep it in. I dislike sneezing in public; it calls too much attention to me, and sometimes when I start I can't stop for a while, so I try to keep them in as best I can until I'm in a bathroom, or at home, or my car or somewhere(anywhere!) secluded. Most of the time, when I try to hold them in, they cooperate and back away. But not this time. This time, the urge was stronger, not a light tickle, really, more of a need. The feeling filled my nose and caught at me very strongly. I breathed in without wanting to, the start of the sneeze I felt coming at me so hard, and tried to hold in my breath- and the sneeze. It was too strong for me. I closed my eyes and put my hand over mouth and nose out of habitual politeness. I felt my mouth open, as if to receive a kiss; my eyebrows lift, as if in surprise, and my nostrils flair ever so slightly as the urge forced its way through my nose. "Ha-CHOO!" I was a different sort of sneeze than my usual. It was deep and forceful but surprisingly not loud at all; I sneezed at a volume just over normal conversational tone, my head tilting forward as I did so just a little. The moment I sneezed, I realized it was a mistake for the sneeze coming out seemed to trigger another, and almost immediately I sneezed again. "Haa-Choo!" wet, against my palm, of course I didn't have any tissues with me. And again, my nose filling with the urge from back to the top bridge to the nostrils. "HA-CHOO! HA-CHOO!" It was then I lost control, the sneezes bursting out, one after another after another. I gasped in between, taking in air and sneezing it out again just as fast. "Hhhaaa-Choo! Haaa-Choo! Ha-CHOO! Ha-Choo!" I just couldn't stop. I tried stifling them with my finger under my nose, but they still came out in muffled explosions, "Ha-chusshh! Haa-Chusshh!" I tried plugging my nose, but the urge was relentless, and they seeped out still, my nose running fiercely, my ears popping at the pressure. I wiped my nose on my sleeve and decided that, with another few sneezes, "Ha-Choo! Haa- CHOOO!" that politeness could wait for the moment. I sneezed freely, head bobbing forward a little more at the power; my neck began to hurt, not to mention my nose, which was getting no rest at all. I began to get light- headed from lack of oxygen, or so I see now; at the time I was just confused and woozy. I began to wish they'd stop soon- but they didn't. If anything they came out more and more, giving me little time in between to breathe or try to hold them back, so I just let them take over. "HA-Choo! Ha-choo! Ha-choo! Ha-Ha-Haa-CHOO!" Getting into the rhythm, I could feel each before it came out, and anticipated the size and sound a feel of each the moment before they came out of my nose. After a while, I began to hope the sneezes wouldn't stop, and began enjoying them, hoping each would stay in my nose a bit longer. "Ha-Choo! Ha-Chooo! Haa-CHOO!" It passed after a good twenty minutes of solid sneezing, and I left the store quite quickly after, not taking the chance of any further attacks due to whatever it was that started the first. I sneezed a little more when I was outside after, though I can't believe it was for anything but the irritation left by the sneezing that caused my nose to continue to let out the uncontrollable sneezes. I even sneezed a few more times before I got home, twice when stopped at a red light, and I was able to catch them in a tissue in time. "AhShoo! AhShoo!" they were more normal sneezes, typical for me as far as sneezing went. The guy in the car next to me was staring, but the light changed and he turned right as I went straight so I never knew why. I sneezed three more times while making dinner that night, once, totally unexpectedly, into the pot of food and so I had to throw the whole thing out(as IF I needed to waste more money!). The other two I sneezed regularly, in a double. I covered my nose when I sneezed them, and was glad when they were out, for they felt like they cleared me out almost entirely. All in all, an exciting experience, except that I still need bookcases!