Are any of you ladies and gentlemen allergic to a thing or two? What are your symptoms? Secondly, do you have any phobias? Please share here where we can laugh, cry, comfort, and support each other! ALLERGIES: These are all mild allergies with mild symptoms of mine that get resolved within time or allergy medication such as Benadryl. - Cats, which sucks because I love cats! I start sneezing, my nose runs, and my eyes get super irritated. - Cantaloupe, which also sucks because I love it! My mouth, tongue, and throat get suuuper itchy and irritated. My lips start to redden. - Cashews and Pecans, same symptoms as Cantaloupe. - Shellfish, same symptoms as Cantaloupe, but I still eat shrimp, crab, and lobster anyway, haha. - Wenge wood. This one was actually discovered while playing Kendama! Haha! It was 2 years ago, I was playing with a new wenge set-up for a couple of days. It was my very first wenge Kendama, and I noticed that my hands and arms were constantly irritated, itching, and I was developing a rash. For a week, I couldn't figure it out. Then I got a new Kendama (beechwood) and I played with it for about a week. By then, the rashes and skin irritations went away on their own. Then I went back to my wenge set-up, and almost immediately, I felt the same itchy and irritated sensation on my hands and arms that I experienced before. I eventually suspected that it was my wenge Kendama! I thought it was so strange! So, I looked up mild wenge allergy symptoms, and sure enough, the symptoms were the same as mine. Every time I see someone playing a wenge Kendama/Kururin/Jammer, I ask to hold it or jam it, just to see if I get the symptoms again. (Pretty masochistic of me, I know. LOL!) Sure enough, I experience them. Haha. MY PHOBIAS: - Katsaridaphobia, fear of cockroaches. I used to be extremely afraid of cockroaches. Recently, my fear isn't as intense. A year ago, I went to the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles with @Jenny Cho for an Annual Bug Fair, where I faced my fear by holding Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches. It wasn't as bad as I thought! They were very calm and pretty much just chilled in my hands. They were a bit cute too, haha! I'm more afraid of the house cockroaches that skitter extremely fast, have wings, can fly for a bit, and that seriously cannot die no matter how many times you spray roach spray at it. - Alienophobia, fear of space aliens. Whenever I tell people this, they usually laugh and think that it's super random, haha! But I REALLY AM afraid of them! A lot of people tell me, "They're not real" or "They're not gonna hurt you, otherwise they would've been here by now," or "Why? Have you seen one? Or a UFO?" No, I haven't seen any. Haha! But I guess it's the fact that they're unknown, could be among us, could be hostile, could be watching us, and might abduct people is what is scary. The uncertainty of their existence and unexpected behavior frightens me. No, I'm not afraid of E.T. or Xenomorphs. I'm moreso afraid of the ones that are humanoid. Yes, the typical alien "stereotype" that you see in cartoons or whatever. The green or grey ones with the big heads, black beady eyes, slender naked bodies, small or no mouths, and noses like Lord Voldemort's. LOL! I can't explain why I'm afraid of them, but I just am. I have a friend from Las Vegas who also plays Kendama named Abbey Dumo, and she is also afraid of aliens! She is the only one who understands and who relates to me, which is funny because a lot of people confuse us with each other. Shout out to Abbey! Miss and love you!
Here's my life: Cats - Been allergic since I was born. Same symptoms as you, plus a possible asthma attack especially when i was young. I do have a Cornish Rex though and I'm able to tolerate her! Celiac disease - fun times!! This is a very long story. Basically, got suddenly sick at about 23 years old. Sickness continued and worsened with time. 50 pounds lost, thinking I had cancer and was going to die. Luckily that was not the case at all, and was finally diagnosed with Celiac. I should mention that I'm from NY, pizza and bagels being two of my all time favorite foods...that I can never eat. Symptoms include but not limited to, suddenly looking like im 9 months pregnant, severe stomach cramping, vomiting, more fun things. Other food allergies: Yeast (bakers + brewers), egg, corn. I've had three very serious allergic reactions, one time actually beginning to go into full shock. All three times, body covered in hives, severe face swelling, and the fun part...throat closing. Yes, I now have to carry an epipen. Surprisingly though, no phobias. Think I'm just shocked to still be alive.
I have pollen allergy, which really sucks in the summer. That's the best time for outside seshin! I am extremely arachnophobic. I freeze completely and panic. I don't why it is but I just feel extremely uncomfortable everytime I see a spider. They just look so f'd up!
Chelsea, Have you ever been around a Cornish Rex? Or a Sphinx? Do you still react to them? I was really upset about not being able to have a cat until I figured out I was ok with certain breeds. -Roger
I can relate to both of these TBH! I really like to sesh outside because it just makes me feel more natural, and whenever I see people that don't play kendama, I'm just like...I'ma move away from you, and just ignore you for the rest of my life.
Ah, yes! Hairless cats! I'm allergic to cats regardless of breed. I'm allergic to their dander and their saliva in addition to their fur. I love cats to much, so I just suck it up.
Slight allergy to shellfish, but slowly curing. There was one time i ate some super spicy prawn masala at a schoolmate's Diwali dinner, and that was how the allergy came about. It sucks to not be able to eat crabs (chili crab, anyone?) as much as i want to these days.
I'm so afraid of cockroaches. I'm slightly better now that I actually see them around because I live in the desert where it's warm all year around now but it doesn't take away from the fact that I'm not trying to kill it or catch it or anything that has to do with me being within 5 ft of it. My girlfriend thinks it's funny cuz I'll kill and capture black widows all day, they're everywhere here, but I will not touch a cockroach. Chelsea, you're insane for having held those big ones. Lol
Yeah cat allergies are actually due to their dried crusted spit, which all cats have from licking themselves, whether they have hair or not. Which is freaking disgusting. Source: cat person.
Hahahah honestly I'm not allergic to anything but I'm TERRIFIED of spiders, snakes, and sadly and regretfully, butterflies... I don't know why but I am
I lived 22 years of my life thinking that my only allergy was to horseflies, but this past labor day during a vacation back home with my family in NY, my mom informed me that it wasn't me, it's actually my sister who's got the allergy. So I don't know how my dad's side mixed that up, but boy I was confused. So, thankfully, allergy free! Phobias, however, are a different matter. Don't laugh at me, please. (Or laugh, it's quite silly) I've got a fear of mannequins, or anything vaguely humanoid that moves when it shouldn't. This is probably due to my horror addiction. Plus, mannequins are just creepy. If they ever engineer mannequins that move, I'm going to Mars. That's really my only fear as far as "things" go. My only real fear is dying without accomplishing anything worthy of note. I told my fiance the other day what I want on my tombstone. It's a quote by a great educator, Horace Mann, and it's some wonderful food for thought: "Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity."
Allergies: - grass (I get itchy whenever I roll around on grass or just expose my skin to it) - pollen (regular allergies I guess) - bullshit Phobias: - not sure if you can count it as a phobia, but I hate clowns. Like they creep me out. - the supernatural. The show "The Haunting" creeped me out as a kid and I would change the channel so fast whenever it came on
@Chelsea May Perez Say hello to my 500+ colony of blaptica dubia roaches, I breed them for my bearded dragon.
At least it comforts me knowing that they will soon be consumed by your beardie! LOL! I LOVE beardies! My girlfriend, @Jenny Cho has an adorable leopard gecko that also munches on Dubia roaches. She has a crate of them as well.
Ahhh damn, we'll you know what's up then, here's my beardie, that's actually his name (I'm bad at names) smoking a dubia cigar. @Jenny Cho Howse your colony coming along?
WHATTA CUTIE! <3 No colony for me! Just house and feed them off and then restock. I feed my gecko mediums and smalls. I'm scared of the big roaches. I know they're harmless but I share @Chelsea May Perez's fear of roaches.