Am I the only one that gets a super itchy nose at some restaurants? I'm not 100% positive if it's some sort of smoke or vapor in the air from the kitchen, but I assume that's what it is anyway. When it hits, all I can do is itch my nose constantly, I can't ignore it for more than a few moments, maybe 5 seconds tops. On the scale of unignorability, if a very itchy mosquito bite is a solid 40, the restaurant itchy nose is at least 120, it's that bad.
One time I was at a restaurant having dinner with these 2 guys for a pretty important business thing, and my nose started getting itchy, I think the place had a semi-open kitchen. I couldn't help itching it, and I went to the washroom to blow my nose, but when I got back it still wouldn't stop and I was just rubbing my nose constantly. One of the business guys I was meeting with made some little joke about cocaine and we all chuckled and I kept explaining that my nose just got itchy at restaurants, but I am prettty sure they figured I was some crazy nose-itching junkie. Is junkie really the right spelling for that word? That looks so weird.
Anyway, a while ago my nose was getting itchy a lot even when I wasn't at restaurants, and I asked for, and received, a nose hair clipper for my birthday, in case it was errant nose hairs doing me in. It's pretty tough to use and I don't think it really helped much, but if you ever want to tickle yourself like crazy, get a nose hair clipper and stick it in your nostril a few times, that is the most ticklish feeling I have ever had. Incidentally, the clipper came with an interesting touch: It has a lifetime guarantee where you can send it back to the company and get it sharpened or repaired. You have to envy the guy who somewhere in the world has to occasionally explain to people that as part of his job, he repairs and sharpens used nose hair clippers.
10:38 a.m. - Sept. 20, 2005