Allergies 1, Bobbi 0

     Or about that score.  There may be fractions.  At first, I didn't know what was going on -- maybe sneezing more than usual and I had a big patch of hypersensitive skin on my left hip.  That was four days ago, a number that is significant because--

     As far as I knew, there's only one thing that starts out with a "big patch of hypersensitive skin," and it then turns into an ugly rash in two to four days: shingles.  That would be bad news.*

     Instead, my sinuses got worse and worse while the skin sensitivity faded; woke up Sunday with a sore throat, more of the same Monday.  I thought I had a bad cold and last night, in a spirit of can't-make-it-worse, I took an over-the-counter 24-hour allergy tablet.  It was that or risk drowning in my sleep from a runny nose, which is not what you want people to read in your obit.

     Seems to have helped; anyway, I'm here, way less sneezy and the sore throat is significantly better.
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* The shingles vaccine is one of the few kinda-trendy things my company health insurance encourages getting.  I should.