tissue crisis

When I get a cold, my asthma takes over and I get a disgusting, wet, 4 week long lung hacking cough. Such as now.

At times like these, I greatly value the boxes of tissues people have given me. I have one at work (or rather, had one, since I used the last bit yesterday) and one at home (now nearly empty). Unfortunately I can't carry them around with me, so I carry around a roll of toilet paper in my bag. I think it is very practical. Why not carry a roll of tp? It's cheap, compact (at least more so than a tissue box), abundant in supply (much better than the portable tissue packets that will be gone in 30 minutes), and easy to get to. But I have encountered resistance to this concept. Some people just don't think tp should be carried around like that, or they find it extremely funny. I think it is funny, but still practical so I keep doing it. In fact, one of the tissue box gifts was a result of my last evil cough, from my roommate. Along with the tissue box was a note saying she hoped this gift would help the bathroom supplies last longer. It was a lovely joke, and it did help the supplies slightly:)

I didn't always carry tp around. Once upon a time, I wasn't always sick or having a runny nose. My current job is death to my health. Apparently. My tp days started when I was studying abroad in the UK at Cambridge. I discovered that I was very allergic to something in the air, and I could not stop sneezing. Being in a foreign country, naturally I could not find familiar allergy remedies and I didn't know what to take. My solution: steal toilet paper from the bathrooms (because I was in classes and could not go to the store) so I could blow my little nose to my hearts content. I carried tp around with me the whole time I was there, and even took some home with me on the plane. I kept that tp roll for a few years as a souvenir of sorts, but finally just finished it off:) It was a thrill using foreign toilet paper, let me tell you. I had people tell me after getting back that Benedryl definitely exists in in England. I must not have looked in the right places. Alas.

The most remarkable thing: I was just gifted with a new box of tissues! Not 5 minutes ago! I blow my nose with such high frequency that running to the bathroom each time is not efficient. Having run out of tissues at work yesterday, this morning I got some tp reinforcements from the bathroom in anticipation of much nose blowing today. But to my delight one of my cube neighbors (a cube mother, to be precise, who takes care of me) knew of my misfortune and brought me a new box.

My tissue crisis is over.