life sucks, the world hates me, and i'm going to have a fear of ticks for the rest of my life.
Life is not very good to me atm. Spring break just started, and it's getting warm and sunny outside, so my friend and I decide to go for a walk in the woods. When we get back, we look for ticks. I search for the better part of three minutes and find nothing. When I wake up the next morning, I look again. There are two on my back and one on my stomach, both firmly attached and probably giving me Lyme Disease. Just my luck.
So I do a Google image search for the ones that transfer Lyme Disease and they all look the same, but I'm pretty sure at least one of those ticks (they looked different, from what I could tell) could potentially transfer it to me, so I search for symptoms of LD: fever, headache, fatigue, depression, and usually, a rash. Knowing me, I'll get most of these symptoms and dismiss it. (Or else I'll totally trick myself into thinking I have it when I don't.) Which leads us to the more serious symptoms. If left untreated, it can lead to joint and muscle pain, heart palpitations, neurological problems, memory loss, and eventually psychosis and a host of other major problems. By now I'm starting to wonder if mild anxiety and paranoia are symptoms, too, but I go about my day, albeit with more paranoid subconscious checking for abnormal bumps and skin blemishes that shouldn't be there. By the time I get around to taking a shower, I'm feeling much better and much less paranoid. I check for ticks, but find nothing...until I start washing my hair, look down, and think "Huh, I could've sworn I only had three freckles on my hip, not fou--ohgoditsmoving."
After brushing the fourth tick off me, I made several realizations: 1. Checking for ticks does not always work. 2. There was at least one in my hair. 3. Nature hates me, so I should just stay inside. 4. I will never stop checking for ticks, despite realization #1.
After getting out of the shower, I made realization #5: When paranoid about small, blood-sucking insects, anything brushing against your skin feels like a tick.