I totally sneezed in public during a lecture O_O

[army-girl]

Before we dive in, a brief history of army-girl and sneezing years I used to sneeze very rarely (like once or twice a months), and never ever ever ever in public or in front of people. After figured out that sneeze fetishes exist and that I have one, I joined the forum, and one of the things I've decided to set as a personal goal for myself is trying to sneeze more (I used to be an expect on suppressing the urge to sneeze) and trying to sneeze in front of people and in public.

The first part I improved on (and I have the numbers to back me up on that ) I sneeze about 200 times a year, whoo! the second part was a bit harder and I still struggle with it sometimes. I'm pretty comfortable sneezing over the phone if I have to, and I sneeze around family and my roommate, and I can sneeze at work too (even though I'm usually alone under those circumstances), or sneeze in my car or on the street rarely too. But honestly, some of my friends, whom I've known for 10+ years, still haven't ever seen me sneeze (some of them had the luxury of hearing me sneeze though). So you see where I'm going with this ... right? personal history in the making! Come to think of it, I've actually sneezed once before during a lecture, it was a HUGE deal for me then too, but if we're comparing, it was when I was a student, and the lecture hall was populated with 40-50 students that were my peers, people I saw every day and had some sort of relationship with (be it casual or friendly, I knew everyone). Anyway fast forward to today, enough with the exposition!

*cough cough* I'm sick, it's been kind of wretched, I didn't have a fever per se, but at times the thermometer was trying to convince me I'm bordering on hypothermic. It all started with a sore throat, it felt like I had a cat stuck in there somewhere if that makes any sense, it just felt like I swallowed some fur. It got worse the day after, to the point that it was hard to fall asleep because it hurt to swallow. When the throat business improved, the runny nose started and the headaches that go along with congestion, and the occasional cough. And this is where we're at right now, my temperature is pretty stable and normal, my nose is runny, I'm a little bit sneezy (sure am sneezier than during normal healthy times) and I still feel a bit like rubbish. But me? I don't fuss, I still went to work and was business as usual. Well, I actually did leave early in the last 2 days, and today (oh look we're finally getting to the observation itself!) I was at a conference from work, so at least my day was shorter compared to my time at the office too.

So this conference, other than being interesting on a professional level and pretty well organized, it hosted some 200 people, that's right, 200! in a big big lecture hall. I wanted to sit at the center, and by the time I started looking around for somewhere to sit, the front rows were rather full (and I think in retrospect I'm quite pleased I wasn't sitting at the front, all sneezy things considered) so I sat in the back, 4th row from the end, at the center. at first I had a free seat on each side, but once more people populated the hall the luxury of personal space was thrown out the window, there was a lady to my left that was at least 20 years older than me, and to my right there was a young women probably around my age (closing on 30). Being half-human half-cyborg whenever I sit at a lecture I take notes on my laptop, I had it out and I was type-type-typing away when SUDDENLY dun-dun-dun! (for dramatic effect) I felt the need to sneeze.

My first thought was "I don't want to sneeze right now, go away sneezy urge" and I reminded myself that I'm on a room full of strangers and that should have been enough to stop me from sneezing ... but turns out it wasn't ... for a second the urge pretended to back down, only to confuse the heck out of me and return to tickle my nose. Much to my surprise, it wasn't going away. I was going to panic, but there was no time! I had to figure out a good way to sneeze with 2 people on each side, so turning isn't an option and a laptop in front of me (which is worrisome, because I'm a wet sneezer and droplets on my screen could occur and that would be embarrassing to clean), and I didn't want to use the plams of my hands (which I often do) because I wanted to resume typing without feeling gross about it. Amid all this planning the urge to sneeze wasn't going away (I was hoping it might ... ) and before I knew what was going on I was sneezing, into the crook of my elbow, like a boss. It wasn't even stifled, or trying to be particularly quiet. Overwhelmed by what just happened, to me of all people, in a room with 200 people, I felt like a hero of some sort. I didn't want to bury myself anywhere, I didn't feel like anyone was staring, and in fact, I'm a little upset no one acknowledged my sneeze with a bless you.

So it turns out that that is a theme with me when I finally sneeze around proper people who see me (and not just hear me), no bless you - what is it with people not saying bless you? I'm working really hard to sneeze publicly partially for that. When I sneeze at home my roommate shouts bless you from his room, but that's about as far as I've gotten to getting blessed in recent months (there was even that one time I sneezed at work with a friend at my office and she was so distracted by her phone that even when I commented on my own sneeze, which I never do but I figured I'd try she didn't say anything ... *frown*).

But I digress ... back to the sneeze part of this needlessly long observation like I've said, into the crook of my elbow, and really wholeheartedly too! (sometimes when I do that sneeze-into-the-elbow thing I kind of feel sorry for whatever poor shirt I'm wearing that's about to soak what will most assuredly be a wet sneeze and I don't really commit to full face-on-shirt contact). It sounded like ... it sounded like what I normally sneeze like, which I can't ever quite spell but lets not that stop me from trying: "HaApshhoo" ... I guess? it was actually probably a bit softer than what I normally sound like when I sneeze, because I wasn't fully sold on the idea of sneezing in the presence of 200 people, but it wasn't stifled or anything, totally audible

Alright, lets sum things up! Observation abridged version - I'm sick, I have a nasty cold, I went to a conference, much to my surprise and despite my better efforts, I suddenly had to sneeze in a room with 200 strangers in it, I owned it like a boss and sneezed into the crook of my elbow and then came home and wrote a 1,000+ word self-observation about it because gosh darn it you have a right to know! (and I really need to feel acknowledged lol).

All the love,

A.G.

[Kuchafya613]

Bless you!

[Joal 555]

What a beautifully written obs! Thank you, I really enjoyed reading that!

(and bless you)

[count tiszula]

This is brilliant news! Well done indeed. If you can sneeze in a lecture hall you can sneeze anywhere.

I was going to suggest trying to sneeze in a café or something, but since your sneezes are so rare it may not be practical. Some people recommend starting with a bit of inducing in public lavatories, but perhaps this is too extreme to fit in with your public sneezing programme....

[AllergicWolf]

Bless you. And I totally understand the confusion for people not saying that anymore. I used to be in class and the tiniest stifled sneeze would escape me and everyone in the classroom would practically shout 'bless you's. I never really say it, mostly because of the fetish and I'm just really awkward about sneezing now... I've even told some of my friends about it. And two or three have been gracious enough to give me some roleplaying and artwork satisfaction.

[army-girl]

Some people recommend starting with a bit of inducing in public lavatories, but perhaps this is too extreme to fit in with your public sneezing programme....

Ooooh I could never do that. I actually stopped inducing altogether since I don't want it messing my yearly sneeze count (I haven't decided, in the last 5 years, if I ever do induce if it should go into the count or not, because the idea was to account for just natural sneezes and it feels like tempering ) either way that would be too extreme, plus my induce sneeze is harsher than my natural one, so I dunno if it'd be that willing to induce even in a bathroom stall.

.... And to everyone else - thank you

[ccv]

Very well written and congrats on your public sneeze!

I'm actually afraid of being blessed though a lot of people on here seem to like it.

I understand what it's like to be a wet sneezer, my sleeves get soaked as well.

But the worst is when you need to sneeze and don't have a sleeve covering your elbow I still don't know the best way to handle that situation............

[Vetinari]

Oooh! Only just seen this. Congratulations, and how very pleasing that after a few moments of panic, 1) the sneeze was still there, and 2) you were able to make that split second decision about how to handle it.

Superhero indeed!