Itchy and scratchy

One little secret you may not know about me is that I have some strange immune deficiency which results in red, bumpy, itchy hives. They come whenever my body temperature gets a little to hot to handle. That means stress, showers, sun and apparently even sleep leave me covered in tiny imperfections that remind myself that my insides aren't ticking right. 

It doesn't bother me that much. Rarely do they spread above the neck so unless I take my shirt off I'm safe from public scrutiny. I never take my shirt off so to most regular people I'm just a hiveless boy with an immune system of steel.

Recently they have been hitting me hard. I was stressed out about it but then a godsend occured. 

Remember the Barack Obama Chia Pet? Well, a few days ago I was changing his water and spilled a chia-seed/slime solution all over my DVDs. There was only one out of the case: "Freaks" by Todd Browning. I popped her in to assess whether or not I had to buy another copy. She worked fine and as predicted I ended up sitting on the edge of my bed, covered in hives watching the film (again) start to finish.

That's when it hit me. My hives are beautiful. I'd get into it but it's complicated.

It prompted me to start a new endeavour. Every day I pick one hive. Scan it. Draw it. From there I will have a collection of hopefully hundreds. What I do with them once I reach that point is unknown. Maybe temporary tattoos, maybe blow em up and put em' on a grid in order of color/date/shape. Who knows.

Here's a taste, starlets.