fflo: (Default)
fflo ([personal profile] fflo) wrote2006-06-01 11:04 am

i am one sweet-tasting mama

to mosquitoes, that is

do they like you?

[Poll #739998]

[identity profile] shmizla.livejournal.com 2006-06-01 03:59 pm (UTC)(link)
do they spray mosquitoes systematically in this country? i was just wondering about that last night...

[identity profile] fflo.livejournal.com 2006-06-01 09:16 pm (UTC)(link)
I've lived in places where that's been done. I believe it still is in certain places where they're quite bad. Lord knows the buggers can be do more than just make a bunch of itchy bumps.

[identity profile] peteralway.livejournal.com 2006-06-01 04:28 pm (UTC)(link)
Funny how the average person thinks they are entomovampirized more than the average person. Such a nice, symmetrical bell curve around "particularly yummy" at the time I am commenting.

Maybe it's just because I don't spend so much time out in mosquitoey places as I did as a kid, or maybe it's because I'm not as sensitive as I used to be, but I feel like I don't get it nearly as bad as I used to.

Does the fact that I put down average mean I'm bitten less than average, Or does it mean I have the maturity not to complain so much? I'll pretend it's the latter.

[identity profile] homovegetarian.livejournal.com 2006-06-01 06:40 pm (UTC)(link)
there is actually a difference in how much a person is bitten by mosq. can't speak to other bugs, but a savory or spicy diet will keep them away, while a sweeter one makes you dessert. i suspect this is my problem as i eat little in the way of onions and garlic, but am rather a fan of fruits & sweets.

also the closer your blood is to the surface -- those who are easily flushed or overheated also attract them. that's why slapping at them is bad, it brings more blood to the surface.

in my experience, i'm usually the only one who will have 16 or 17 bites, while everyone else has four or five. no one is happy, but i'm the only whose face swelled shut.

[identity profile] shmizla.livejournal.com 2006-06-01 06:58 pm (UTC)(link)
ditto -- both my sister and i have entire clusters of bites around places where blood vessels converge. she has entire patches inches wide in diameter around the epicenters. quite gruesome during the summertime.

[identity profile] peteralway.livejournal.com 2006-06-01 07:25 pm (UTC)(link)
So it's true what they say about garlic fending off vampires?

Well, my blood sugar is on the high side, but it's also true that I add garlic powder to practically every meal.

I think it's really largely a matter of not getting out enough, though.

[identity profile] fflo.livejournal.com 2006-06-02 08:05 pm (UTC)(link)
Well, Peter, I must say I was kind of expecting this result---and it makes me think, as you implied, that so many of us think we're bitten so much more than others that it can't really be true, can it?

I swear, I'm at least yummy to 'em, ending up more bitten than any intimates whose extent-of-bittenness after similar exposure is revealed. But then I don't have the sweet tooth E refers to up there.

I'm thinking of doing a poll about how sensitive to sunburn people are, to see if we similarly locate ourselves in a non-Bell non-curve (a "Skeeter heap", perhaps?). 'Cept that'd have to be how much you burn compared to people of similar skin shade/type, and then ---well, too many variables, I think. The mosquito thing is probably a better test of the perceptions thing.

I guess part of the explanation could be that mosquitoes bite most people a lot, given the opportunity. Maybe I should do some research into the research on this one when I get a chance.

[identity profile] squirrelykat.livejournal.com 2006-06-01 06:39 pm (UTC)(link)
ugh, i got bit on the top of my hand, near a knuckle just tuesday night.

[identity profile] vjsmom.livejournal.com 2006-06-02 02:19 am (UTC)(link)
I always seem to get more mosquito bites than Brian does. The bites also get huge and red and swollen, even if I manage not to scratch. Lovely to think that time of year's here again.