>So to extend the question: does beekeeping engender a masochistic tendency?

I've long noticed that I have a subliminal "missing of something" if I
haven't been stung in a few days.  Just the thought often gives me a
feeling that I'm lacking something.
But I've never associated it with pain, since most stings -- which I
typically scrape out quickly with a swipe of a fingernail -- I don't
experience as being painful.
Don't get me wrong, the rare sting to the hand can be painful enough to
make me cuss, and stings around the nose, lip, or eye I clearly experience
as painful.

But I've never had the perception of missing the pain experience, but
rather of what I always assumed to be a dose of venom, which then makes me
feel "back in balance." I've always attributed my "need for a sting" as
something to do with my immune system talking to me.  But I have no hard
evidence to support that this is true.

Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
530 277 4450
ScientificBeekeeping.com


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