Stupid body...
Jun. 26th, 2007 12:15 amSeveral years ago, I had an annoying experience: it was summer, and I was doing a long-distance, inter-city drive to a place that I no longer remember. Because it was summer, I was wearing a t-shirt. Unbeknownst to me, the lovely sun that shone through my window also shone on my exposed arm... for quite a number of hours. When I arrived at my destination, I discovered that my window-arm was completely red. Please note: my family is from Russia and Poland, which means I have pasty-white skin. When I'm in the sun, I don't tan; I develop freckles and burn as red as a lobster.
Since then, I have taken the precaution of wearing a light-coloured, long-sleeved shirt whenever I do long-distance driving in the summer. Well and good.
Today I drove home from Ottawa. It was summer. It was hot. I was sweating a lot in my t-shirt-and-white-overshirt get-up, but at least I knew that when I got home, my skin would be its usual gleaming white instead of a fire-engine red. And so it was, a lovely shade of pale beige.
Tonight, however, when I looked in the mirror, I realized that all that sweating gave me a heat rash on my chest and stomach. No, it isn't severe. No, this is not the first time such a thing has happened. No, I'm not particularly worried. If I keep cool and hydrated, it will go away by itself in a few days.
Still, it brings to mind the saying, "damned if you do, damned if you don't." Ugh.
Edited after getting off the phone with Marc: And now for a bit of perspective. On the Nevada-California border, in a place called South Tahoe, there is a very large fire burning. Marc was already committed to another fire and so didn't go to South Tahoe, but the fire is still burning and uncontained. To date, it seems to have consumed 150-200 homes. The people in those homes had about 3 hours' warning before they needed to leave. Beacuse it was the weekend, it was very hard to determine casualty / fatality counts, and the numbers likely won't be availble until later this week. Somehow, this makes my worries about heat rashes seem mind-bogglingly trivial. Something to think about for my gratitude journal tomorrow...
Since then, I have taken the precaution of wearing a light-coloured, long-sleeved shirt whenever I do long-distance driving in the summer. Well and good.
Today I drove home from Ottawa. It was summer. It was hot. I was sweating a lot in my t-shirt-and-white-overshirt get-up, but at least I knew that when I got home, my skin would be its usual gleaming white instead of a fire-engine red. And so it was, a lovely shade of pale beige.
Tonight, however, when I looked in the mirror, I realized that all that sweating gave me a heat rash on my chest and stomach. No, it isn't severe. No, this is not the first time such a thing has happened. No, I'm not particularly worried. If I keep cool and hydrated, it will go away by itself in a few days.
Still, it brings to mind the saying, "damned if you do, damned if you don't." Ugh.
Edited after getting off the phone with Marc: And now for a bit of perspective. On the Nevada-California border, in a place called South Tahoe, there is a very large fire burning. Marc was already committed to another fire and so didn't go to South Tahoe, but the fire is still burning and uncontained. To date, it seems to have consumed 150-200 homes. The people in those homes had about 3 hours' warning before they needed to leave. Beacuse it was the weekend, it was very hard to determine casualty / fatality counts, and the numbers likely won't be availble until later this week. Somehow, this makes my worries about heat rashes seem mind-bogglingly trivial. Something to think about for my gratitude journal tomorrow...