"Stupid, stupid, stupid." That's what I've been saying to myself for the last 18 hours or so.

How stupid am I, when:

- I know the sun burns my skin.

- I know that sunburns hurt.

- I know that I am particularly susceptible to sunburn, more than most folks.

- I know it doesn't matter if there is a cool breeze, the sun will burn anyway.

- I know that sunscreen is the best protection against this.

- I religiously wear sunscreen when going outdoors.

- I even scold others for not wearing sunscreen.

- I recently joked with friends and family about this cartoon strip, because it accurately depicted my attitude toward the sun.

- I had a good friend describe to me her recent run-in with a very bad sunburn.

- I purposefully brought the bottle of sunscreen to Lake Tahoe on Sunday.

- I made sure to bring the bottle of sunscreen onto the beach with me.

- While there on the beach, I actually thought to myself, more than once, I should get the bottle out and apply some.

- I did not do so.

?

Ow ow ow ow ow ow. Mostly, the problem is my knees and calves. Makes sleeping difficult. And walking. And holding still. And standing. And sitting. Ow ow ow ow.

Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid. Ow. Stupid.

Aloe. It really, really helps.

Oh, and remember Solarcaine? Yeah, cause what I want on my bad sunburn is an alcohol-based aerosol.

I know exactly what you mean, Tony, but I don't ever seem to learn. I never wear sunscreen, despite all previous horrible experiences. I went to the beach about 4 years ago and didn't even wear sunscreen for half of the day (even though I had no shade and it was like 105 degrees out). I was already hurting when we started the hour drive back home, and I had to drive.

By the time we were home for an hour, I was already fully burnt. Completely red. Everything except for my bathing suit area My back got the worst of it, though. Like you, it didn't matter what I did. Everything hurt whenever I did anything...or nothing. The pain was so bad that I think it went numb for a while, then I felt it roaring back again. Lovely. It was so bad I had to stay home from work for two days to recover. Blisters are pretty gross.

Then of course I did it again about two years later. This time it wasn't as bad, but the problem was entirely different. The burn didn't hurt as much, so I was pleased and was basically functional and active. The redness was even going away pretty quickly. Then all of a sudden it hit me: the itching. My back itched so much I was completely incapacitated for about an hour. It was just horrible. I've never felt itching that felt like little needles piercing my entire back. And it wasn't just one at a time, it was in about 15 places at once.

I hate the sun.

I, too, suffer from an amazing ability to sunburn (I'm about one shade darker than Uncle Fester).

<rant>My favorite sunscreen (Bain de Soleil Long Lasting Sport Sunblock) dissappeared from the market a couple years ago when Pfizer sold the brand to Schering-Plough, makers of Coppertone, and they turned it into some fashion plate brand. Damnit.

I could put it on in the morning, then spend the day on the beach at the outer banks, playing in the waves, toweling off, swimming some more. I could bike all day. I sailed every weekend for two seasons in the Chesapeake Bay circuit (morc). I never got burned doing any of this (except the occasional spot I missed). Amazing stuff. It wasn't sticky, slimy or smeily. And it's gone! Coppertone's "sport" stuff can't compare.</rant>

Anyone know a really, reallly good, waterproof sport type sunscreen?

-jk

It wasn't sticky, slimy or smeily

Exactly! (kinda ). The main reason I don't put on sunscreen is that it's so slimy (sp?). When you're at the beach, you don't really have anything you can use to wipe it off your hands. And because sand, as a law of nature, will get everywhere, it's inevitable that you'll end up with sand sticking to your skin and hands. I think I'm just way too fussy.

Has anyone tried that wipeable sunscreen? It comes in the form of handi-wipes. The only problem is it's obscenely expensive and appears to have low SPF values. I was just curious if it worked for anyone.

I wondered why people had stopped recommending/using that pseudo-Frenchie brand, and now I know. Evil corporate takeovers.

Ditto on the aloe (esp. look for the 100% aloe gel).

Heh, heh on the Solarcaine. Especially bad in Colorado, where your skin dries out completely as it is. Sure feels "cool" going on, though.

Aloe Gator

I have no more information than that review.

Quite an endorsement in that review, though. I'll have to look into it.

thanks!,

-jk

I spent most of the 2nd weekend of April outside. I made sure, unlike last year, to take sunscreen, but rather than greasing up my scalp (the problem with going bald) I got a hat this year. Very weird feeling. Wore it for basically 2 and a half days during Carnegie Mellon's "Spring Carnival" (lots of people come back; it's like a 3 day long party)

"I hate the sun."

The sun is a mass of incandescent gas
A gigantic nuclear furnace
Where hydrogen is built into helium
At a temperature of millions of degrees
Yo ho, it's hot, the sun is not
A place where we could live
But here on Earth there'd be no life
Without the light it gives
We need its light
We need its heat
We need its energy
Without the sun, without a doubt
There'd be no you and me
The sun is a mass of incandescent gas
A gigantic nuclear furnace
Where hydrogen is built into helium
At a temperature of millions of degrees
The sun is hot

It is so hot that everything on it is a gas: iron, copper, aluminum, and many others.

The sun is large

If the sun were hollow, a million Earths could fit inside.
And yet, the sun is only a middle-sized star.

The sun is far away

About 93 million miles away, and that's why it looks so small.

And even when it's out of sight
The sun shines night and day
The sun gives heat
The sun gives light
The sunlight that we see
The sunlight comes from our own sun's
Atomic energy

Scientists have found that the sun is a huge atom-smashing machine.
The heat and light of the sun come from the nuclear reactions
of hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, and helium.

The sun is a mass of incandescent gas
A gigantic nuclear furnace
Where hydrogen is built into helium
At a temperature of millions of degrees

"The sun, ladies and gentlemen..." <applause>

Fine, "I hate being out in the sun for long periods of time and getting burns all over my body which then blisters and itches. Oh yeah, and I hate getting all sweaty and gross as my shirt gets soaked in sweat, not to mention hardly being able to breath in DC's code orange air quality yesterday."

Nah, it's just easier to say "I hate the sun."

Not wishing to advertise, but my daughter holds a franchise for Aloe products, if anybody in the UK is interested: Some of that stuff is really soothing, my wife, who is very fair skinned, got in to it in Jamaica, when she was viciously bitten.

Fine, "I hate being out in the sun for long periods of time and getting burns all over my body which then blisters and itches. Oh yeah, and I hate getting all sweaty and gross as my shirt gets soaked in sweat, not to mention hardly being able to breath in DC's code orange air quality yesterday."

Why O why isn't www.calvinandhobbes.com text-searchable? You'll all just have to imagine that I found the one where Calvin, at the beach, gives vent to an eerily similar rant...

Peter

I am thinking of the Doonesbury strip about "Nerd Care" - for the photo phobic. Three varieties: pale, a whiter shade of pale and new minty green!!!

I once saw a T-shirt on a pasty-faced Goth girl: "Do not expose to direct sunlight."

Update: The itching has started. Not sure which is worse...

I feel for you, I really do.

By the way, does anyone know where else to buy that Aloe Gator gel stuff? Purely for future knowledge. The store that's linked from their site ("CONSUMER LINK"? what kind of name is that?) took 3 freaking days to ship my order of a few 1-oz bottles. How hard is that to ship? Now I don't think I'll have it on time for my trip to Europe, which is where I'd hoped to test this stuff out.

Anyway, in the future I'd like to order it from somewhere else.

REI has it listed online. No idea if they have it in the retail stores. But maybe they're big enough to ship it quickly? And you can have it shipped to the store. (Read "special order".)

Also Botach and Northern Mountain Supply, if either of those names mean anything to you.

My sympathies!!! As if the burn wasn't bad enough, you have the afterburn to deal with!!!

Edit: Substituted a higher res / more readable version of the image.

Did the Doonesbury site really web-publish it at that rez? I can't read the text!

Basically, a 21st century version of the legibility rants Berke Breathed used to do back in the old Bloom County days.

Greetings!

Unfortunately, yes. This is the res it was on their archive site. But, hmm..., now that I know the date...

Found, scanned, attached. Higher resolutions available on request...

Heh, perfect! Thanks.

I see no mention of your "interesting" tan lines Tony...