Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Wear Sunscreen

Last week I spent all day outside on a marine base in the California sunshine.  I remembered to put sunscreen everywhere except my part.

This isn't the first time I've neglected this part of my body.  It's not even the worst.  When I was fourteen I took a Disney Cruise in the Bahamas and got those cornrow braids (I was so cool when I was fourteen).  Fifteen braids meant fourteen parts, none with sunscreen.  It looked like I had dandruff for a week.

If I learned one thing from this experience, it's that you shouldn't scratch your head after you've gotten a massive sunburn.  This may not have been the lesson I should have learned, but it appears to be the one I did.

At any rate, I was doing a very good job of this.  I was letting my scalp heal on its own and resisting every itch that passed over it.

About half through a five hour marathon of meetings today, I excused myself to the restroom.  Upon catching a glimpse of my reflection, I froze in horror.  The entire strip of skin killed by the sun had separated from my scalp and shifted roughly a centimeter to the right.  I certainly hadn't left my apartment looking like this.  I had no idea when it had happened.  How long I'd looked like this.

I interviewed a prospective employee today.  His PhD research won his adviser the Nobel Prize a few decades ago.  This man has an equation named after him.

How humiliating.

It took forever, but I managed to make myself look presentable.  I slid back into the meeting and avoided eye contact with everyone for the next several hours.

And next time I'll definitely remember to wear sunscreen

No comments:

Post a Comment