Roasting and blisters - a terrible way to die

As a yankee in these Southern parts, I can't get used to how powerful the sun is here. I understand it logically - it's the Southern hemisphere and all - and I hear the weatherman say it will be 95 degrees. But what doesn't register is how - 95 degrees here in Austin is different then 95 degrees in Chicago.

I don't know how - but it is. I also don't know how I was lured outside today for an hour long, lunchtime stroll by my imaginary "sun sirens". They speak to me as I sit literally chilling with a scarf wrapped around me in my air-conditioned cube, mentally spent from shuffling around papers and "coordinating communication".

They know I still cling to the Chicago mentality that drives a person outside at the sight of any sunny and warm looking day to relish in the full glory the Northern summer season. And from the window today - it did look bright and sunny.

But it was a trick. The type of trick that is the polar opposite effect of what happens on a bright and sunny Northern winter day. When the thermometer reads 20 degrees and the snow sirens call you outside, because you can't believe that is accruate. The first minute is pleasant, but then your neck tenses from the chill and your eyes water from the cold while your nose immediately runs like a faucet. That sucks. But it doesn't scare me - like my heat exposure did today.

I decided to unwrap my scarf and take a quick walk to the library about a mile away. It was pleasant for about 2 minutes and then I felt like I was trapped in an oven. But I was determined to make my lunch productive and return the five DVDs I borrowed, so I opened my umbrella to shield the sun and continued my trek.

Three quarters of the way there the first trickle of sweat run down my back, and I could feel my hair lift up towards the sky in frizzy waves. I made it to the library, but in Austin the library is full of wackos, and I don't mean homeless people - just demanding, crazy people who look conventional, until they speak.

Anyway - the wackos in the check out line at the library made me want to leave, so I drank some water and trotted out of there like I had just been given fresh horses. That lasted 2 blocks. I had 10 more to go. The bus never came for me, so by the time I arrived back at work I had blisters from wearing non-sensible shoes, a head of hair so delicate one touch would release the river of sweat damned up by the make shift "curls" that took shape as my hair started to frizz (that is when I know I am overheated - my head sweats and not just at my temples) my shirt was damp and my face was red. Tomato red.

I literally almost roasted myself today because some silly voices whispered to me how good the sun would feel on my skin. Next time I will know better.