Time Drawn: Today, in 10 minutes, because I wanted some sort of image. Not my best work.
The light of sunset last night was a bit peculiar. It seemed both brighter and darker than it should have been. The sky was the color that you would find before the sun dropped below the horizon, not after. And the clouds were quite dark against it. They were strong clear clouds, too, rain bearing clouds. Some were painted the normal dark blues and pinks of sunset, but others, the ones I saw when I looked away from where the sun had set, they were a dark rust red. Oddly enough, I saw a small section of a rainbow as well, rust red as the cloud behind it. There was a solar eclipse going on around this time, starting not long after the sun dipped below the horizon where I was. Perhaps that was what caused the peculiarity of the lighting.
The other reason the sky looked peculiar was because everything was looking peculiar. I had a nasty headache, and it was only getting worse.
I seem to be allergic to sunlight.
Now, I have known that spending time out in the sunshine is not the thing for me. I find sunlight harsh against my skin, unpleasantly so. Neither the warmth nor the light is welcoming and certainly nowhere near gentle. For me are the nights, the clouds, the rain, but not the sun.
Yesterday, though, I gave it a go again. You see, I bought a new bike last Friday. It is a fantastic bike, too. An Electra Townie. It’s got some unusual features, such as letting me sit straight up and down rather than stooped over like most other bikes. I can even put my feet on the ground when I’m sitting on the seat! I’ve been really enjoying riding it, which since I really need to increase my exercise, is a fantastic thing.
My Mom also has a bike, so yesterday we went to Patapsco Valley State Park and biked along the Grist Mill Trail. I went about 4.5 miles! Not too bad for someone who has just started biking again after 15 or so years. I biked as a kid, but I took a bad fall that cracked my helmet about a week or two before I started middle school, and well, I didn’t have time to bike after that, and we didn’t get around to replacing the helmet, and the bike eventually rusted and so forth. I plumped up a lot in Middle School, from the combination of high stress (I went from home school to middle school, a rough transition even if you don’t have social phobia), sleep deprivation (I was never able to adjust my sleep schedule to waking up for class at 8 AM, and was frequently late), and a drop in the amount of exercise I got (I stopped biking, and my knees started going bad as well). I’d say school made me fat, though that’s a bit of an exaggeration. But I am fat, nonetheless, and I want to get in shape again.
The bike ride was glorious. It had gentle slopes and lots of flat areas. There were a few hills I had to stop on and walk my way up, but that was because my knees were complaining and I’m not going to strain them too much (I did mention they were bad), lest I dislocate them or at least not be able to walk. The downhill stretches are the best. My bike glides along the ground using only gravity, and I can sit there and do little but steer and delight in the wind and speed.
The trail is mostly tree-covered and shady, but near the end, there’s a long hill that’s not so shady. There’s a seat at the top, as well. And that’s where I needed to take a break. Mom went ahead, to finish up the last half mile of the trail, and I decided to sit on that seat. This was a bad idea. I was only there 10 minutes or so, sitting in the sun. It didn’t seem too bad, though the light was as harsh as always. I need my vitamin D, right? Right?
Well, about three or four hours after we got home, I started feeling icky. Then it got worse. A headache popped up. It was about this time I decided, in my less-than-infinite wisdom, that it was a great time to do the shopping I needed to do. Then, as I was about halfway through my shopping, my headache turned both motion and light sensitive. Driving home at night when you’re both motion and light sensitive is NOT a pleasant experience. Every stop light, every headlight, every turn signal hurts. At least it wasn’t too far. But well, I was feeling icky enough when I got home that when I saw that Dad was occupying the spot on the table I’d been planning on putting the groceries on, my brain short-circuited. Obviously the best thing to do was drop them on the floor. So I did. From about 4 feet up. Forgetting that I’d picked up something in a glass jar. Which shattered. And I couldn’t deal with it. I’m really thankful to my Mom for cleaning it up, as well as handing me medicine and sending me to bed. At this point, the pain was getting overwhelming, perhaps near migraine levels. Laying in the dark and eventually sleeping seems to have helped some, but I slept for 10 hours, I’ve still got a headache, and this post is late. At least the headache is milder, and no longer light sensitive.
I’m also achy. You’d think after biking 4.5 miles I would be aching from that, but no. My legs, while a little weak, are otherwise just fine. It’s my head and shoulders that are aching most. I’m really not sure what it is about sunlight that’s such a problem. Maybe it’s something my body is metabolizing from the sunlight, since that would explain the delay. I doubt it’s vitamin D, though, since I drink vitamin D fortified milk with not a problem. It might be an overdose of it, though, or some other compound. All the literature I can find on such things focuses exclusively on vitamin D, though, so I don’t know what else is produced. I have problems with being in bright light too long too, not just sunlight. There are times I get sensitive enough that it feels like the photons are bouncing off my skin. Everywhere that’s exposed to the light is prickling and tingling unpleasantly.
It’s annoying, not being able to go out in the sun for long. Though I suppose it’s just another way I’m not a standard example of humanity. Like I didn’t have enough of them already.
