My Judgment free sunburn guide

About 2 weeks ago I spent the day at the beach with my family. Just some good old fashion fun. It was cloudy but warm, and I was a little lax on the sunscreen. I ended up with an awful burn. I turned to my online resources for guidance but felt like an idiot. Every site I went to spent at least half a page telling me about the wrinkles and skin cancer I was going to get. I got pretty frustrated and spent the entire next day feeling depressed, like I was going to die. So, this is my judgment free guide to sunburn care.

1. Know that it happens. All of us get sunburn. Consider this to be your warning.
2. Put on Aloe Vera the second you get out of the sun. I wasn’t read until about 4 hours after I left the beach. You never know when the burn is going to come; the Aloe can start soothing before you know you’re burnt.
3. Showers will be uncomfortable. If you can stand it try to take a cool one.
4. Avoid Vaseline and the like products wile you’re skin is red, it retains heat.
5. Wear loose, non-restrictive clothing to avoid pain, for women this defiantly means strapless bras.
6. DRINK WATER-I must have drank 6 full water bottles the day after, it really helps
7. Lay down in a cool room, moving to much is only going to make you sick. You have a good chance of getting heat exhaustion with a burn; it’s a good enough reason to take the day off from work.
8. Brew some black tea, refrigerate it. Drink some of it and soak wash cloths in the rest. Lay the cloths on your burn. There is a powerful antioxidant in the tea that sooths the skin. This works wonders.
9. You will peel. The hardest thing to do is not to touch the peeling skin. I wore tee shirts that covered the area that was peeling, out of sight, out of mind.
10. MOSTURIZE-once you start peeling get in the habit of putting aloe on the area and then cream. This relieves the itch.   

It’s been 2 weeks and I am still peeling. For a basic timeline

0-5 hours: burn appears

5 hours-2 days: burn is painful

3 days-1 week: pain lessens, peeling begins

1week-2+ weeks: peeling and itching

I can’t give you information on blisters because I don’t have any experience but DO NOT TOUCH THEM. I hope this helps, feel free to ask me questions J

Breaking News-Deadly NYC Shooting

Breaking News-Deadly NYC Shooting

This morning it has been reported that a gunman killed 2 people (including himself and manager) at least 8 others were injured. He was apparently disgruntled because he was fired from his job on Thursday and was targeting his boss. Police shot and killed the man near the Empire Sate Building’s Tourist entrance.

That’s all the information I have now.

What I’ll miss about the Olympics.

Staying up way too late. Hiding from my friends with iPhones. Reading the newspaper. Drinking tea. Taking minutes of the TV coverage. The Today show. The daytime coverage. Defending synchronized swimming. And Rhythmic Gymnastics. Researching Olympians. Memorizing Olympic trivia. Watching history be made. Screaming for people to win like normal people do in the super bowl. Praying the results I accidentally read online are wrong. The results being wrong. People crying. People being truly amazed. People running with broken legs. People running with no legs. The Royals. The names. The random events I didn’t know were in the Olympics. Sheer honest to God strength. Our national anthem. Underdogs. Parents’ reactions. The commercials. The commentary. Basically-everything.

I love the Olympics, I feel like the can bring us to a simpler time. A time when peoples’ abilities are applauded. When people become superstars, not for being drunk or at parties or singing about PG-13 topics in front of kids, but for being dedicated. For being the best. It’s kind of sad, that these were technically my last Olympics as a child. But I feel that no matter what I’ll always feel like a child during the Olympics, simply being in awe. What was my first Olympic memory? In 2004, my sister and I were sharing a room. At night after she fell asleep my parents would come wake me up and let me watch some prime time. I don’t remember much of what I actually saw, maybe some type of boat racing, but I loved it.

Now that the games are over it’s time to think about school and such. But it’s also time to begin the next phase, the autograph collecting phase. One of my hobbies is collecting autographs. After the games is prime time. I’ll keep you updated on that J

If I had an Olympic baby...

If I was to have a baby during the Olympics, summer or winter, I’d be ecstatic. For the sake of this post, I’ll focus on the summer games. There are so many ways to honor the games. The obvious is to name the baby after a favorite athlete, either first or last. For Example, Michael (as in Phelps) or Daley (As in Tom Daley, British diver). You could go with a more obvious path using Olympia, Olympus, or Olympic with the adorable nickname Ollie which could work with either gender. Nike, the Greek goddess who is always on the Olympic Medal could be used alone or as a nickname for Nicholas or Nichole. The host city is also a great gateway to names, whether the actual city (London, Paris) or a part of the city (Thames, Windsor). See where I’m going with this? Do you have any suggestions? I’d love to hear them!

The other driving danger

Just a quick detour from the Olympics-

We are all aware of the dangers of drunk driving and texting and driving, but what about DWE, driving while exhausted? Whenever I hear about someone “falling asleep” at the wheel I think, “how can someone fall asleep while driving? I can’t even sleep in the passenger’s seat”. It took me until last week to realize you don’t have to fall asleep at the wheel to cause an accident. I was driving to work one day after my dance intensive and I was having trouble keeping my eyes open. I was blasting the music, I had the window down but nothing was working. I held a hand over one eye to rest it for a few seconds. About 35 minutes into my drive (45 total), my eyes closed. They were closed for maybe 1.5 seconds but after they flew open I felt lost. The music sounded like it was coming from outside the car and it felt like I was floating. I didn’t understand how dangerous it was until I was out of the car and thinking of it. Driving while exhausted can be just as bad as being drunk or texting. Be aware. Eat something sugary, pull over, just be safe.

Where Have I Been?

 During these Olympic Games I have been way to busy. I had 2 English papers due earlier this week and some Chemistry due next Friday. I’m sorry for not keeping up very well with my record keeping. ***In the Men’s relay-South Africa and Kenya collide, just before Oscar (double amputee) gets to run. They are rather upset and disappointed, but are not looking for a protest. Now however, a protest has been issued and they may get into the finals. I hope they do, and I hope they win***

Anyway, in the past week I have done quite a bit. I saw the Royal Winnipeg Ballet at Jacob’s Pillow on Friday. I was very excited to seen them but honestly, I was not impressed. The choreography was pretty bland and it looked like they were on a low costume budget. The only exception was the opening and closing parts of Carmina Burana. Those sections were fantastic. I had hoped to see David Hallberg as well but I heard he was injured and wasn’t dancing but I ended up being caught up late at work. I’m dying to see Trey McIntyre Project this week and Fraulein Maria the week of the 22.

***South Africa successfully protested and is in the finals***

I was at the daycare on Monday and at the playground I heard lots of great names; Merit (Girl), Rainey (Girl), Evelyn, Sienna, Jessalyna (Jessie), Dawson, Bradley, Emma. Not to mention some in the program from RWB; Gweneth, Caroline, Arlene, Ingrid, Harrison, Dariya, Thiago, Isis, Dae, Tudor-Paul.

What’s on now? Women’s open water swim. I didn’t realize how long this was, it’s about a 2 hour swim. That’s crazy! It’s 6 miles. 110 football fields. Right now Haley Anderson is in 4^th, 1 hour and 11 minutes in. There are so many people watching. It’s the only event where the course is free and totally visible. What’s crazy is watching them feed/drink each round. Each swimmer has a pole with their flag being held out were they can grab a drink, then they just throw it in the water and keep going. It’s chaos because everyone is grabbing. This event was added for the 2008 Olympics. I didn’t see it last time. It’s a race of 5 on lap 6 of 6. Haley (USA) only arrived a week ago go that she could train more

This morning I watched some kayak races-dominated by Europe; the decathlon, also a crazy event where the 2 Americans are in the lead. I saw a bit of the Rhythmic gymnastics qualifications where the 2 Russian ladies are in the lead. There is also an 18 year old from South Korea, who is adorable. I saw the technical team final for the synchronized swimming. After today it’s a race between Russia, China and Spain. Yay Spain!

Ok the end of the open water race…Haley is making her move!!! It’s so close! She has a shot! She just missed it, she got the silver. Hungary takes gold and Italy gets bronze. A first woman’s swimming gold in 12 years for Hungry. Wow, that was a great race. Haley's sister already won a gold in the women's swimming relay.

Russia's Rythmic team just got an almost perfect score, their team is so young with the oldest being 19. Their biggest competition is Italy.

Crazy Stuff! I hope to be back soon, I have to eat and get ready for work J Happy watching.

Another US teen swimming star

Katie Ledecky (Kathleen Genevieve Ledecky) is Team USA’s youngest member, she is just 15 and a high school sophomore. Last night she took the gold in the 800 freestyle event. She is the American record holder and the second fastest time ever. Swimming is in her blood: “Mary Gen Ledecky swam for the University of New Mexico, and her brother Michael, a soon-to-be freshman at Harvard University, also swims for the Curl Burke Swim Club. Her grandfather, who was a WWII veteran, loved the sport so much he helped spur the construction of an indoor swimming pool in his hometown in North Dakota.” Katie lives in Maryland. Her first major competition was the Olympic trials in Nebraska.

I’m glad we are doing so well with our own swimmers, but of course not everyone is. Because of Ledecky’s amazing, rapid improvement has brought in the idea of doping. She says: "I've just progressively set short term goals and long term goals, I just have been dropping time progressively and just going to some big meets and having some good races and I've been able to get down to where I am here." Do we need to do this again? The swimming’s world governing body has backed Ye Schiwen after she passed the drug tests. What is pointing fingers going to do? 

Gymnastics-The All Around Type...and other Olympic goings on

Gymnastics Women’s All-Around-Apparently Taylor Swift contacted Aly. That is awesome. Gabby (USA) on vault-good. Not perfect, but good, small hop to the side. (15.966) Aly does are good vault, a big hop forward and form breaks though (15.9) Viktoria (RUS) very good form but very bad on landing.(15.466) I love the leos so far (Pinkish for USA, and blue for Viktoria, nice rhinestone designs).Deng Lingling (CHN)-Lower value vault, good but step on landing, very pretty purple and pink leotard (14.9) Aliya (RUS)-Perfect vault, lower scoring though (15.2)

200 Breast Stroke-Rebecca Soni (USA) got the world record and the Gold!! Back to back golds in this event, and first woman under 2:20. Breaking 2:20 was her goal (2:19:59).

Gymnastics-Gabby and Aly are 1, 2 now. We are at bars for the second rotation. Aly pretty good. (14.333) Small mistake but otherwise good. Russians are 3, 4. This is their event though.Viktoria (RUS) - now that is a bar routine. Wow. She flies, and lands. (15.966). Deng Lingling (CHN) - very good (14.266). That’s really low, not sure where that’s coming from. Aliya (RUS) – Gorgeous. She rocked it all, including her own landing (16.1). WOW huge score. Gabby-Also nearly flawless. Beautiful, only a small hop on the landing. And she Flew (15.733). After Rotation 2-Gabby, Viktoria, Aliya, Aly. 3^rd rotation-Beam. Viktoria-nice, a balance check but beautiful again. The dismount was good, only a tiny hop back (15.4, less then a point of deductions). Aliya-off the beam after the Arabian. Not good at all, you can see how nervous and upset she is, routine is also over time. She seems to give up when something starts to go wrong, she’s such a different girl from when she was world champion. It’s kinda sad actually. Gabby-fantastic. Very solid routine (15.5) Aly-hands down on beam. Not good or Aly at all. Lots of balance checks. (14.2) [Gabby, Viktoria, Aliya, Deng, Aly] is the rankings after the 3^rd rotation.

Men’s 200 Back-Lochte’s second to last swim. Tyler Clary (USA) first, Irie (JPN) second, Lochte (USA) in third. Clary’s first medal is an Olympic Record, “There’s no way to sum it up in words short enough for the broadcasters…” Adorable.

200 IM-Last time Phelps and Lochte will swim against each other. Lochte’s last event of these games.  This is so stressful, they are right next to each other. Last time. YES!! Phelps 3-peats for medal number 20. Lochte in second, Cseh (HUN) with the bronze.

Gymnastics-4^th rotation Floor. Deng, cute how she wears the socks, but pretty good. () Aliya-she is so beautiful on floor. Great routine (14.6). Ok, I thought it was better. Gabby-can you say perfect? (15.033) Aly-her routine my very well be my favorite. She may have the bronze! … A tie for the bronze. No way. Not again. WHAT??? Viktoria-such a beautiful dancer, and gymnast. Fantastic. Gabby takes GOLD! Her family’s reaction is precious Viktoria with the SILVER! By a tie breaker (combining top 3 event score-dropping beam for both-and totaling them.) Aliya takes the BRONZE. Aly is in 4^th.

Phelp’s Final Event (semi)-100 Fly. Takes first. 50.8

I’m really proud of Aly. She’s a fellow Massachusetts girl and she’s a beautiful gymnast. I know that 4^th is probably the worst position, especially after a tie. She did great and I hope she continues in gymnastics after this. He floor routine is my favorite by far. You go girl!

That being said I'm also proud of Jordyn for being a good sport and GABBY for breaking down all sorts of barriers and hope to add her to my autograph collection as soon as possible :)