Heat, Humidity and Headaches

These are things I strongly dislike.

These are also things that have been in my life for the last two weeks or so.

Heat. I am a red-head so the sun and I have always had a somewhat tenuous relationship. In the summertime I am perpetually pink regardless of sunscreen. I have had sunstroke twice, am prone to heat exhaustion and my internal thermostat is permanently whacked. That being said, here are some of last weeks top weather headlines...

HIGH TEMPERATURES CAUSE ROADS TO BUCKLE. Excuse me? Did you say "buckle"? As in "to bend out of shape; distort by twisting or folding" buckle? That buckle?  I am supposed to enjoy my summer vacation when it is hot enough to melt pavement??

3 MORE DIE IN MD FROM SUMMER HEAT. Yes, that's right. Not three...three MORE. There have actually been 16 heat-related deaths in MD this year. I'm supposed to run errands when it is hot enough to melt pavement....and KILL PEOPLE???

EXCESSIVE HEAT WATCH IN EFFECT. Now there's an idea I can get behind. Let's all watch the heat...from an air-conditioned living room.


Humidity. Wetness in the atmosphere. This is something that was most definitely NOT on the brochure. 8 years, 3 months and 11 days ago I moved to the East Coast... 8 years, 3 months and 11 days ago I was dry.  Since then, not so much. Everything is damp. My clothes are damp. My books are damp. My pillow is damp. Even my crackers are damp. And most people out here don't get this, but that is because they have never actually been dry. They use things like towels...clothes dryers (kind of seems like a waste of money to me) but they never actually get beyond DAMP.


Headaches. I am one of those people who get headaches. Lots of headaches. I get headaches when I'm stressed, or hungry, or dehydrated, or overheated or just plain tired. When my allergies act up...I get a headache. When my back is out of alignment...I get a headache. Sometimes I get a headache for no apparent reason.  And I categorize them.  Level one is your basic headache. It's the one that can be up there for several hours before I think, "You know...they make stuff for this." Level two is a migraine. Taking pain meds is a no-brainer as well as turning off all the lights. Level three is what I call the Meningitis level. (I had that once so I know how painful it is...wouldn't recommend it...to anyone.) This level requires lots of pain meds, turning off all the lights, curling into the fetal position and whimpering. And lastly, level four, is the Percocet level. Ironically, Percocet causes me more pain than whatever it was that they prescribed the Percocet for.  I felt like John Henry was pounding butter knives into my eyeballs. Doctors all "cock their heads" at me when I inform them that Percocet makes me suicidal.

Anyway, lately I've been feeling like I am dealing with multiple headaches at the same time. Like...if you had one parking spot in front of your house and every Monday your sister came to visit (and parked there) and every Tuesday your brother came to visit (and parked there) and every Friday your mother came to visit (and parked there) but then...one Wednesday they all decide to visit at the same time and instead of all coming in the same car, they all drive separately and try to park in the one space available. That is what I think is going on in my head lately. (hence the reason for the infrequent posts) One headache at a time is one thing but three headache at the same time is a different beast altogether. They need to carpool.