When Being Proactive Goes Wrong

In preparation for my river trip this coming weekend, I decided to dedicate last Saturday and Sunday afternoon to introducing my white skin to what it feels like to be bronze again.  My skin hasn't seen the sun in months and I'm seriously rivaling Casper here, folks; it's bad.  Knowing this, I knew what six hours of straight sun next weekend would do to my poor white skin, so I decided to try and get a bit of a base going before subjecting my body to such shock and brutality.

I took my book and sunglasses outside and parked myself on the lounge chair.  Trying to be proactive about getting burned, I went inside to check for reddening and tan lines every 20 minutes.  Smart, right?  Well...I kinda forgot that the burn doesn't show up for a little bit...

After two hours of reading, relaxing, and apparently BAKING in the sun, I headed inside.  About an hour passed before I started feeling the little prickle of pain.  At first it was just a little uncomfortable, I was a tad sensitive in some places.  But soon the pain was nauseating.  Every time I turned or moved, my body hurt.  I ran to look in the mirror and found this:

This iPhone quality pictures does NOT do this burn justice.  And for the record, this was also after two days of letting the burn subside.  I quite literally looked like a tomato on day one.  The backs of my legs were the worst but for pictorial purposes, my back with the swimsuit tan line illustrated the burn best.

So in accordance with Murphy's Law, I should be completely peeled and back to fresh, white skin just as the weekend hits.  Despite my responsible and proactive planning, I shall still be floating down the San Marcos, white as a ghost.  ::le sigh::