Vampire Beacon: What is it?

What is a vampire Beacon

Author: Masticina Akicta

Date: 9 October 2019

What is a Vampire Beacon

A vampire beacon is the energy a vampire sends out. As a vampire gets stronger in their realization and control over their gifts on an energy level they begin to “shine” like a light house in the darkness. Even a young vampire will have a faint beacon, faint enough that with some training another vampire might pick it up. But also faint enough that such isn’t always assured and faint enough so that not every energy worker picks it up.

It requires experience to know what a beacon is, how it feels and how it affects things.

How does it work

The energy of a vampire is different. And I am certain the same goes for witches, empaths and other energy users. Each person has their own energy signature, and vampires have a specific kind of energy signature to it. So an energy worker with enough training and/or experience should be able to pick up the “vampire” code. But to many they won’t pick it up. After all, what they don’t know they probably won’t pick up as easily. Unless it shines out as brazen as a lighthouse that is.

But it isn’t really that strong either, vampires will affect the world around them through their energy and the way they do things. And the vampiric beacon is specifically part of our energy kind. It exists in medsangs, sangs, psy vampires and more. It is the signature of a strong vampiric energy being. But also unawoken have a faint beacon, much like a firefly into the night. It is there but faint.

Why do vampires have it?

Anyone who works with energy is changed by it. Witches, Spiritworkers, Empaths… all of them carry some kind of signature. This post is all about the vampire one. It helps us identify each other. And that has many potential great things to offer. It is like a signature we can send out. A secret handshake. A “You belong to our secret club.”

It draws in energy sensitives and unawoken vampires. It leads those who are at the begin of their path to us. Even if they don’t understand it yet. The beacon, like a light house, draws people in. Seeking something even if they don’t know what they are seeking.

So it isn’t odd of a vampire ends up being asked by a stranger about things. Because, in ways we are not strangers. And, if your beacon begins to shine so bright you attract unawoken ones or just awoken ones. Be prepared, it is going to happen. Every big vampire we have out there once was a small little firefly. And as a small firefly gathers in power they will be noticed more easily.

To us, it is the secret handshake. The way we know by second nature that we deal with another vampire. And with that comes how we treat others. Some will be teachers willing to teach you. Others will notice you and maybe give you a hint or give you the space. And some might warn you to behave if you don’t.

Understand, we tend not to walk up to teach other, giving a handshake or a hug and welcome you to our family. After all, that is silly and crazy. What if you don’t know what you are and we invite you like that. Crazy I tell you! But our energy signatures can give little hints.

Will I become a beacon

Many years of growing into your own vampirism, learning the tricks, adjusting the energies your light will shine brighter. And yes one day maybe you find someone walk up to you with a question. Or you might notice a little firefly, feel a tang in the energy around you. And notice someone who seems rather hungry or out of balance. It might just happen.

But it isn’t something gotten in a year. No, it tends to take a long while growing into your own vampirism before you are steady enough to be even able to help others. And maybe become a teacher to them, or lead them to a community of equal kin. But the beacon lights slowly, and once its light strongly, hopefully you’ll know how to handle it.

Only time and experience and lead to the right use of such.

The Vampire Submarine [or how to be a sneaky bastard]

The Vampire Submarine
Author: Masticina Akicta
Date: 29 September 2019


Where is Carmen Sandiego

You are busy in the house having snuck into the kitchen for a snack. And suddenly you are caught in the act, you didn’t hear them coming, you didn’t feel them coming. Suddenly they just were in the kitchen and you are caught red-handed.
Or maybe it is that friend that you never know sure if they are around. The one that can sneak upon you without noticing. The one that can stand in the group and you didn’t even knew.
That is one of the gifts of the ninja. And many vampires have such gift if they are willing to work on it. The seeming ability to camouflage. No, not like Predator going invisible but many can change the energy around them to disappear of the radar in many peoples heads. As long as they are silent enough in walking they are a lot harder to spot. Sure you should spot them if they stand alone outside, but they can easily slide through groups mostly unnoticed. Even people who shouldn’t. It is just as if they weren’t there at all, and suddenly they are. Almost scary.
So what it is all about?

The Radar in your head

True, there is no radio beam equipment in your head but quite a few people at least to a point are more sensitive then they claim to be. And at least have a faint functional sense of energy. You know that feeling, is anybody here from horror movies. That feeling that you are watched, just to notice kitty dribble in the kitchen with that look on his or her face.
Most just tend not to listen to it and trust their eyes and ears more then anything. Others are a lot more sensitive and can pick up things that others don’t. Trusting your gut-feelings is not something we learn in school and from society. At least most of society, things are rather straight set after all. And yet there is something older that still is there, that science might not be able to explain yet. A gift, a gift of noticing others around. A gift of feeling things others don’t seem to. Like that sixth sense that whispers to you, but everybody else calls crazy for having.

Not True Invisibility

This is not true invisibility though, one has to understand. It is more like how cats move through the house mostly unnoticed. Even if one can lower their energy output or mask it, if one stomps through the house like a 4 year old who didn’t get candy, one still gets noticed. If walks alone in an empty area, you’ll be noticed, you gotta use your surrounding and learn the way of the Ninja. It is how you act, how you move, how you know to take the right position.
So, as much as you can change your energy and so dissolve into the background. You still will be seen and heard. So, be smart, it isn’t a perfect way.

It is all about energy

Now we got that down, you should understand that people who can manipulate energy can adjust their own. Meaning that they can both can make themselves more felt, or the other way around dissolve into the background.
In the war with submarines the magic trick is not to be found. Submarines are by nature stealthy killers and hunters. Like cats, once you see them, it is to late. Submarines have special coatings that absorb sound-waves to fight against sonar. But also are very hard to see with naked eye with their colors.
Animals camouflage themselves, so many creatures can only be found if you know how they look like their surroundings. And hence where to find them. The masters of it, the chameleon on the lands and the octopus in the water. The octopus can even go so far to adjust its texture to look like the surrounding.
So if you think about it, it isn’t too hard. It is very natural, adjusting the outer layers of your energy to be a camouflage like the surrounding, while absorbing incoming energy like the special coating on submarines. And poof you are gone of that radar.
And trust us, it works pretty good, it can make people look right over you. But only if you play it smart.

Can you teach me?

Look teaching people basics like shielding and grounding is one. Most people who are capable of some energy works can with training reach places. But, the advanced levels of inner knowledge you require to make it work doesn’t makes this a 6 week retreat where you can just learn tricks like this. Hell, I am sure those 2 week yoga camps they sell can’t teach you that much either. Maybe the utter basics.
So, until you begin to understand energy none can show you how the tricks work. And at the point you understand energy, you can find it out yourself. It isn’t that hard IF you can do certain things.
If I am put on a sports field against a pro-runner I will lose.
If I am tasked to look up local tax law, the local tax agency will be a lot quicker.
It is partly knowledge but a lot of experience. And the experience is something that grows like a plant on a vine. It requires time. So, first learn the basics! Shielding and Grounding. And I already posted about that. Learning to adjust energy patterns, feeling them, making tiny changes and before you know you are less obvious.

What is the Vampire Community

What is the Vampire Community
Author: Masticina Akicta
Date: 30 August 2019

What is the Vampire Community
Mos Eisley spaceport: You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious. - Ben Obi-Wan Kenobi
I am not saying that the vampire community is wretched but, it definitely has it scum pits. So yeah, welcome to a whole new world. And yes sand gets everywhere!

The vampire community is one where you easily can find yourself into the court of egos. Of fighting cats, of people who are utterly against each other. And of media hording people good and bad. Of people taking sides and so on. But, also it is where we have teachers, places that are safe, where you can learn in relative safety and help the many things that can help a vampire learn the tricks safely. And yes feed safely to, very important to sanguinary vampires. So, as much as it seems as if this at times is Mos Eisley, it also is a little bit of a haven. You just gotta find your place.
The community also is split, there are disagreements and socio-political situations that have lead to different groups to exist. For instance South Africa has its own Vampire Community. The Americans seem to pick up a little bit of the European and Canadian slack. But there is also the Germans and before I even go further. There are a lot of players on this board. So let me just keep it simpel. When we talk about the VC, we talk about vampires, donors and supporters working together. But also VC can mean a local thing, like South Africa has its own VC. Which deals with South African vampires and their plights. Though in the core does the same, teach young vampires and offer certain level of support and information.


What does the Vampire Community Stands For
The VC, in the best case stands for teaching people, vampires and non vampires about vampirism. Offering support, insight and safe methods to feed. It has access to ways to find donors, deal with donors and offers many years of written materials and insights of older vampires. This obviously will help the young vampire, donors and supporters on the road. It also offers certain contact points for Media to contact us and talk about matters. For instance if they want to make a series for television and it won’t be the usual Media Hungry Crap. But actually wants to look deeper into the issue. Few vampires are out in public, for obvious reasons!
In the worst case it is cats fighting over little. Grudges hold for very long, different groups disagreeing with each other and a political push and pull.  You gotta take the good with the bad.

Drama
Oh this, drama, delightful drama. Yeah it happens. Big names, big egos. Sometimes a fight happens and sometimes things go to far and damage is done. It, is inevitable, vampires are a lot like cats. You can keep buying new cat trees, they will still fight over the same spot. And sometimes some really troubling stuff happens. Dangerous to young vampires to say the least.
What I want to say here is, judge someone on their actions and do not give full support or always believe someone. Drama happens, things flame up, damage is done, best to stay out of it while you are young. Hell if you are older you probably can smell the Bovine Excrement from miles away. And know not to get close! Many times it is just Fireworks, yet another fight, yet another night. At times it is a real life soap.


That Sounds Dangerous
Maybe, but there is also a lot of good. There are places where one can learn about vampirism. How one can feed safe and with consent, how to find donors. You can hook up with the right people to help you on the way and things can get running just fine. They can offer you classes, a social cohesion and a home within the strange world of real vampirism.
Also, you might find friends there, a listening ear that understands what you are going through.
It is just that there are also very strong minded people who might come out a bit sharp. It happens in every community. So finding the right people can help you a lot. Staying out of trouble can help you a lot. Not jumping directly into a drama storm is suggestible. Even though as young vampire I did that. But, you get older and hopefully a bit smarter.

Tips
Take your time.
Read and learn as much as you can.
Take nothing you are given as 100% truth, do your own research too.
Don’t let yourself be swindled in supporting a side of a war you don’t even know what the stakes are in.

Copyright 2019 Masticina Akicta

Sixth Senses

Sixth Senses
Author: Masticina Akicta
Date: 25 July 2019

What If

What if you could pick up so many more things then most. What if you could meet someone and directly feel if they are good or bad kind. What if you felt if someone needed your help, or if someone had a very bad day. What if you picked up things that seeing body language wouldn’t pick up as easily. What if you were not taught deeper body language skills yet you KNEW things about others. If you talked with someone over the phone and something felt off. Or you met someone and without them giving a reason you knew their inner turmoil and pain?
Welcome to the world of the psychics, empaths and yes psychic vampires.

The Five Senses

You probably learned this is school. The five most basic senses.
Touch, what you feel as you touch it or something touches you. The cold wind blows over you, the brush of heat against you, the textures of paper under your fingers.
Taste, what you eat, the basic tastes. As your nose is used for the fines “tastes.” A very basic natural system on your tongue of receptors that make sure that what you eat is safe. 
Sight, what you see, some see better in the dark then others, some require glasses to correct focus. And some are colorblind.
Hearing, what you hear. From the rough thumping of a mechanical jackhammer to the delightful air in a good piece of music. And again, some people have sharper hearing, some worse.
Smell, a very useful skill to not only know if your food is still safe to eat. But also will pick up other dangers. There are also scents that draw you in, fresh strawberries for instance. Or the rich smell of a well-made pizza.

I am happy we got the basics out of the way. A vampire, empath or psychic probably has sharper senses, but that isn’t always true. Many things we sense are a combination of senses anyway, the experience of eating is both smell, feel and taste. And even sight, a burger that is colored blue with food coloring will taste worse. Though, the food coloring has no real taste. Our brains will have decided that blue meat tastes worse.
Everything we do is subjective, humans are very subjective, to the point that each of us sees colors slightly different. Or taste things slightly different, we have the same basic tools, but all combined slightly different experiences.
And that is only the Five Senses. Let's add the Sixth one.

The Sixth Sense

Some of us can smell your perfume from pretty far, that isn’t to strange. But also what you try to cloak with it and I don’t mean that you just had sex that morning. But the fears, pains and desires that go deeper. We pick up things behind the mask.
We KNOW  or FEEL things, without directly knowing why. When we meet you at first we KNOW just what you stand for, if you are a good person or not. This usually requires face2face or a more direct connection then a chatroom online though. Something to connect to the other person with. A picture, a voice or meeting up.
An Empath FEELS things, A Psychic KNOWS things, both to the same conclusion though.
Many of us see the future, as in, we pick up what might become a future. Future isn’t set, it is changeable. But if a person is dead set to do a certain thing that is bound to fail, you can predict just how hard they will hit that wall.
The curse of knowing more then you can explain is that it is very hard to explain to people why certain things are not going to work. Trust me, they won’t take, “It just won’t work.”
Because they want solid reasons, you got none, you got a feeling. So at most you can warn them based upon a feeling.
It is quite the shame seeing people crash their heads into walls. But life is a learning experience for everybody.

So, the psychic and/or psychic vampire will know things ahead of time. And the Empath will feel things that lie beyond the mask. Trying to bullshit any one of them a lot harder, just saying.

Empath and Psychics

They are a different breed in ways, reading different things but end up on the same point. They know more about you then you are willing to tell them. But don’t be afraid, many are nice and friendly.
The Empath, if they meet you or connect with you, can feel your energy. And pick up things like pain, emotions, desires and other things. Hazy as any of these skills but with training they can adjust their lives and help themselves and their friends. Or offer advice to people seeking it.
The Psychic can see beyond the veil and into the murky haze. Pick up hints here and there and can, in time, work together with the story how things connect. If in a reading with someone they can pick up important clues that can help said person to change the path for the better. Or warn them for trouble ahead. Help them make choices that in the future might pay off.
And the Psychic Vampire? Oh, that is a vampire that uses psychic methods to feed. And can expect to get psychic gifts in time. If you work with energy you learn to read it.

Knowing without Knowing

I think that the worse is Knowing without Knowing. The little hints you pick up, the feelings, the tastes. Given too little to show to others. You can give advice but without really having a hand full of cards to show why. If someone goes to a psychic they usually can work out things based upon the clues. The person asking for the reading might say that yes they got an aunt who is the black sheep of the family and so on. Binding clues to other clues leads to a bigger story that becomes more obvious as it grows. And yet remains hazy.
The future is changeable. All those who are sensitive to a part quickly learn this. Ever asked yourself why psychics and empaths tend to be a bit off and odd. Well if you live in a world of energy, between worlds almost, one gets a bit odd. You begin to understand the value of silence, of not saying things yet. To watch and see, to give advice in ways that elude just how you got to such advice.
As you listen the spirit world begins to aid you, give you hints, insights. And things become clearer and clearer. But through that you also drift just a bit away from the world you were born into. Some even so far that they can become the in between worlds. But there are prices to pay, this blog won’t go into them.

Honing Skills

One should train their skills both is getting better, knowing when to use them, how you can trust them. And of course how to take a breather of them. Ask any Empath after visiting a funeral how they feel, don’t expect great answers.
One can ground and test their skills. If one does Tarot readings and one has another witch/empath/psychic friends one can work together and talk with each other. Do weekly or monthly tarot readings for other friends and get their feedback on how things went. See how
If you get to connect with others within your realm do share events. Like reading tarot for the same person or situation and looking at how every reader ended up. Don’t worry if it seems you are wrong. Maybe you picked up something else. Or you didn’t get the right connection. Don’t push yourself too hard, not every day you are the sharpest.
If you are an empath and hook up with other energy workers. Ask them what they feel, see, experience. Not everybody picks things up in the same way after all. Some might taste things, or see things, or know things or hear voices.
There is no set path, no set training method, only way to get better is to do it. Experience grows on the vine, it takes time for it to grow.
So find some friends and get to work, take your time, write down all your experiences and what did went well and not well. What happened for a person after a reading and so on.

Trusting Skills

And in the end one should TRUST their own skills and gifts. As long as you feel that they are right and can be targeted and trained. Gifts like these can open many doors.
So what do you do with your skills? Well, this modern society might not always deem it useful. But who says you need to tell your parents, friends, boss and so on that you got these skills? You can use them in the shadows, most energy users work in the shadows. There are a few out in the open, but enough in the shadows. You don’t need to tell everyone, use it. If you get information there are many ways to use such information.
If you got a bad feeling about the new preacher, you probably can’t tell your parents that, they wouldn’t believe you. But you can tell that you don’t trust him. And once said preacher runs off with the church funds… well you were right.
You can help your friends with your insight, as long as they are willing to listen. You don’t even have to mention how you got said information. Just that you are not to sure or that yes they should go for it. Think of it how you should handle it when your best friend has a new love and said love is obviously bad news. Soft Touch!

Can You Turn Me Into A Vampire

Can you turn me into a Vampire
Author: Masticina Akicta
Date: 15-07-219

Can you turn me into a Vampire

Short answer: No
Long answer: Noooooo!
And to get to the point why the hell would you want to? What is it that draws you to Human Living Vampirism and what do you expect to get out of it. Why you feel that vampirism is for you and what you should know. So let's begin with this article.

Why do you want to be a vampire?

Whenever this question falls the big question back is, what is a vampire to you? Many people who ask this question seen a movie or read a book. Maybe they played a roleplay game with vampires, but that is all fun and games. But it is fun and games. And there is nothing wrong with Fun and Games but at a point, one has to accept that not all is gold that shines. IF movie vampires existed, just think of the implications. The number of dead people, the methods the vampire would have to use to stay hidden and unknown. Without knowing what makes a vampire and just what it means why do you even think it makes sense to ask to become one?
That and the question is if someone even can be made one. And if it is a process that is long term suggestible.


The Case Against Movie Style Vampires

There is a reason we don’t see unliving vampires around, those stories come from long ago when diseases and bug-bites could leave signs that others could see as vampiric. Humanity was in the cradle, the world around them was dangerous, a snake could poison you. You could get sick and die of an unknown disease. And animals could leave odd markings. Not to mention diseases like the many plagues, like the black plague and the people not understanding what happened once you died. These days we can see a dead body and can put how long it has been dead. In those days they dug up graves and found weeks old dead people who had been through early putrefaction. A bloody nasty mess! So that is how the movie and book vampire was born, sickness, danger, and undead. And that is European lore at it, the Asians got their own ghost and vampire stories.
These days we know a lot more, not to mention, cell phones and cameras. I don’t say we live in a sci-fi world where every move is traced yet, a lot is, but not everything! Bigger events like DEAD PEOPLE would be damn obvious.
Now there are people dressing up like the movie vampire, more power to them. If that makes them happy so be it! It certainly will draw attention and will be liked among the movie lovers. I am not against dressing up like one if you feel like that. But I don’t do it myself.
So what draws you to vampirism, or at least the movie/book kind? Look in the end, those books and movies are awesome. But be happy there are not dead bodies hunting and draining humans, we have already a lot of things that kill us. So… let's go further.

What is a real vampire

Now I am not an expert, I haven’t studied for 50 years. I am a member of the vampire community for close to 20 years. And yes a vampire, a human living one at it. Thanks for noticing that difference.
I haven’t seen it all. And I am sure there are things out there that I don’t know about. But I will get to the point that for this blog, a real vampire requires life energy, through blood or other means. They are living human beings with an energy problem, or a need to drink blood. The issues they have to deal with miraculously can be solved through feeding. Trust us, a good feed and suddenly most of it works again like it should. Nothing beyond what a human body is capable of, of course, we are living human beings. With all the limitations that come with that.
There are many vampires I know that have very common issues, and uncommon issues. Vampirism is one of the things they have/are. It is part of them as much as so many other things are. They can be mother, father, diabetic, pro sporter, musician, etc. They can be anything, and vampirism is only one of the things they are.

The Crap we deal with

So let's talk about the bad stuff, basics going, a need to feed. We need to feed to keep everything running just smoothly. Low on energy means we are less capable and efficient as most humans. And heal worse, and get sick easier, and have to deal a few side effects even worse. Certain issues with the stomach for instance. In my case, my stomach isn’t 100% nice. It can be sensitive to what I eat, but if I have fed well it is not as strong. If I haven’t fed for a while though, it is even more sensitive.
Also, we tend to become a bit more snappy at things. The skin thins so to say, low on energy we might not be the best people be around. Well fed through and we should be fine to be around.
And yes the sun, almost every vampire gets to deal with this. In lesser or worse, some even got skin conditions that make any short time exposure bad news. Luckily some of us have skin capable of handling it, but it always feels bad. I like clouded skies and nice overcast days. Those are the days I can walk outside without any protection or heavier clothing. Oh, speaking about, the sunglasses. I like autumn and winter, the need for sunglasses is mostly gone then. I dislike the middle of the summer though, how, pounding, heavy and I got a limited sun exposure. Even with my good skin.
So even with high energy we still deal with some negative side effects. Not sure why the medical tests tend to show that all is just fine. That blood-works is just fine. Nothing wrong. And yet we know it when we haven’t fed.
Most of us look very normal, you would walk right past us on the street. Sure there is a certain group that does follow an image more. And that is fine, many of us are in the background and you wouldn’t know we are vampires unless you can read energy. And most of us try to keep an as normal life as possible. After all, if we got kids, we want them to have a normal life.
I hope you notice that it is a lot less cool then you expected.
Also, vampirism isn’t really a thing doctors have medication or prescriptions for. So anything related to our vampirism needs to be, told to our doctor in such a way that our vampirism isn’t mentioned. As much as we try to get it more accepted, doctors tend not to accept it.
And if you get psionic sensitivity you begin to pick up things around you like crazy. Like multiple radio stations playing at the same time, sound fun? It doesn't! Have you ever listened to more than 5 radios at the same time on different channels? Learning how to tune things out is an important step for young vampires. At least those that get the psionic/empathic thing.
As enough vampires and you end up with a lovely list of medical issues that make you rethink the situation. I don’t say that vampirism causes those medical situations, but it certainly can help the vampire to feel better…or hinder the vampire with it.

The reality of a boring life

And lets talk about how boring life can be. Because welcome to a boring life. Not going to joke, you still need to go to school, get a job. Maybe you get children, find someone you love etc, real life will go on. Vampirism is only a small influence on this all. And we don’t even know if it is hereditary or not. A child might be born without it, or with it. Or might even be something else, the fun only starts in life. Vampirism as this blogs goes by doesn’t really make things swoony and interesting. More like, an extra thing you need to keep track off.

And I like boring life, drama is troubling, cloaks and daggers! A bit is fun but we all want a safe warm house with friend or/and family. Simple things that make one happy. But that is just me.

So why would you even want to be one?

So there we are, even if we could turn someone into one. Would you want that? The tricks and methods many vampires learn can be also learned by everybody else with certain gifts. And just think of how nice it is to not have to keep an eye on your feeding/energy levels just so you can function decently. It can be quite debilitating if you get to deep.
Also no flashy powers, no flight, not calling up spirit wolves and so on. Nor romantically sleeping in coffins and having to hunt humans every night to survive. Those movies, games, and books mean little. Instead just another boring person, or maybe not boring, with a few small extra problems.
We are stuck with something rather nasty. And that is our life. I don’t think you want to be one.

Short Break

I know that I haven't posted in more than two weeks. But that is natural as I am busy with another huge project which requires all of my energy. It is the last weeks of said project, and it has to be done right. So, it gets all my attention and energy!
This will happen at the very end of this month so, for this month, don't expect posts anymore.

That is life.

But after that, I should get out some lovely new posts. Fresh ideas and a few things that will help you young ones out.

Dealing with the Sun

Dealing with the Sun
Author: Masticina Akicta
Date: 01-06-2019

Vampires and Sun

Lets first open the doors with some basics, vampires don’t burn into ashes up in the sun. At least not the human living vampires, I haven’t seen any of the movie vampires around. It is just that most of us don’t like sun, and some of us even have a medical condition called Porphyria[1] in what acute troubles can rise due to solar exposition. I leave it up to the websites just to tell you. And even better a friend has a blog about her experiences with it[2], she has a lot to tell.

No, even if the human living vampire doesn’t get skin issues sun just feels wrong, warm, bad. And that is a reason many of use wear concealing clothes even in the summer, even those who can get a color, and yes that also include people who don’t burn like a red lobster. It just feels bad, tingling, warm and wrong on the skin.

Even as a young child I knew it felt wrong. When we did go to the beach, that is what you did as a family, I would dig a big hole and hide in there with the towel to lay on as a cover. In time we usually had something with us to provide shade, because I didn’t like the sun, even as a young child. And worse I was half blind in the sun, so that didn’t help much either. I was the kind of kid that liked to play inside and read books inside, in the shadow.

As I grew older I learned some skills to help me out. Mostly that suncream can help a bit and the right types of clothing. That and sunglasses are not a luxury. And there is some kind of full bright/full range light the dentist uses that has the same effect. I can wear sunglasses at the dentist, yes.

That aside, I and the sun were never friends. Nor the heat of a hot summer. Guh, it just feels wrong, I enjoy those cloudy days that most despise. Because at least I can see easier and feel better.

Solutions

Luckily we live in an age where many solutions exist. We got a lot of methods to fix our little issues. Or big issues, quite a few of us don’t like to be outside too long anyway in the hot sun so will enjoy time inside. And might garden later in the evening when the sun is lower. Limit how long we are outside, if and were possible and even then use the different solutions.

The Internet/Weather Reports

Check your daily UV levels for the area. Remember UV levels don’t give an S about cloud cover. So even on cloudy days, it might have a high level of UV. In my country UV level, 7 is about the most we currently get. I say currently because these days everything changes. And yes I have seen places like Australia where it hits UV 12, which requires everybody to use suncream.

Sun-lotion

It is almost magical, a lotion you put on your skin and you can stay longer outside. It feels a lot better than just the heat of the sun directly on the skin, and it does works but one has to be smart and buy sun-lotion that is wide-band. That means it blocks both UV-A and UV-B!
There can be differences in how well sun-lotion blocks UV-A and UV-B. But buying a wideband will definitely help you a few steps up compared to cream that is made to mostly block UV-A. Also, make sure you apply it thick enough and replenish where needed. It can’t hurt to have a small bottle of Sun-lotion in your bag, just for on the road.
You might get people complaining about how white you still look, let them. That is them, you gotta take care of yourself!

Sunglasses

I told you about how sensitive our eyes can be right? Well, sunglasses are the cure, you’ll end up wearing them earlier than most people. The good news, it is pretty normal to wear sunglasses for some people so we don’t look too odd. Now, good sunglasses matter, you don’t have to pay $500 for a set but more then the plastic $5 that claim to block UV is a good idea. Oh, and it helps if it is the type that has a UV-blocking function. And isn’t super cheap so it actually blocks most if not all of it. Chinese Plastic Crap still is crap.[3]

Covering Clothes

Breathing but covering clothes are going to be your friend. If you think I will go in the middle of the summer in shorts out there and sandals you are crazy. I will still have some level of cover even if I have to stay cool and show off some skin. That nice big hat, silly as it looks, will keep much of the sun away from you. I know big hats look silly at first but if you can rock the look and make it your own it is awesome. That or maybe a smaller type of hat, something that offers some protection.

Problem Solving

Now that sounds simple, but the reality isn’t so simple, just read the other blog[2]. Trying to get people to understand you like it inside and in the shadows is very hard.

Worse, depending on how a school is built and ran you might be in some real issues. Look, vampirism can’t be determined by a doctor, you can’t get on paper. “He/She is a vampire and needs shadow and inside time.” No, you have to realize your problems might be too vague to be given attention. All of us have had to use tricks and persuasion.

There always will be situations where you have to brave the sun in, sports days at schools, and the weather is lovely. That trip to the beach, summer camp and if you are older, work and study. There will be times you are stuck out there in the sun and have to deal with all it entails. And sadly I can’t really solve all the problems with a simple blog. But at least, this should give you something to think about.

Find little solutions here and there. Sometimes you are F-ed by the situation, sometimes you can find yourself a bit of shadow or stay inside. And sometimes you are in control of what happens.

As much as my plants love sun and water, I stick with staying inside. Till it is shady enough and colder in the night so I can give them water.

Resources

[1] Porphyria; https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/porphyria/symptoms-causes/syc-20356066

[2] The Porcelain Vampire; https://theporcelainvampirespeaks.blogspot.com/

[3]Sunglasses and UV Protection: https://www.allaboutvision.com/askdoc/sunglasses.htm

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Copyright: Masticina Akicta 2019