So, I went tanning today. I am not proud of this, and I have since become even less proud. I pulled up to the Tanning Annex on my bike, really enjoying the spring life and early dusk light on the ride over to Carroll Gardens. I go up the stairs, because the Tanning Annex is on the second floor, and am immediately greeted with blasting Z100 radio music. A guy who was pretty orange, dark hair, athletic looking with those sort of shiny Adidas pants, that you may or may not be able to pull them off...anyway, he had just lost most of the m&ms he had just purchased from one of those quarter machines, and they spread everywhere. There was another woman who worked there with a spray bottle in hand, she was pretty leathery. And then the nice girl that helped me, her tan obvious as well. A blond-haired woman was waiting with a model guy.
I had to tell the girl I had never been there before...it was pretty obvious though. Anyway, we talked about my skin and I told her I was doing this because I was going to Costa Rica on Friday. She broke the news to me that it takes 5 to 8 sessions before a base is built up. She recommended that I come back every day until I go. I paid $15 and we figured I'd do 8 minutes. So, she shows me the room and how it all worked and to my surprise, I was in the standing up booth. She told me that I had 8 minutes, and asked if she thought I would burn. I said no. She said that some people burned after 6 and that scared her. I sort of laughed with her, and she left, and I undressed, still with the Z100 music blasting. I go in, and press the button, and whooosh, the fans start, the lights are on, and I realized I had forgotten the stickers that go on your eyes. I run out, put them on, run back in..and I can't hear the music anymore because the fans are really loud. I sort of danced around anyway, because there was a little bass I could make out..And a few minutes later, after I had put my arms down because they felt hot (there were bars on the ceiling of the booth that you could hold onto so that under your arms and sides get tan too), the lights went out, and it was over.
I went back to the desk, thanked the girl that helped me, asked what time they open(10am), and she urged me to come Friday if I could. I assured her that I couldn't but I'd try to come every day between now and then.
4 hours later, I take a shower. And I discover that my stomach is quite splotchy. I check out my arms, my sides, and the rest. Rosy splotches on most of my torso, my shoulders, my back.. Why was I surprised?! Seriously. After the shower, I was a more even rose color, but man, it's a serious sunburn. So, I decided not to go tanning again.
