Frank, I'm feeling the same way. And I like hot. This is just getting....uhg. Mainly because I don't have good cool-down options. I don't even want to know how hot my apartment will be when I get home. It was 75 when I left. The a/c ran all night.

The birds outside my window right now? Are panting. That's not right.

I've been hit in the balls, and it isn't just painful, but debilitating. Your body is suffused with a deep, hard, spreading nausea that seems to radiate out from your kidneys, whilst you lay there in a gelid gibbering state.

Huh.

Well it seems that I've lacked one or two quintessentially male experiences, but I think I'll survive without this one.

It is 96 degrees out there. It's supposed to be 76 tomorrow. I'm not buying it. It's so hazy, the sky looks white, but I'm not seeing anything in the way of clouds that would indicate a major change in temprature is coming.

It's real. We're a day or two ahead of you in this, and it is pleasant and almost cool today after topping 100 on Sunday.

People to the east of me: I promise, it's going to cool off. Between yesterday and today, the temperature has dropped 20 degrees. And the weather system is moving east. Hang in there.

I've been hit in the balls, and it isn't just painful, but debilitating

That's a distinction I've tried to draw to guys who rank it with being hit in the breasts -- that's just pain, and varies a LOT. The whole "I'm down! I'm getting up! I'm falling over..." thing is bigger than just localised pain.

The liver -- well, I don't know if it's like the groin, but it's certainly a radiating and highly distracting pain that flushes right through you and does things like encourage you to vomit or pee right there.

Your body is suffused with a deep, hard, spreading nausea that seems to radiate out from your kidneys, whilst you lay there in a gelid gibbering state.

Yup, and it takes a second for the pain to actually register. You're first thought is usually "Whoa, that wasn't too... YEOWWWWWWWWWWWW"

It hadn't occurred to me that men would wince at bras.

True. More likely to jot down a few notes for future reference...

My karate instructure used to say that getting kicked in the balls wasn't all that big a deal

I'll have to disagree on that point. Even a grazing shot can leave you feeling sick to your stomach for several minutes.

I mean, I guess one could become adapted to it over time if they worked at it, I mean the Shaolin monks intentionally hit themselves in the head with bags of rocks and whatnot, but I personally don't feel like trying to find out.

it isn't just painful, but debilitating.

You can get used to it, sort of, depending on how crushy the effect was. Not that I advocate this behaviour, but it does happen. I think there's a double-bonus for surprise effect. If you know it is coming, it isn't quite as bad.

One of my favourite testicular injury stories was at the Pennsic war when a buddy of mine got hit so hard in the groin that his cup split almost in two, opened for a second, then closed again on his squishy bits. This is the same guy who was bitten by a snake on said parts too.

He's definitely a pain magnet.

Yeah -- from what I've heard the cup is some help, but doesn't make it fun. And I'm sure that bruise from the redirected impact might freak out your one night stands.

I had one guy (to whom I can only assume I had no rep) say "No, I'm wearing a cup -- go ahead and kick me in the groin for real." The next thing he said to me (after some silence) was "Uh. Maybe not."

t testicular trauma At camp, a friend of mine on a ropes course landed badly on a tightrope. He was wearing no protection and flimsy shorts. His boy-parts were rendered purple for some weeks. The good news is, we had a camp nurse who could make a detailed check of his healing progress every day or so. The bad news is that she was rediculously beautiful. t /testicular trauma