degrees of frustration

flavor: sour-ish

I’m going to be flogged for saying this, but I wish it weren’t so hot. Most people I know are in the midst of winter or just wishing that they had a few degrees more to get them to Spring. However, I’m just not a hot weather person. I’ve tried, I really have. So, now I am gleefully awaiting a trip to NY for the chance, among other reasons, to reacquaint myself with pants and sweaters.

Somehow, I feel that we were cheated out of a cool season this year. It’s really not long enough to be called a season. It’s three or four weeks – tops. Here it’s called the hot season, by some. The other two are hotter and hottest. Perhaps I am just forgetting that we had a glorious few days around Thanksgiving when I was wearing a fleece to bed. It was short, but very, very sweet.

We do not have air conditioning in our bathrooms (or our kitchen, for that matter). And the spaces that are graced with that heavenly gift of chill are rarely used, as we are careful about electricity (I am trying to be a good environmentalist, here)!

I’ve worked on relaxing and breathing and somehow (knowing my character, you’d understand), it just doesn’t make it any cooler. The air is thick. It’s wet. It’s sticky. It’s the kind of sticky that you don’t even have to move to sweat. Taking a shower has taken on new meaning. It’s not just the ritual of getting clean (which is desperately needed here), but it’s really the most comfortable place to be. The BEST feeling. Getting out, however, is another story. I’m not one to waste water, but I honestly could stay in the shower all day, prune-y hands and all. The minute you get out, you feel like you need to take a shower. There is no cooling off. It’s a lucky day if there’s a breeze. In this weather, you don’t dry off if there is no breeze.

My days are spent looking for cool places. Not hip places, cool places. Walking to get lunch at work (i.e.: taking the elevator downstairs), can work up a sweat equivalent to a full-on workout. So, if I want to take the stairs or walk a little further afield for lunch, there must be an air conditioned space at the end of the rainbow. Otherwise, I wouldn’t do it. Not worth the sweat. Really, the effort is minimal, but the payback is horrifying. I’ve even deliberately planned ¼ mile walks to pass through three very cold shopping malls.

Staying cool when working outside is quite literally impossible. Luckily, the building where I work (like many here) is heavily ‘open’ to allow breeze to come through. The roof even opens up! However, when spending a marathon 12 hour review session outdoors (in the shade, even) critiquing one student after the other, It just doesn’t cut it. Did I mention that I’m in full work attire?

I call my newest trick, the Darth Vader. It’s my low tech way of getting the cool when I need it. As water or beverage (of the non-alcoholic genre, unfortunately) is always necessary and ice is a large component of said refreshment, you might as well use all of the drink’s resources to your advantage. So, when my liquid refreshment is gone, I simply hold the cup of ice up to my face (similarly as you would with a gas mask at the dentist) and breathe in and out. It does make a ‘haw-per’ kind of noise as did its namesake in the Star Wars films. And, I’m sure it looks quite ridiculous. But, it makes THE coolest breeeeeeze. Whatever gets you through, right?

I’ve cut my hair shorter, switched to open shoes and learned how to walk with an umbrella, even on the sunniest of days. I am trying, I really am.

On the bright side, I do drink more water and I don’t need a sauna.

doors in the 'hood

flavor:  salty

It's hot.  really hot.  I know most of you can't believe it with all that winter going on, but, believe me, it's hot here.  So, despite the large doses of caffeine, I am unable to stay awake to pen a post and will retreat to my air conditioned bedroom.

flavor:  sweet

So, instead of words upon words, I give you another stop on the tour of my neighborhood.  The doors and gates that make up our street.

This last one is good.  It's a dog house.  Literally.  Until very recently, a pack of stray dogs (who are not so stray if they have a home...) had inhabited this small piece of land/pieced together home (roof and all).  I sometimes wonder if the dogs built it themselves.... The door has since been boarded up and the dogs have disappeared.  The note now reads something like...."keep this door closed or else you'll die..."  I'm not touching it.