Warmth Is Good
I've always loved heat, even extreme heat, and abhorred cold. Tonight as I was leaving my macroeconomics class at 10, it was frigid as I stepped outside. The always-optimistic thermometer on my car read 55 degrees. I realize all you non-Californians scoff at complaining about such temperatures, what with the snow and severe cold you've seen this winter (I'll admit it though, I'm jealous and would love to see some snow). But having adjusted to the year-round moderate temperatures in Northern California, I find my tolerance for cold has gone way down.
And that's exactly what worries me as I contemplate moving back to DC. It gets damn cold there! Over the past two years I've gotten used to never, ever wearing a heavy jacket (been wearing a light windbreaker all winter, if anything). This past Saturday, after my Mammoth fiasco, I spent the afternoon hiking - it was 80 degrees outside! I love the weather here - if it's cool outside, it's a comfortable crisp cool, not the biting cold I endured in upstate New York and then Maryland (although, again, I really miss the hot humid summers). And the air here has a certain smell - a clean scent of Douglas fir trees, among others, that are so common here. And it seems like the sun is always shining here; none of those long, dreary winter months of cloudiness. A quick online search turned up that San Jose has 257 days of sun and 62 of precipitation, compared to DC's 203 and 114, respectively.
So I just don't know how I'm going to react to being back in a place that gets really cold in the winter. Sure I'd like the greater variation in seasons that living in such a place would bring, but I've found that my mood and energy levels vary in direct proportion to the amount of warmth and sun I get, and in a way I feel I've become 'soft' out here. Not to mention the time I've spent in Arizona, where, when it dips below 70 you feel cold.
It's not enough of an issue to change my immediate plans, but somewhere down the road, I definitely see never living in a cold place again. At least until I answer my life's calling and become a bodhisattva at the Potala Palace in Lhasa.
And that's exactly what worries me as I contemplate moving back to DC. It gets damn cold there! Over the past two years I've gotten used to never, ever wearing a heavy jacket (been wearing a light windbreaker all winter, if anything). This past Saturday, after my Mammoth fiasco, I spent the afternoon hiking - it was 80 degrees outside! I love the weather here - if it's cool outside, it's a comfortable crisp cool, not the biting cold I endured in upstate New York and then Maryland (although, again, I really miss the hot humid summers). And the air here has a certain smell - a clean scent of Douglas fir trees, among others, that are so common here. And it seems like the sun is always shining here; none of those long, dreary winter months of cloudiness. A quick online search turned up that San Jose has 257 days of sun and 62 of precipitation, compared to DC's 203 and 114, respectively.
So I just don't know how I'm going to react to being back in a place that gets really cold in the winter. Sure I'd like the greater variation in seasons that living in such a place would bring, but I've found that my mood and energy levels vary in direct proportion to the amount of warmth and sun I get, and in a way I feel I've become 'soft' out here. Not to mention the time I've spent in Arizona, where, when it dips below 70 you feel cold.
It's not enough of an issue to change my immediate plans, but somewhere down the road, I definitely see never living in a cold place again. At least until I answer my life's calling and become a bodhisattva at the Potala Palace in Lhasa.
posted by GregP at 10:31 PM
3 Comments:
Wuss. And it's good to see that you're alive. Welcome back to cyberspace.
Thanks. I was thinking about posting a reason, but the fact that it was simply because I was much busier with my classes and in general just didn't feel like writing, weren't very interesting.
I almost wish you had written this last week when the weather was in the teens. That way, I wouldn't feel bad about burning effigies of you in the fireplace after reading this post.
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