Sunday, March 15, 2009
Seasonal Changes
There are a lot of things I dislike about summer -- particularly Houston summers, which last 9 months out of the year and aren't transitioned into through that fabled season called "spring." Unfortunately, that's where I tend to live through most of my three months away from school. It's sticky and humid and hot. I break out from the humidity, and any makeup I try to put on to cover said breakout inevitably melts away in the heat. My hair becomes an instant frizzy mess before I even walk out the door. It's hot. I try to dress in appropriately skin-baring outfits to gain some relief from sweating, but the sheer whiteness of my skin blinds onlookers if I step into a beam of sunlight. That same skin refuses to tan (not that I'd want it to, really -- I'm sure I'd look horrid), and I constantly have to put on sunscreen to avoid burning. It's hot. My head is always overheated because my dark hair attracts that heat. I feel sluggish and murky and disgusting. It's hot. We get earth-shaking thunderstorms and the power (and thus, the air conditioning) always goes out at least twice a month and I can't stand it because it's so damn hot in Houston.
Today, the weather has been blissfully mild. However, as I glanced at the predicted low temperatures for Ohio this week -- mostly high 20's to mid 30's -- I found myself nearly tearing my hair out in lack-of-warm-weather frustration. I never thought I'd say this, but I could deal with a little bit of that Houston humidity if the thermometer would just inch its way into the 50's and 60's already. I love seasons, I love wintery weather, and I know I should be grateful that the temperature hasn't dropped to the painful-just-to-step-outside -20 of January... but after almost five months of walking around outside to get to classes with fifteen layers of clothing on my body and frigid wind slapping me in the face, spending my spring break with a coat on, I've had it. I'm ready to leave you behind, Winter -- I want beaches and bathing suits and sunglasses, sandals and shorty-shorts, picnics and quiet breezes. Please!!
If I don't get at least one day of relief this week I really might tear my hair out, and who wants to see a skinny pale girl walking around campus with a bald patch and salty tears of weather-induced agony streaming down her cheeks like she'd just accidentally had her emergency can of pepper spray backfire in her face? Nobody, that's who.
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2 comments:
Speak for yourself! I love Houston weather. I love how unpredictable it is--if it's too hot one day, then I can be guaranteed a cold front will be in the next week to give my cooler-weather clothing a respite from my dark closet. There is no better feeling than that of the cool evening breeze on your skin after a day with no air conditioning. Feeling it drift through your screen door as you sit there, watching the sunset while sipping some sparkling water and laid up on the carpet in nothing but boy shorts and a tank top is sheer and utter BLISS.
I love the feeling of heavy heat baring down upon me as I make my way across the dark asphalt of a parking lot--it reminds me that there is something bigger out there that we humans have yet to conquer. It proves we are no higher up the food chain than a small mouse, regardless of how easy it is to feel high and mighty when sitting inside with our AC's blasting out 65 degree, artificially cooled air. I never cease to appreciate how blessed we are to live in this day and age where we can toil or play outside, yet be free to simply walk indoors and be relieved of the brutal beatings of the sun, when just a few decades ago it was so difficult to find relief.
There is no better feeling than that of the warmth of the escaping day upon your shoulders as you take that final walk out of the school building or out of your workplace, and that warmth feels like blessed freedom cast down upon you from whatever benevolent gods that may exist outside this earth. And there is nothing more freeing than being able to cast off most of your clothes to run through a sprinkler at the drop of a hat whenever the whim should come to you.
Oh, don't get me wrong, I do enjoy summer -- especially for all the reasons you mentioned! (And particularly when you write it that way, haha, it sounds so nice!) I guess I just can't break away from my "northern roots." Houston summers, for me, move past pleasant, lazy heat into unbearable, sweltering heat. I never want to step foot outside, and summer is supposed to be for the outdoors!
I do enjoy the cooler months there, though; I wanted to just sit around outside all the time over winter break. And despite how ridiculously loud they can get, I like listening to cicadas at night. (Just... don't tell them that. I don't want them in my house).
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