Because someone has to be on the other side.

[amanuensis1]

I love the heat.

I love how hot it is right now. I love walking out the door and being enveloped by this sudden embrace of heat, feeling the sweat start to bead above my lip and lapping at the salt of it. I love the humidity that makes the air feel hotter, that makes me feel like I'm moving through water, like I could drink the air.

I love going home and refusing to turn on sniffle-inducing air conditioning. I love stripping down to undies, not in need of socks, cotton robes, down throws, or any of the layers that get me through the sluggish, horrible dry winter. I snicker as my damp skin slips and slides against any vinyl surface I touch.

I love dragging cold leftovers out of the fridge for dinner, leaving them for ten minutes on the countertop until they come to satisfying eating temperature, no microwave needed, a pitcher of cold water and a glass of cold sweet tea to accompany dinner.

I love running outside to the pool, stepping down into the water that's been baking in the day's heat until it's nearly bathwater, no need to get used to a chill water shock, and moving weightless through the warmth of it, swimming like I'm dancing through air.

I love sleeping under a single cotton sheet at night, still wet from the pool, chlorine smell in my hair, a fan blowing over the bed, my thoughts a happy, astonished litany of I'm not cold, I'm not cold, I'm not cold, at last I'm no longer cold.

Go ahead, throw things at me. I don't care, I'm too happy right now.

Comments

[bnharrison.livejournal.com]

I do not resent you, I only wish I could be you.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

One day there will be a day that's so hot I'll be saying, "...okay, now, that's too hot." And you can laugh and laugh. ^_^

[drgaellon]

*pitches a two pound chunk of ice at your head*

Gorram summer.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

*grabs ice, grabs a grater* Who wants sno-cones?!

[gmth.livejournal.com]

That's kind of beautiful. :-D

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Not being cold is so beautiful. *wiggles sockless toes*

[laurelwood.livejournal.com]

I want to have this great attitude towards hot weather! I'm saving this so that the next time we have a heat wave (the summer so far here in Silicon Valley has been ridiculously mild), I can use it as inspiration.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

But do drink more than I do! I spend the day somewhat dehydrated 'cos I forget to drink.

[ellen-fremedon.livejournal.com]

You know what I love? I love it when you get a nice long spell of subzero weather, down to about twenty below or even lower for nighttime lows and just edging up toward zero at midday. Weather like that takes all the moisture out of the air, and all the mold and the dust-- you can go out and just breathe pure air with nothing else in it. And when that air is really cold-- double digits below zero-- you can feel it going all the way down. It crackles in your nose and your lungs; it makes you feel alive all the way to the core. I love that.

And I love going outside and shoveling snow, stripped down to mittens and shirtsleeves and not sweating, at all-- being able to work as hard as I want and still having my upper lip stay perfectly dry. I love having perfect skin, dry as paper to touch but moving smoothly and easily and not a pore visible. I love how all my joints swing easier in the cold, and my hands are nimble and small, not swollen up like sausages and tender to the touch.

I love going to bed in a frigid room under a mound of covers, and feeling the cold sheets against my bare legs as my body heat slowly warms a pocket of air around me. I love how deeply I sleep, and how loose and supple all my muscles are when I wake, in a room where the ambient air I'm breathing is at least forty degrees colder than the thin pocket of air against my skin. (A sixty degree difference is not too much. Fifteen degrees is the minimum I need to sleep at all.)

And I even love going out in weather that is actually too cold-- you know, negative 29, 30, the point where you stop feeling the differences because it's all just 'cold'-- because when you've gotten thoroughly chilled all the way to the bone, you can come inside and warm up and feel alive like never before, with your blood flowing and your skin flushed and your heart racing and still not one drop of sweat. I love that so much.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

MAN, how different people are made. I'm shivering just reading this, and thinking about turning off the fans and getting my ROBE.

[secretsolitaire.livejournal.com]

I would like this heat better if I had a pool! *jealous*

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

I have spent my life knowing where pools are, planning to be at pools, choosing living locations and vacations based on pools. ^_^

[glockgal.livejournal.com]

HOW DO YOU DO THIS.

(my bff - who irony of ironies grew up in Soviet Union - is pretty much exactly the same as you when it comes to heat vs cold! In the Dominican Republic, I was SLAMMED IN THE FACE BY THE HUMIDITY and she breathed in and said breezily 'mmm, it's not quite hot enough. I'll keep my hoodie on!' I'm like 'DUDE THE TAR IS STICKY. I NEED BEACH, STAT.')

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

cluegirl's theory is wherever you grew up, that's the climate extreme you can't take when you get older. We should see if it holds true for more people, 'cos it certainly does for you and me!

[lady_songsmith]

You make it sound wonderful, and I almost forget how much I hate humidity. Go ahead and crank up the thermostat, weather gods, I'll manage (just don't TELL me how hot it is; I am very content walking about in 110 thinking it's 90), but get that moisture out of the air! I adored living in Southern California, I would like to go back, or to AZ or NM or somewhere else desert-y. If only I had the skin tone to match my desert-loving ways, but alas my ancestors liked rain and snow. *hides from the big yellow thing in the sky*

As for throwing things at you, can I chuck all our local humidity your way?

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean about not knowing how hot it really is; the other day I walked out and said, "Wow, it's finally made it up to...what, 75?" It was 90.

I wouldn't mind the humidity but I'll bet my neighbors would be mighty mad. ^_^

[drusillas-rain.livejournal.com]

I'm totally with you on all of this ^_^ (the description above of the freezing cold weather just made me >.<). If I could, I'd move somewhere where it was perpetually warm (DH and I talk about moving to Central or South America all the time, and it's mostly because there's no winter, unlike Toronto where it's only hot 1-2 months a year).

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

And when people say to me, "I like the change of seasons, the variety, " I say, "...nah. I just want it hot all the time." I probably wouldn't mind a little gentle spring and fall, but you can keep winter.

[reira-21.livejournal.com]

I AGREE WITH EVERY WORD.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

AMAZING! THERE ARE MORE OF US! *dances with you*

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

Argh, and I just posted how much I'm hating this extreme heat. I cannot ride my motorcycle in this heat, because the protective clothing is stifling, and I refuse NOT TO RIDE SAFE.

How many days until fall? Now fall I can wax poetic about. *g*

[alexandralynch.livejournal.com]

Mid-fall and mid-spring are nice.

Except the bit where it suckers you with a warm morning then drops the temperature abruptly as you kick yourself for not wearing warmer clothing.

[rei-c.livejournal.com]

Yes, this.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad there are more of us heat-loving nutballs around! *hugs*

sorry! Now with non-buggered html...

[fer-de-lance.livejournal.com]

I love sleeping under a single cotton sheet at night, still wet from the pool, chlorine smell in my hair, a fan blowing over the bed, my thoughts a happy, astonished litany of I'm not cold, I'm not cold, I'm not cold, at last I'm no longer cold.

This!

Except for the bit about chlorine. If I slept with chlorine!hair, I'd wake to a rat's-nest of EPIC proportions!

Re: sorry! Now with non-buggered html...

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

My hair forgives me everything as long as the weather isn't too cold and dry. When the temperature drops below 50 degrees I have to break out the straightening irons and hairbrushes and such, but in the warm weather I can let it wave and flop about as it wants.

[ldydark1.livejournal.com]

You know what, I agree.
I too sleep with a single sheet.
I like being barefoot at home,
not wearing cumbersome gloves,
socks, winter coats, gloves,
sweaters.
I like the long daylight hours.
I drink tons of water, and my
meals are of fresh corn, strawberries,
and other fresh fruits and vegetables.
I have a simple salad in the evening.
Or zwiegles white hotdogs, or a small
steak.
I used to have a pool, but no longer
where I live. I do have a balcony,
and enjoy sitting out at night,
sipping wine, and looking at the stars.
I like the quiet whisper of my a/c
when I arrive home.
If one knows how to dress, how to prepare,
how to move about in the hot heat,
its doable.
I absolutely detest winter.
I hate being cold.
Only when I am inside, on a day off,
drinking cocoa is it tolerable.
Nice post.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Oh, the long daylight hours! I should have remembered to count my blessings for those too.

*embraces fellow heat-lover*

[dbassassin.livejournal.com]

Ugh.

I miss the west coast, where 26C is OMG HEATWAVE of epic proportions and there's almost always a breeze off the ocean. This stuff we have here makes me feel gross and icky and I can never sleep at night.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Having a breeze is significant, isn't it? I'm wrapped in fleece if the modestly nice temperature of 75-F is too breezy.

[venivincere]

...
...
...

I love you far too much to throw things at you. Just know that I kinda want to. Even whilst hugging you.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

*protects head while is hugged!* :D

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

It's not like I want to be dressed in black rubber, topped with a full-length sable coat, and made to stand on hot asphalt in 90 degrees with no shade for an hour, you know? When one's allowed to adjust for the weather conditions by dressing and moving as one likes, it matters.

[oceaxe.livejournal.com]

I'm with you, MUCH rather be warm than cold. Too warm beats even slightly cold, in my book. Thailand was perfect. And this is odd, because my ancestry is all Scottish.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

I was going to answer but I am distracted by your icon--holy, wow, izzat a snake? So pretty!

[cellia.livejournal.com]

Heat! No one I know loves it as much as I do. Mostly I'm jealous you have a pool nearby!

I have yet to turn on my AC and probably won't unless it breaks 100.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

That does sound like an extreme; everyone calls me a loon because mine wasn't on in the high eighties!

[djin7.livejournal.com]

You make it sound lovely, anyways.:/

I can't say for sure (even if I have met you), but I somehow doubt you've ever had to carry around an excess 60+ pounds while fighting the heat. Nothing like swollen ankles to add to the pleasantries. That's why most of us on the flist are miserable, I think.

That said, an excess of 60 lbs can make for a more pleasant winter - there's a *reason* polar bears and seals are fat. Lolls about in the cool weather, happily. :D

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Yeah, body shapes can make all the difference to temperature tolerance, plus it just seems my base set point has to be a number of degrees above other people's.

And mustn't forget pregnancy! That'll make heat much less pleasant.

[waterbird.livejournal.com]

I'm cold almost all the time, so I'll take the heat whenever I can get it. Summer in the UK is sometimes more depressing than the wet, grey winters because my expectation of sun and warmth is rarely met. We're having an amazing summer this year, though: three straight weeks so far of temperatures getting into the 80s. Not quite the sweltering east coast summers I grew up with, but good enough! I may even get a whole month not needing a hot water bottle at my feet in bed at night.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

In the same theme, I think San Francisco is a fabulous city, and only the lack of true hot there keeps it from being perfect.

[ariadneelda.livejournal.com]

If you sleep under a sheet it can't be TOO hot. I'm jealous because I long for nights that aren't so hot you cannot even stand a single sheet.

Still, just reading you post makes me feel the heat over here even more. Argh, I hate summer.

Also, I used to be like you. :)

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

I have to have some kind of covering at night or I'll wake shivering! If it really is too hot for even a single sheet then I get an extra fan.

*delurking for a moment*

[many-miles-away.livejournal.com]

First, it makes me so happy to finally find someone not bloody complaining about the weather (even though it's getting too hot for my particular level of comfort, it's summer, and it should be hot). And secondly, it was just beautiful to read. ♥

Re: *delurking for a moment*

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Am in Florida right now at Infinitus, and it's blazing down here. I love it. ^_^

[mark356.livejournal.com]

See, I go both ways about it. When running an errand or something in this heat, I'll step out the door, and go, "Hm, it's nice and warm here." And even though it might get to 100, it's just a kind of warm, comfortable heat. I've been in saunas much hotter. But then when I get back home, I flop on the couch in front of a fan and go "OMG why is it so hot?!" and don't have the energy to do anything.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Isn't that funny! If I have to put on clothes and go out and run errands I'm sulkier than if I get to sit about or sink into the pool and do just as I please.

[angiepen.livejournal.com]

[throws things]

Actually, I'll agree with you about the pool. Back when I lived with my mom (and back when she had a pool, before she moved) she could never afford to run the heater, but that didn't really matter in the height of summer. It was only bathwater temperature for the top few inches, but that was good enough, and after swimming around for a bit, it felt deliciously cool. I miss that pool. [nostalgic sigh]

Angie

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

The pool makes ALL the difference. If there's no pool to be had I wince in serious sympathy.