Coping with heat
Jun. 21st, 2012 09:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
magidHeading into the second day of high-90s F weather, with heat indices possibly over 100 F again today. My apartment, despite having windows on three sides, unfortunately lacks any cross-breeze, I don't have an AC (though the two ceiling fans are great), and the building has an unfortunate ability to hold onto heat in the summer (it was 85 F in my living room at 6 AM this morning, far warmer than outside). Of course, this heat wouldn't be nearly so draining were it not for the high levels of humidity that always come with it in this area.
These are the days I wonder what it would be like to be a thin man with dark skin. Which is to say, someone with minimal folds to hold in heat, and a much greater ability to deal with sunlight. I cope much better with the cold, when one is much less likely to risk sunburn and heatstroke. I am pale, and am designed to feel the weight of the sunlight on my skin as heavier than others, somehow. This is true even when sunblock is on; it's much better for me to have skin covered by fabric.
This has lead to me wearing a large thin cotton cloth around me to keep the sun off my arms, face, and neck (a hat usually covers the head). Sometimes I hold it up, an effective parasol*, letting any breezes through, while other times I'm more wrapped. I know it looks a bit odd (I get looks), but it works for me; I have far fewer heat headaches and that muzzy-headed slowness than when I relied on sunblock, going all the way back to when I was a kid, hating to go out in the summer.
Luckily, I also have options for places with AC I can go to. I've already watered the plants on the porch (I'm trying to keep them hydrated with water early in the morning and after dark, so it's more likely to be absorbed than evaporated), so when I can face leaving the computer (ok, ok, I'm seeing the benefits of having a laptop over a desktop more clearly, despite my dislike of most laptop keyboards), I should just go.
At least it's a consolation to know that at least some people actually like this weather, rather than merely endure it.
* Etymologically speaking, American English lacks an implement to protect us from rain: parasol is "against the sun,", and umbrella is something that causes shade (umbra = shade in Latin). French at least has parapluie "against the rain." (Apparently "bumbershoot" is also derived from umbra, with a suffix of alternately-spelled "chute." So it's no help either.)
In totally unrelated (yet local) news, the Harvard Square Loews movie theater is closing next month, after 1,500 showings of Rocky Horror on Saturday nights, among many other movies. I haven't gone to a movie there in ages (um, I haven't been to a movie in a theater in ages), but I do have fond memories of going there some Saturday nights as an undergrad, dressing up with friends and gathering props for the interactive part of the show. It's another piece of memory losing its architectural reminder, becoming landscape of memory alone. (Hm. Note to self: make sure I have photos of the murals on the side of the building, in case they go once the theater closes.)
These are the days I wonder what it would be like to be a thin man with dark skin. Which is to say, someone with minimal folds to hold in heat, and a much greater ability to deal with sunlight. I cope much better with the cold, when one is much less likely to risk sunburn and heatstroke. I am pale, and am designed to feel the weight of the sunlight on my skin as heavier than others, somehow. This is true even when sunblock is on; it's much better for me to have skin covered by fabric.
This has lead to me wearing a large thin cotton cloth around me to keep the sun off my arms, face, and neck (a hat usually covers the head). Sometimes I hold it up, an effective parasol*, letting any breezes through, while other times I'm more wrapped. I know it looks a bit odd (I get looks), but it works for me; I have far fewer heat headaches and that muzzy-headed slowness than when I relied on sunblock, going all the way back to when I was a kid, hating to go out in the summer.
Luckily, I also have options for places with AC I can go to. I've already watered the plants on the porch (I'm trying to keep them hydrated with water early in the morning and after dark, so it's more likely to be absorbed than evaporated), so when I can face leaving the computer (ok, ok, I'm seeing the benefits of having a laptop over a desktop more clearly, despite my dislike of most laptop keyboards), I should just go.
At least it's a consolation to know that at least some people actually like this weather, rather than merely endure it.
* Etymologically speaking, American English lacks an implement to protect us from rain: parasol is "against the sun,", and umbrella is something that causes shade (umbra = shade in Latin). French at least has parapluie "against the rain." (Apparently "bumbershoot" is also derived from umbra, with a suffix of alternately-spelled "chute." So it's no help either.)
In totally unrelated (yet local) news, the Harvard Square Loews movie theater is closing next month, after 1,500 showings of Rocky Horror on Saturday nights, among many other movies. I haven't gone to a movie there in ages (um, I haven't been to a movie in a theater in ages), but I do have fond memories of going there some Saturday nights as an undergrad, dressing up with friends and gathering props for the interactive part of the show. It's another piece of memory losing its architectural reminder, becoming landscape of memory alone. (Hm. Note to self: make sure I have photos of the murals on the side of the building, in case they go once the theater closes.)
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Date: 2012-06-22 12:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-22 06:34 pm (UTC)