sick

Days without writing to MathGirl: 4

I spent the evening at Luke's. We had a fire and drank beer. It was fun.

But it's fucking cold outside. The sad thing is that it's only 40 degrees. I haven't gotten used to the cold yet this year. I know that some of you won't believe me that it can get colder than 40 degrees - you are all from places where it stays warm all year. But I assure you that in my lifetime I have been outdoors in temperatures of -50. That's fucking cold. It sounds like something people could make up, but at those temperatures, if you spit, it will freeze before it hits the ground. You can go outdoors and blow bubbles (like kids do, with the soap solution), and the bubbles will freeze. Going out with a pan of hot water is also fun; it really does turn to steam before it hits the ground. These aren't just stories to tell in order to fool you non-Minnesotans.

I will say, however, that freezing is probably a better death than most; much better than it sounds. It's sort of like being drunk, but not quite. Your brain shuts down, you no longer feel your arms and legs, and the parts of your body that you do feel get warm. I know - I've been half-way there more than once. To the sleepy stage, where all you want to do is fall asleep, but you know that if you do you'll never wake up again.

So it's 40 degrees, and I'm complaining about the cold. Come January I will be praying for temperatures of 40 degrees, because they will seem warm. A few weeks of below-zero temperatures, and months of below-freezing, have a way of altering a person's perceptions. Temperature is all relative, or something.