Heat Hate

(I feel like I should have an aside since today's entry is more on a topic rather than a "check-in on life" day. Today starts International Housekeepers Week and part of my time today was spent cleaning/organizing the main desk. Some of the things seemed minor, but I was proud of my work in the end, so that's what counts, right? Anyways, enjoy.)

As I think about this entry, I've imagined myself imitating the style of Levni Yilmaz from "Tales of Mere Existence". I would best describe him as dry, sarcastic, and quick to make a quirky anecdote. Of course, he has the luxury of planning ahead and having cartoons to accommodate his work. (Here is an example of his recent videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ew6REabh1w) So, if you're familiar, pretend that I'm reading this like I'm trying to sound like Levni Yilmaz. If not, no worries.

The building that I live and work in could best be described as outdated, but is thought of as falling apart in day-to-day conversation. As such, temperature control of the hall has, if you'll forgive the pun, been thrown out the window. Actually, the problem is less of being able to control it as much as it is having too much of it. This building loves to hold onto the heat. There's even a part of the building called the "hot box". It's called this because during the winter, it's still hot from the heaters & pipes despite one fourth of the area consisting of giant windows to the outside.

As I mentioned before, my building is outdated which doesn't make it a surprise that we don't have central air in the whole building. On a positive note, there is central air on the first floor, which includes the main offices, main student lounge, and other common areas. On the flip side, the cool air disappears as soon as you walk upstairs to any of the residential areas. Each student room has a little A/C unit on wheels that has a tube going to outside and a little spout that drips out water. The students have a bucket to collect the water from that spout but they have to empty their bucket in the community bathroom before it overflows and stinks up the whole room. There are some students that I would confuse for penguins from behind based on how long they wait to empty their bucket since they have to waddle to the bathroom without spilling too much in the hallway. I would confuse these students for penguins, except penguins don't exist in this heat. At all.

Thankfully, my apartment has four window-mounted A/C units spread out throughout the western wall and when my door is closed, they do a decent job of keeping the place cool. When I'm on the job, my door is open. Needless to say, my cold air usually gets sucked out into the hallway where it's greeted by the warm air and warm weather penguins.

I hate the heat. I hate the icky, sticky heat. The building loves to hold onto the heat like a house guest who is overstaying his welcome despite you cleaning up after the party. Over the course of today, it hit me how when I was at the main office, I felt productive and energized, even with being called in to work the front desk on short notice. Sitting in my apartment, however, I felt drained and lacking earlier motivation for my projects.

You may ask "what about the time before air conditioning? What would you have done then?" Well, if we're creating scenarios that won't actually happen, I'll answer by saying that my lifetime supply of ice cream should be able to cover the loss of A/C. This does help solidify that I don't see myself living any significant distance south of here in the future. Thinking about the other schools I was looking at working for during my senior year in college, this was one of the southernmost schools on my short list. Granted, the weather isn't that different between here and my college town many days, which is a six-hour drive. On the other hand, I would have imagined living in buildings with central air that only had the issues switching between the summer A/C and the winter heat.

In the grand cosmos, this isn't that big of an issue, especially since we are moving continuously closer to another cooler season. It's just something that I noticed today and has been on my mind. I just hope I haven't come across as too hot-headed.

See you tomorrow. DFTBA