Well, it's the time of year where the average daily temperature is not in the 70's. Oh dear, the pain of living in the midwest.
That said, my outfit has not changed. A graphic t-shirt, loose unbuttoned button-down over-shirt, shorts or pants, and shoes made of some sort of leather (topsiders or moccasins). This outfit is not well-equiped to handle the great outdoors, it would seem. In fact, walking around, many various bundled people ask me the same question: "Arn't you cold?". They ask it from within layers of wool, cotton, and fleece. "Arn't you cold?"
Well, I have two answers to that question.
No:
Honestly, sometimes I am not that cold. I have always favored the winter seasons when I grew up on the east coast, and I played hockey throughout my life. In high-school, this involved a drive to the rink (My car's heater does not work), before walking to into the rink (no heating), and to the locker room, where finally the weather was the pleasant side of 32. Then getting dressed in wet (and smelly) equipment before getting on the ice, which is kept at 16 degrees or below (a rink does't have much heating ability). In fact, the rinks heaters were not on this early, and the showers after the freezing hour and a half were below-freezing. This is no hyperbole: ice literally formed by the drains. Then get dressed, walk to the lobby and eat, get in the car and drive, and walk into the school to experience something above 50 degrees for the first time since waking up, hours earlier. This happened twice every week for 3 years.
So I am used to the cold. And It was cold. I complained and bitched about it right beside everyone else. It was cold, but what could you do? Answer: Mutter profanity under your breath. But this re-adjusted my personal reference scale as to what is and what is not cold. And sometimes when I am wearing a t-shirt and shorts during 47 degree weather, I don't actually think that it's cold.
Yes:
OK, so its below 40 degrees, and my own lifestyle dictates that I may acknowledge the cold. But I will not complain about it. A personal creed, a vow I took with myself after I stopped playing hockey. I will not complain about the cold. Cold is my annual experience of asceticism. It is the one bad-ass, tough thing that I have, the only tough thing I really do. I don't complain about getting cold. Combine this with my high tolerance, and my joy of making a point of these things, and a few friends think I am a freak. In regards to "making a point", I once walked around through the snow barefoot a little while just to prove to a friend that I could. (He had taken my literally when I had said: "I'm not wearing a jacket because I don't get cold". No, I do get cold. But I am still totally willing to convince a friend that I don't. I will gladly take the role of my campus's Wim Hof. I may not (yet) be a master of Tummo meditation, but I will (on my honor) not complain about being cold.
So am I cold? No. Of course not. I don't get cold.
A note for my mother:
I am not going hiking or camping. I am walking to class. These are 10 minute walks outside. A jacket is large and annoying to carry around, for I am inside for most of the day. And any time that I am outside? I am not cold enough or in pain for a long enough period of time to warrant a jacket. It just isn't worth it.
