Saturday, October 29, 2011

Sensitive Geek MAN: The Winter of our Discontent

Once, Winter was my favorite season.

When I lived in SoCal, Winters were dry, maybe a little rainy, but overall comfortable. Average low temperatures were in the 60s. Within a few hours, I could be up in the mountains pursuing my favorite sport: Skiing. It was one of a very small number of sport in which I had some actual talent, and it's just fun. I even sort of enjoyed falling. Even when I wasn't in the mountains, Winter in southern California was enjoyable. You could even still go to the beach, have bonfires, and brave the water if you didn't mind being a little cold.

Now I live in Illinois, and it has ruined Winters for me. Really I blame the whole MidWest. It gets wickedly cold, and after over 15 years here I have still never gotten used to it. I used to love snow, now I see it as an enemy who invades my yard and much be destroyed. Having a white Christmas is somewhat enjoyable, but Christmas is really the only day that snow doesn't feel me with a quiet frustration. The one thing that could have redeemed the whole thing for me would be if there was some sort of skiing around, but the closest real ski mountain is a good 10 or more hours away.

In general, I try not to complain about it. I don't have an issue with Illinois most of the time, there are only a few places I would move to if given the chance, and southern California isn't one of them. I just miss the Winters I loved.


For a long time, I saw little upside.  Then, I was sent on a business trip to SoCal in January, when it was frigidly cold in Chicagoland. In California, it was in the high 60s. The Californians were walking around, bundled up against the 'cold' while I rented a convertible and drove around in short sleeves with the top down..

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