things i miss about america, part 5

i figure this post needs to be made now before it gets too cool to make much sense. these days it's not quite so bad, but when i sit in a room sweltering, i can't help but think about how my bedroom back in america has a nice wonderful air conditioner (the whole house has a/c but i also have a window unit because it gets way too hot in there. i'm not wasteful though, once i got the window unit i closed the vent.) and it's always nice and cool in there. another thing i miss is how come july, everywhere you go is nice and cool.

every building having air conditioning

once it gets to the ridiculously hot part of summer (granted it isn't as hot here) and the high's like 40c/104f every day, it's so wonderful to be able to walk into any building - a store, restaurant, anywhere and be greeted with a wonderful whooshing wall of cool air.

i'm not one to really complain about the heat (or the cold really, because i know in six months' time i'll be wishing for the opposite of the current weather) but memphis summers are brutal. yeah it gets hotter elsewhere, but the desert summers are much more tolerable (i know this, i went to vegas one august) because it's a dry heat.

people throw that phrase around a lot, but coming from somewhere where it isn't a dry heat, trust me. there's a huge difference. i can imagine summer just thinking about it. it gets so hot, humid, and muggy that as soon as you take a step outside, any oil on you (and believe me, you may think your skin is dry, but you'll soon be mistaken) comes out of your pores and sits on top of your arms, face, etc. you could've just taken a shower but now you want to take another one.

it's brutal. everything definitely needs to have air conditioning there. without getting into a bunch of social commentary or anything, there are people in memphis that don't have it and every summer, there's always deaths as a result of this. it's horrible.

anyway, there it's a necessity. here it's definitely considered a luxury item, which is sad. as i said it's better now, but a month or two ago it was torture to be out walking, getting hot and sweaty. then i go to walk inside somewhere and out of habit expect it to be cool, but finding it's usually even hotter than it is outside. plus it's just stupid business practices.

as i walked around doing christmas shopping, 95% of stores (i should point out too i was at the mall, walking in stores that are chains) had no air conditioning. it was ridiculous. i wanted to spend as little time in the stores as possible, and as a result would usually walk out without buying anything. instead of trying to decide if i should buy one thing (or trying to decide between multiple items), i'd just walk out empty-handed. that's lost money for them. i don't blame the stores, though. they just lease the space, they don't own the building. i blame the cheapskate mall developers. they sit in their air conditioned offices, ordering things out of catalogues, online, or if it involves a brick and mortar store, having their assistant do it, they're out of touch with reality. i should stop there or i could go on forever.

in conclusion, people like feeling comfortable! not everyone has the same opinion as to what comfortable is (i've worked with people who were freezing when i was still breaking a sweat - no exaggeration), true. but the great majority tend to find something in the high 60s/high teens as at least somewhat comfortable. make it that temperature year-round, people will linger more. of course when the weather's gorgeous, turn the a/c off and open the door. but in the extreme summer and winter, some climate control is essential.