Sunday, June 11, 2006

Summertime meme

I'm renaming Jo(e)'s hot weather meme (because it hasn't been particularly hot around these parts lately--not that I'm complaining!) and adapting it slightly.

How do you cope with hot weather?
Multiple showers a day. Fans. A/C.

When does the heat make you most crazy?
The heat pretty much always makes me crazy, although it's lovely for the first few minutes after exiting an overly air-conditioned building.

Songs/albums that make you think of summer?
Talking Heads, "This Must Be the Place"
Liz Phair, Whipsmart
Getz & Gilberto, the entire album, but especially "Girl from Ipanema"
Madonna, Ray of Light

Where do you go to get air conditioning?
Chez moi, though I'm wondering if perhaps I can do without it this year. Supposedly my new apartment gets a good cross-breeze.

Your favorite place to sleep in hot weather?
Either with a fan blowing directly on me or in a room with A/C.

Your favorite hot weather food?
Anything that doesn't have to be cooked.

Your favorite people to visit in the hot weather?
I enjoy me a summer wedding--and luckily, over the last several years there have been some lovely ones packed to the rafters with old friends.

Your favorite way to wear your hair in the hot weather?
My hair is quite short, but since it's also very thick, in hot weather I'll sometimes pull it back in a scarf, kerchief-style.

Your favorite outfit to wear in the summertime?
My summertime uniform consists of fitted black tank tops with wide-legged khakis. Occasionally I'll wear brightly-colored tank tops with skirts instead. I do not believe in shorts.

Your favorite hot weather drink?
Iced coffee, though a G&T or Campari & soda vie for a close second.

Your summertime story?
Well, there was that summer after my first year of grad school when Lulu and I shared a sublet together in the city. Yes, my room (in Uptown U Law School housing) didn't have an A/C. Yes, I was working a crappy legal temp job during the day and taking an intensive Latin II class in the evening. Yes, I DID ride a Greyhound bus 9 hours each way to a wedding (for which I couldn't, even so, afford either the bus fare or the hotel room). Yes, I did have some. . . boy episodes that summer. An unusual number of such episodes, and most of them as scandalous as they were (then) traumatic and are (now) stupid. And yes, I did drink far too much all summer long, as illustrated by that time I got driven home by Campus Security--all of two blocks--when I got out of a cab and couldn't find the street our apartment was on: I knew what the street number was, and I knew the number of the street where I was. . . but the street numbers totally weren't running consecutively! Really, officer! And yes, I ended the summer more broke than I'd begun it and well on my way to the worst year of my life, emotionally--

But damn. It was still a great summer.

Is hot weather good for anything? Not much that I can think of.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

So you don't believe in shorts as fashionable, or you don't actually believe in them at all? I don't wear shorts out officially (i.e., I'll wear them on a run to the grocery store, but not to where I'd mind if folks saw me in them), but I do think they can be awfully comfortable for simply lounging about.

Of course, I have a whole ironing thing about khakis, which makes them less than perfect for casual hanging about, but apparently that's just my personal hangup.

jo(e) said...

Shorts exist! I have proof of their existence. How can you not believe in them?

I did this meme during two very hot days -- and since then all we have had is cold and rainy weather. I'm wondering if somehow I jinxed the whole summer ....

Flavia said...

I do believe that shorts exist (I see horrible examples of them every day from April until October!), and I'm not even anti-shorts when it comes to other people's legs--but I find them fairly unflattering. They also require too damn much work in the hair removal department; a lightweight, knee-length skirt is cooler than shorts anyway.

And WN, I should clarify: I don't iron the khakis that I wear day in & day out: I wash 'em and hang 'em to dry (which cuts down on the wrinkles sufficiently). I love the tank-top/trousers look because it's more comfortable than anything else I own--and yet, if I throw on a pair of sexy sandals and some funky jewelry, presto! I'm dressed to go out.

(Honestly, tank tops are the best best best thing about summertime...)

negativecapability said...

I don't believe in shorts either :)

Anonymous said...

For so much of my life, everyone and my family was always saying, "Why don't you go put some shorts on? It's hot." But I can't help it. I hate them.

Then I met Flavia, found out she liked the damned things even less than I did, and it was love from there on out.

--GWB