Semi-Creative

When Mary Ellen and I read "semi-tropical" in the description of our placement in Japan we really didn't understand "semi". That word means, now that we are out of the tropical and into the semi, that if I venture more than a foot or two away from our space heater, which I affectionatally call the guitar amp, my metabolism begins to slow and my body begins the slow process of death. Ok, maybe that was a little melodramatic, but that is how I feel. So I spend my time cuddling with the space heater. That is, until it runs out of kerosene and we have no one to take us to the gas station. We ran out this morning. I was ok, with my three layers of clothes and hot coffee, for a while. But then I got cold. I tried to convince myself that I was being a baby, that it was way colder in Nebraska and that I should just deal with it. But I've found that no matter how much colder it is other places in the world right now it doesn't change the fact that I am shivering.

This reminds me of a story that is completely unrelated but humorous none the less. This story involves my cousin named Greg, but I wont say that to protect this person. He was in class at Union College on a ridiculously cold Nebraska winter day. I think it was a science lab. He was quietly going about his task when he overheard a student walk into the room and exclaim "ahhh, It's freezing!" Another student immediately looked up from his work and responded "It's not that cold, look, I'm not even wearing a coat." This brave young chap, from the land of southern Canada, or as some call it, Minnesota, was wearing only a t-shirt. He was obviously very proud of this fact. My cousin, or, I mean, the nameless protagonist of this story, looked up and said what everyone in the room was thinking but not willing to say, "I'm sorry that you're stupid!" and he went back to his task. So maybe that does fit, once you're cold, you're cold. The fact that someone somewhere else is dealing with colder weather doesn't make you warm. I still laugh when I think of that story.

The problem is not that it's really that cold here, it's that they don't have central heating here in any of the buildings. It just doesn't exist. So we go outside to warm up sometimes. Today, sometime after the heater burned up the last drop of kerosene, putting a piece of toast in the toaster oven and beginning to shiver, I had an idea. The hair dryer blows hot air! I immediately ran into the bathroom and stuck the blow dryer under my shirt and had an uncontrollable smile light my face. After a few minutes of this bliss I remembered my toast. My Toast! I rushed out to save it from destruction but found that it was already black, and now cold. I needed it to be warm so that my cream cheese wouldn't tear the bread asunder when I tried to spread it. Ah, another idea. I couldn't put the toast in the toaster for more time or it would be even blacker, but if the hair dryer could warm me up couldn't it warm up the toast?