Because it means the molecules aren't moving

I didn't have a single good reason to move to California, but there are many reasons I've stayed. One of them is that I'm in control of the weather. I mean, in the heart of summer, if I want to experience staggering sweltering heat, I can head a few miles inland; or if I want biting chill and gloom, I can head over to the beach. In the fall, if I want rustling autumn-colored leaves, I head up north a little ways; but if I feel like bougainvillea blossoms and palm trees, I head a little south. When I long for ear-tingling cold air and snow, I drive up into the mountains. But I can always return to my weather-neutral city where it's perpetually 68 degrees. Or so it seems.

So that reason's been blown all to hell lately. Not to be a whiner, but California is not supposed to get this cold. Seriously. It's been in the low 30's overnight for a week now in the City. Hello? We don't have insulation. It's not like the plumbing's freezing, but I turned my thermostat down all the way while I was gone this past weekend and when I came home the heat was still on just trying to maintain the minimum temp. And during the day? Oooh, it got up to whopping 45 the other day. That's ludicrous. Even I, who usually make fun of the parka-clad wusses, have been wearing my winter coat.

It's a very strange thing to be bundled up in a coat and gloves, shivering as you wait for the car to warm up, while driving past rows of towering palm trees.

And in Tahoe this weekend? Jebus. It reminded me of Wyoming. Snowboarding was great fun despite the concrete snow and occasional stump hazards, but it was fucking cold. It was like 2 degrees overnight in Tahoe. The lake never freezes over, but it was sure contemplating it, let me tell you. And I gotta say I don't really miss the nose-hair freezing feeling of frigid air inhalation, the chill-induced finger-bending slowmo, or the prickly heat tingles of defrosting.

Enjoy your oranges, tangerines, strawberries and avacados now, because you might not be able to afford them for the next two years. *sigh*

Oh well. Thanks, Universe, for the reminder that my sense of control was really just an illusion anyway.