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Writer's Block: It's cold outside
Apr. 8th, 2011 05:39 pm[Error: unknown template qotd]
Let's see if I can answer this without getting intensely angry.
It depends on where I am, what I am doing, and what I am wearing.
If I am only experiencing brief spurts of cold, such as walking from my centrally-heated home to a heated car and then into another heated building, bring it on; as long as it's not so cold any exposed skin is instantly frostbitten, I can deal, especially if I'm wearing a winter coat. (Which I always do, because I am not an idiot). I lived in the northern Midwest through high school and saw my share of subzero days with bitter, biting wind, but it was not a big thing because my home, car, and school were warm and I had a puffy coat. (And I complained about it a hell of a lot less than I do the much higher winter temperatures I experience here in Japan, but we'll get to why that is).
If I am outdoors away from central heat for longer periods of time, like in college when I had to walk for longer periods of time to classes and my student-teaching assignment, I'd say my "It's DAMN cold!" threshold falls maybe around -5C or the mid-20sF. That's when I start to bitch and moan about how uncomfortable it is to be outdoors even when I'm wearing a thick coat, because it is; at that temperature, if there's much wind you'll end up with a biting red rash on your face.
However, if I am outdoors for a long period of time specifically to enjoy the outdoors with a physical activity like skiing, I can handle more intense cold because 1) I will have dressed for it with more layers and better face protection, like ski goggles, and 2) I will be exercising, which will warm me up.
If I am indoors doing mostly sedentary activities, I feel cold if it's much below 65F/18C. I know some people, mostly large males, who bake above 70F/20C and would be totally comfy sitting still in short sleeves at 55F/13C, but I don't think my threshold is unusual for my gender and body type. (Females tend to feel colder than males, and I am like 0.5 above "underweight" on the BMI). That said, if I'm wearing layers suited to the outdoors (like a winter coat) I can handle it until maybe 50F/10C. Of course, no one wants to have wear a winter coat indoors-- but that's what I have done the past two years.
Because I live in Japan, and Japan never got the memo that we left the stone age when it comes to climate control. Japanese homes and schools rely on inefficient one-room-heated-only wall-mounted AC/heat units or kerosene heaters that are little more than potbelly stove 2.0 and barely get the room more than 10-15 degrees warmer-- and what's more, in the schools I work in they don't even turn them on until the temperature is below 48F/8C. I don't care how cold it was outside in winter where you grew up if you grew up in the US, Canada, or much of Western Europe; a few minutes outdoors in subzero temperatures isn't a walk in the park, but it doesn't even compare to seven hours sitting still indoors at 47F/9C.
Where I live now, the lowest temperature I have experienced outdoors was around 19F/-7C, but even having grown up practically in the Great Lakes snowbelt I can safely say Japanese winter is the coldest I have ever been. When it's below freezing in Japan, it's also below freezing in my house in every room except the living room I keep heated. The wind may be whipping with windchill at -15F/-25 around your northern prarie farmhouse, but is the cooking oil in your kitchen frozen? Have you ever had to go a night without flushing your toilet because the water in it froze solid? Do you open the fridge to warm yourself up? If you were in extreme impoverished circumstances maybe you feel me, but I would bet even the standard American homeless shelter has better heat (or at least freaking insulation!) than my Y40000 a month Japanese apartment.
So if![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
jadetheblade were to laugh at me complaining about it being 40F/5C in Japan when it's -20F/-30C in Minnesota, I would tell her to look at her thermostat, which would likely read somewhere between 60F/15C and 75F/24C. Then I would tell her to look back at me, and I would punch her in the face.
Ahh, mission failed. Oh well. Good thing my last Japanese winter is finally over! It was 59F/15C today-- both indoors and out (:
Let's see if I can answer this without getting intensely angry.
It depends on where I am, what I am doing, and what I am wearing.
If I am only experiencing brief spurts of cold, such as walking from my centrally-heated home to a heated car and then into another heated building, bring it on; as long as it's not so cold any exposed skin is instantly frostbitten, I can deal, especially if I'm wearing a winter coat. (Which I always do, because I am not an idiot). I lived in the northern Midwest through high school and saw my share of subzero days with bitter, biting wind, but it was not a big thing because my home, car, and school were warm and I had a puffy coat. (And I complained about it a hell of a lot less than I do the much higher winter temperatures I experience here in Japan, but we'll get to why that is).
If I am outdoors away from central heat for longer periods of time, like in college when I had to walk for longer periods of time to classes and my student-teaching assignment, I'd say my "It's DAMN cold!" threshold falls maybe around -5C or the mid-20sF. That's when I start to bitch and moan about how uncomfortable it is to be outdoors even when I'm wearing a thick coat, because it is; at that temperature, if there's much wind you'll end up with a biting red rash on your face.
However, if I am outdoors for a long period of time specifically to enjoy the outdoors with a physical activity like skiing, I can handle more intense cold because 1) I will have dressed for it with more layers and better face protection, like ski goggles, and 2) I will be exercising, which will warm me up.
If I am indoors doing mostly sedentary activities, I feel cold if it's much below 65F/18C. I know some people, mostly large males, who bake above 70F/20C and would be totally comfy sitting still in short sleeves at 55F/13C, but I don't think my threshold is unusual for my gender and body type. (Females tend to feel colder than males, and I am like 0.5 above "underweight" on the BMI). That said, if I'm wearing layers suited to the outdoors (like a winter coat) I can handle it until maybe 50F/10C. Of course, no one wants to have wear a winter coat indoors-- but that's what I have done the past two years.
Because I live in Japan, and Japan never got the memo that we left the stone age when it comes to climate control. Japanese homes and schools rely on inefficient one-room-heated-only wall-mounted AC/heat units or kerosene heaters that are little more than potbelly stove 2.0 and barely get the room more than 10-15 degrees warmer-- and what's more, in the schools I work in they don't even turn them on until the temperature is below 48F/8C. I don't care how cold it was outside in winter where you grew up if you grew up in the US, Canada, or much of Western Europe; a few minutes outdoors in subzero temperatures isn't a walk in the park, but it doesn't even compare to seven hours sitting still indoors at 47F/9C.
Where I live now, the lowest temperature I have experienced outdoors was around 19F/-7C, but even having grown up practically in the Great Lakes snowbelt I can safely say Japanese winter is the coldest I have ever been. When it's below freezing in Japan, it's also below freezing in my house in every room except the living room I keep heated. The wind may be whipping with windchill at -15F/-25 around your northern prarie farmhouse, but is the cooking oil in your kitchen frozen? Have you ever had to go a night without flushing your toilet because the water in it froze solid? Do you open the fridge to warm yourself up? If you were in extreme impoverished circumstances maybe you feel me, but I would bet even the standard American homeless shelter has better heat (or at least freaking insulation!) than my Y40000 a month Japanese apartment.
So if
jadetheblade were to laugh at me complaining about it being 40F/5C in Japan when it's -20F/-30C in Minnesota, I would tell her to look at her thermostat, which would likely read somewhere between 60F/15C and 75F/24C. Then I would tell her to look back at me, and I would punch her in the face.Ahh, mission failed. Oh well. Good thing my last Japanese winter is finally over! It was 59F/15C today-- both indoors and out (:
