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The weather plays an important part in the life of a Chambanite. It decides what clothes we wear, what things we do, where we do them, and what we eat and drink. But, most importantly, it acts as the most commonly employed ice-breaker (no pun intended) in our community. There is nothing that binds two strangers together than scowling in harmony at the horrid weather (or in rare occasions, complimenting the fine weather). You meet somebody in the elevator; one of you lets loose a grouse on the weather, the other instantly agrees; and now the two of you are almost like long-lost high-school buddies united under the common bond of suffering. Complaining about the weather seems to be deeply ingrained into our social lives. There is hardly ever a conversation that starts without a grumble about the weather. It's almost as if griping about the weather gives one a certain level of social acceptability. The past few "winter" months have seen more curses on the cold being bandied out than on all Jerry Springer shows so far. And the next few months will see more curses on the heat being bandied out than on all Eminem videos so far. Hence, the weather always seems worse than it really is. I think that complaining about the weather fulfils an inherent human need to complain about something. Sports psychologists often talk of the need to despise your opponent to spur you on to better performances. Most humans, though, have no person or object that they really despise. Or even if they did despise something or someone, in most cases, they can't share the feeling with others. The weather, though, is a nice, politically correct and socially acceptable object to despise. So, even if the weather is really not all that bad, despising it lessens the severity of other problems in life and also gives one the strength to tackle these problems. On the whole, though, the weather in Champaign-Urbana is fairly mild and nice. Sure, there are some moments when it's cold enough for Dementors from Azkaban to ask their travel agents for tickets to Florida. And there are other moments when camels would prefer heading over to the nearest ice-cream parlor. However, such moments are few and far between. For about 350 days of the year, the temperature lies in what I call the activity comfort zone of 20 F to 100 F. At this range of temperature, one can comfortably engage in outside activity (such as running or biking), while wearing or not wearing appropriate layers. The only deterrent is rain, and the good thing about Champaign is that it normally rains heavily less than 5 days per month. Personally, I feel the cold and the heat offer far greater pleasure than pain. There is nothing more thrilling than venturing out at around 3:00 AM on a snowy winter night and feeling a tingling sensation travel up the spine. There is a certain masochistic high in having your hands so numb that you have difficulty inserting the key into your door lock. And there are few things more satisfying than spending a few hours under the August sun and sweating enough to give a rain cloud a complex. And of course, if you haven't felt prolonged heat and cold, you really can't appreciate the "good" weather when it does come by. What really adds the final fizz to the champagne weather of Champaign County is its unpredictability. The same reason that makes weather forecasters here go bald prematurely gives all our lives an extra element of interest. I come from a country where the weather is so predictable that newspapers have debated removing the weather page. Here, though, I have spent countless hours in front of the Weather Channel marveling at the curves of the frontal systems and the temperature and pressure zones. In summary, it is time for Champaigners and Urbanites to thank Mother Nature for providing weather that not only binds people together but spices up their lives in ways they have never imagined. |