My brain has two modes: summer and winter. Yesterday it flipped over.
I'm rather impressed with myself. That's only aobut a week after the equinox. It seems my brain is rather on schedule with the season this, um, season. I remember this one time back when i was in high school that my brain flipped from winter to summer mode in the beginning of march. damn was i cold.
The modes, explained:
Summer Mode: the brain is active, the metablolism is high. The desire to feel grass between one's toes is almost overwhelming. The body feels free - uninhibited, exuberant. Salads, strong herbs, and loads of fresh veg are on the menu daily, as are yoghurt smoothies and milkshakes. Even when it is raining outside, the sun is shining inside. We wear as little clothing as is decent, and revel in the feel of the weather, beit sun, wind or rain, on our bare skin.
Winter Mode: the brain attempts hibernation (which is, regrettably, incompatible with PhD research). The metablolism slows (which is, regrettably, incompatible with winter rowing training). The body feels close, snuggly, and warm. We begin to crave rich foods, more meat, and root vegetables. We might even deign to eat a potato should the craving become sufficiently powerful. We wrap ourselves up in soft, fuzzy, warm clothing, and revel in the darkenss, and listen to the rain and wind lashing outside. It's all about the candlelight.
I'm very solar powered. The seasons have a powerful effect on my mood and mindset. I've often thought that i'd make a rather good druid, being so closely connected to the changing weather. In the summer i'm manic (unless i'm lying on a beach* somewhere listening to Enya and tanning my nipples). I have a really hard time focusing on anything. Come winter, though, when outside the windows is blackness, the world feels smaller. I can focus more on the tasks at hand. The walls close in and force one's attention inward.
I love winter.
*that said, in the summertime you're much more likely to find me running on the beach where the sand is wet and hard, barefoot, listening to Chariots of Fire and fantasizing about the Olympics.
7 comments:
as soon as I can smell fallen leaves and that hint of ice in the air, thats it. i guess i have a nose setting instead of a sun one.
i thought you had finished school???? you're still working on your phd? what did i miss? or not miss? or huh?
the PhD takes three years, love. i'm only starting my second year. one down, two to go.
i miss the leaves turning. over here they stay green until november, and then they just fall off. the only decent color is the virginia creeper that snuck its way over.
You know you've past the autumn equinox when your brain says red rather than white...........
The european leaf has a more vigourous , healthy attitude like the population. They like to enjoy life to the full and then a prompt death, rather than the American leaf's equivalent of moving to Florida, becoming incontinent for 2 decades, bits dropping off, yes changing colour, jaundiced orange, uraemic yellow and then dropping off......
Nipples are one of the few parts of the body that don't tan (them and lips). I love winter too. It's the smell. And the clohtes are much better. And there's mince pies and port.
Winter is the best time of year. Everyone looks so much more elegant (windswept hair, chapped lips and streaming eyes aside); fabulous boots can come out of summer retirement (yay) and one has the perfect excuse to curl up in front of the fire with a warming mug of something.
The enforced enjoyment of humid summer days in which people display far too much flab is vastly overrated.
Yay, potato season.
Post a Comment