It's cold outside! Time to wear shorts!
Nov. 11th, 2014 08:38 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
glitch25Yes, I'm serious. Lovely and brisk outside, and I'm wearing shorts. Why? Well, the easy answer is that I want to be comfortable, and dressing warmly in cold weather isn't often comfortable. The long answer? That requires some story time. Come with me. :-)
Some many several years ago, when I was but a tyke, I came to the beginnings of my understanding of my issues with temperature comfort.
Deep in the 70's, Mom loved to dress me in lovely crew-neck polyester shirts, and used to roast. The neck was always snug to boot, and I would constantly pull at them until the seams would burst. Mom hated it. But eventually, she caught on after several years and lots of ruined shirts. That whole experience turned me off t-shirts on the whole, and to this day, I have to really psych myself up before I put on a T-shirt, and the ones that are particularly tight won't stay on very long. Strangely enough, a button-down and tie never bothered me.
In general, I prefer open-neck clothing, and polos are my go-to when it comes to being business appropriate but comfy. Tank-tops are my summer choice.
Along those lines, shirts and ties have always been a problem since I hit puberty. I am one of those people blessed with an exceptionally substantial neck. Even when I was 18 and weighed a lofty 125 pounds at 5'10", I still had a 17.5 inch neck. Nearly impossible to find an off-the-rack dress-shirt with a 17 inch neck that won't fit a skinny guy like I was like a tent. So the alternative is to get the shirt that fits the rest and then stop buttoning the neck. Ties never look right, and things just never are comfortable. The preferred thing of course is looking into tailored shirts. And after 20+ years, I'm thinking it's finally time to pick up something that fits well, is comfortable, and something I feel proud and happy to wear. So that will be another challenge this winter. :-)
But temperature has always been a thing for me. When I was young, in the deep of winter, I'd keep my door closed and open a window because I'd rather snuggle under my covers while it's cold than have to be half-in, half-out all night long trying to balance out the heat in the room with the heat of the covers. Needless to say, Dad loved that. Clearly my temp issues tormented my parents each. Kinda funny to look back on it now. To this day, given a choice, I'll always prefer cooler, and the bedroom A/C stays up until the days stop getting up to 70. And the fan is always at the ready just in case it gets stuffy.
So as winter rolls around, and the office inevitably struggles to find a happy medium in the temperature settings (every year, it's the same thing over and over), I'd rather wear shorts and risk being cold than suffer through the heat because they overcranked the heating in the building (or that the sun popped out from behind a cloud and heated up the building).
Strangely, I stay warm all day and a good part of the night (which I hear is a dream for all my shivering-cold partners in the early part of the night), but come about 4am, it finally breaks and then is when I start looking for the covers and heat. It is also why I LOVE a really hot shower in the morning. It recharges me for the day. I've also found that if i don't get that hot shower (or a somewhat lukewarm one instead), I'm cold for a lot of the day.
In the out and about, my core and arms are the most affected by cold, and if I can keep those warm, I don't mind if my legs miss out some. Given my propensity to overheat, I'm more inclined to under-dress than over. Layers are good, and I'm working to find layers that work for me that balance the difference between being cold and being stuffy. It is an evolving thing. It does mean things like turtlenecks and most sweaters and sweatshirts are right out. Scarves are ok if it's really cold outside if just to keep my upper chest and neck out of the cold air. Hands vary. I find that sometimes I prefer something like mitten where my hands can stay together, and yet other times gloves are ok. Sometimes I find that my isolated fingers in gloves end up too cold, so.. again, evolving process and trying new products and such. As to my legs, if I do anticipate being outside for longer than it takes to walk through the parking lot to the door, I will wear more than shorts. Strangely, from a nerve perspective, I tend only to notice my legs are cold when the joints start being physically affected by the cold. :-) Feets do get cold, and I try and keep them in warm socks and dry shoes when possible.
So if you see me in shorts, know that I'm not exactly crazy. Just different. :-)
Some many several years ago, when I was but a tyke, I came to the beginnings of my understanding of my issues with temperature comfort.
Deep in the 70's, Mom loved to dress me in lovely crew-neck polyester shirts, and used to roast. The neck was always snug to boot, and I would constantly pull at them until the seams would burst. Mom hated it. But eventually, she caught on after several years and lots of ruined shirts. That whole experience turned me off t-shirts on the whole, and to this day, I have to really psych myself up before I put on a T-shirt, and the ones that are particularly tight won't stay on very long. Strangely enough, a button-down and tie never bothered me.
In general, I prefer open-neck clothing, and polos are my go-to when it comes to being business appropriate but comfy. Tank-tops are my summer choice.
Along those lines, shirts and ties have always been a problem since I hit puberty. I am one of those people blessed with an exceptionally substantial neck. Even when I was 18 and weighed a lofty 125 pounds at 5'10", I still had a 17.5 inch neck. Nearly impossible to find an off-the-rack dress-shirt with a 17 inch neck that won't fit a skinny guy like I was like a tent. So the alternative is to get the shirt that fits the rest and then stop buttoning the neck. Ties never look right, and things just never are comfortable. The preferred thing of course is looking into tailored shirts. And after 20+ years, I'm thinking it's finally time to pick up something that fits well, is comfortable, and something I feel proud and happy to wear. So that will be another challenge this winter. :-)
But temperature has always been a thing for me. When I was young, in the deep of winter, I'd keep my door closed and open a window because I'd rather snuggle under my covers while it's cold than have to be half-in, half-out all night long trying to balance out the heat in the room with the heat of the covers. Needless to say, Dad loved that. Clearly my temp issues tormented my parents each. Kinda funny to look back on it now. To this day, given a choice, I'll always prefer cooler, and the bedroom A/C stays up until the days stop getting up to 70. And the fan is always at the ready just in case it gets stuffy.
So as winter rolls around, and the office inevitably struggles to find a happy medium in the temperature settings (every year, it's the same thing over and over), I'd rather wear shorts and risk being cold than suffer through the heat because they overcranked the heating in the building (or that the sun popped out from behind a cloud and heated up the building).
Strangely, I stay warm all day and a good part of the night (which I hear is a dream for all my shivering-cold partners in the early part of the night), but come about 4am, it finally breaks and then is when I start looking for the covers and heat. It is also why I LOVE a really hot shower in the morning. It recharges me for the day. I've also found that if i don't get that hot shower (or a somewhat lukewarm one instead), I'm cold for a lot of the day.
In the out and about, my core and arms are the most affected by cold, and if I can keep those warm, I don't mind if my legs miss out some. Given my propensity to overheat, I'm more inclined to under-dress than over. Layers are good, and I'm working to find layers that work for me that balance the difference between being cold and being stuffy. It is an evolving thing. It does mean things like turtlenecks and most sweaters and sweatshirts are right out. Scarves are ok if it's really cold outside if just to keep my upper chest and neck out of the cold air. Hands vary. I find that sometimes I prefer something like mitten where my hands can stay together, and yet other times gloves are ok. Sometimes I find that my isolated fingers in gloves end up too cold, so.. again, evolving process and trying new products and such. As to my legs, if I do anticipate being outside for longer than it takes to walk through the parking lot to the door, I will wear more than shorts. Strangely, from a nerve perspective, I tend only to notice my legs are cold when the joints start being physically affected by the cold. :-) Feets do get cold, and I try and keep them in warm socks and dry shoes when possible.
So if you see me in shorts, know that I'm not exactly crazy. Just different. :-)