I wasn’t sure where to put this. I don’t wander out of Cafe Society much.
I was going to put it in the Pit, but I didn’t think it would raise much in the way of ire (and I felt silly pitting a season), and it could go in IMHO (I certainly invite others opinions on the matter), but this was both mundane and pointless so here goes:
The older I get, the more I dread the summer season. I just turned thirty, have been out of school for five years, married five years, etc. etc.
And I have noticed that I always get a little bummed around summer time. Summer used to be my favorite time of the year when I was younger, for many reasons.
But today, most of those reasons that made me to love it as a kid, have caused me to go the other direction on it.
My case against summer:
It’s freaking HOT. I live in Southeast Texas (Houston). The heat and humidity here are brutal. It is SO uncomfortable, that I can’t even enjoy sitting on my back patio without breaking out in a thin layer of sweat.
Mosquitos. My city, I love her to death, but she was built on a bayou. We can’t get rid of the mosquitos. The bites, I can deal with. But now we have mosquitos infected with “West Nile” Virus. That stuff can kill the elderly and little kids. So, now, I have to spray my three year old down with DEET, and pray that it worked, to let him play outside. So now we got bug spray mixing with sweat.
The Movies. I used to love the summer popcorn movies. Explosions. Bruckheimers. Hasta La Vistas. Bring it on! I would see two to three movies a week. Often repeats of a show. I couldn’t wait for that Summer Preview issue. Now, my tastes have changed. I long for the Fall/Winter film season, where the more serious, award pictures debut. There are maybe 1 to 2 movies in the summer that I really look forward to seeing.
** Network TV. ** This one is new. I got a DVR last September, so I really just started watching primetime TV again. But once the May Sweeps ended, I was left wanting more. Sure, I can enjoy more books, DVDs and cable original series that wisely air when no first run network shows will compete with them, but I miss the weekly Cafe Society threads already.
Kids Aren’t In School. That means that during the week, the kids are all out and about causing traffic, taking up tables at lunch, and loitering around. Kids scare me now. I am now a strong supporter of year around school. Not because we are falling behind the Japanese, but so we can keep teenagers off the streets!
Sports. I like baseball, but it is my #3 of American BIG THREE. And I really don’t enjoy baseball until September. So during the summer, once the NBA winds down, there is a large stretch of time (The Dog Days) that gives me JUST baseball to watch.
The News It seems like even the NEWS is boring during the summer. Congress is in recess a lot. The Supreme Court is in recess.
It’s like the culture shuts down from Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day.
Wow, I could have written that entire OP even down to the location. You’re spot on, friend. You should join us for a HouDope sometime but let’s wait until it gets, you know, cooler.
One thing to add… the traditional places we used to go to beat the heat, Clear Lake, New Braunsfels, Galveston, etc., have, like the entire state, just gotton so darn crowded that it’s taken much of the fun out.
I’ve always hated summer. I’m fat and pale. I sweat, I burn, I get heat stroke. I treat my air conditioner better than any appliance in my house.
But this week, I found myself lamenting the same television problem. I sat down last night and reached for the remote, only to realize that I had nothing to watch. I have a collection of at least six hundred movies and many, many box sets. For some reason, nothing even remotely interested me if there wasn’t a new episode of CSI.
Also being on the cusp of thirty, I’ve discovered I hate teenagers. I remember my own mallrat years, and how I used to hang out in front of the movie theater and think I was cool. Now I’m the person who is not afraid to get the manager if the kids behind me won’t shut up. (When I was a teenager, I still had a healthy respect for the silence of the cinema.)
And the traffic. On Friday afternoons in New Jersey, every highway that will lead to a beach suddenly becomes a parking lot. And there are no shady highways in New Jersey.
So, here’s to another three months of barricading myself in my apartment and selling my firstborn to PSE&G in exchange for all that nice bought air. Happy Summer, everyone.
I’m with ya. I hate summer. Mostly because it is hot, but also because of baseball which I detest and is on every freaking channel. I love the cool weather. Fall is my favorite. In contrast to you though, I do like summer movies. This year’s lot is a little disappointing, but I’m looking forward to the Batman one and the Fantastic Four one.
I was just waxing poetic over the blooming magnolias all over town. “Why would anyone want to live where there are no magnolia??” I asked DeHusband.
He looks at me and says, “I’m going to remind you of the pretty flowers once the temperature stays above 90 and you are once big heat rash from head to toe.”
I love summer for one simple reason. I’m a basket case once the sun goes down. i can’t concentrate, I can’t work, I can only stare out the window and wish the sun was up. Ergo, I love summer, because the sun’s out 'til 8:30 at least. I hate fall for the same reason.
I hate summer. I hate heat, I hate noisy bloody gangs of stupid teenagers (I’m 26, and too young to be this grumpy). As soon as it gets humid, I melt. I will be all sweaty and annoyed until late September, now, because it’s suddenly gotten hot and humid here, and it probably won’t quit until fall.
Yes, the highways are bad on Friday (well, southbound, anyway…and the northbound lanes on Sunday). Even worse than that, however, is all that traffic is heading straight towards me!
Living close to the beach when you don’t actually go to the beach makes for an unfun summer.
That, and the fact that while I can read all about the Giants training camp and offseason activities, there is no actual football on. And wow, do I loathe Major League Baseball (I still like going to an occasional Lakewood Blue Claws game, though).
Oh, and what the OP said about being spoiled by DVR.
God, I love summer in the South. It’s brutally hot, yes, and humid…but that’s kind of what I like about it. I love the feel of the hot sun on my, yes, fat, pale skin. I love the smell of magnolia and gardenia and wisteria and tea olive in the humid, heavy air. I love those torrential late afternoon showers that cool everything off to almost shivery temperatures, then it heats back up to oven-like temps before the sun goes down. I love the deafening sounds of frogs, crickets, and cicadas in the evening. I love watching the spotlights on my back porch in the evenings to see what sorts of cool bugs (and therefore spiders, frogs, etc.) gather there. I love watching the endangered gray bats around here swoop and dive for insects.
I love the sheer decadent length of the days. I love the smell of new-mown grass.
Summer in the South makes me feel like I can stretch out and enjoy the world. It makes me feel free and at ease.
One sweltering evening last summer, my fiancee , myself, and a houseguest from Colorado were sitting out on the back porch (veraaaaahhhhnda) drinking beer and trying to talk over the deafening frogs in the woods. We watched thousands of fireflies light up the treeline, as a thin line of fog rolled out of the trees. The humidity had to be pushing supersaturation, and the temperature had barely dropped below 85 even by 10 PM.
Our houseguest spoke up and said, “You know, it’s gorgeous here in the summer.”
Happy Summer, everyone.