Are my opinions to critical, or just naive?

[cartmen34]

I appologize if this is in the wrong forum, I'm just not sure where something like this would go.

Lately, as it has throughout most of the east coast and mid-west, the weather has taken a turn for the worse. Lots of snow, lots of cold, and all the stuff that comes with it. Now, I consider myself an opinionated person. I have my views, and I'm comfortable with them. One of those is my view of the weather. I HATE COLD WEATHER!! I think it to be one of my highest hatreds in my life. I don't like feeling cold. It hurts. I don't like snow. It makes driving difficult and instigates highway chaos, crashes, and even death. I hate that all the plants die and the sun goes away. Winter landscapes just look like cold and death to me. I see no beauty in a winter scene. I hate having to get up in the morning and having to deal with putting on 5 layers of clothing, trudging through the snow, or falling on my ass while I scrape the ice off the car and every other complication that comes with winter. Overall I find myself depressed and withdrawn when the weather gets wintery and cold. It sucks!I cannot fathom why anybody in their right mind would like winter in the slightest. It's inconvienent at best, deadly at worst.

So, the question I pose to the tilted world, is this: Is there anybody out there who hates winter as much as I do? Is there anybody out there who just hates the feeling of numb toes and fingers, and hates having to bundle up just to take the garbage out? Anybody at all? Or am I the only person who hates cold, wintery, weather so much?

[Cynthetiq]

sorry I do not.

I love winter. I love it. I want to be able to stand on top of the glaciers of Iceland and Greenland.

I love standing beside frozen waterfalls and seeing the frozen tundra. The lava fields look beautiful with a fresh dusting of snow.

My thought is simple, if it's cold out there better be some ice and snow on the ground because cold temperatures by themselves just stink.

I love the fall, when the leaves change colors. I love the idea of falling leaves, and the colors that I can see from my bedroom window even though I live in Manhattan.

I never had ANY of the above growing up in California. It was sunny all the time and hardly ever cold.

[present_future]

I'm sure there are tons of people out there that hate cold weather just as much as you do. Problem is, they all moved down south so they don't have to deal with it. Best advice I can give you is just to think warm thoughts and stay optimistic. Spring will be here before you know it.

[Prince]

I'm from Finland, now in Texas, and I miss winter.

[StormBerlin]

There's something called "Seasonal Disorder" or something like that. It bascially has the same symproms you describe. I'm not a doctor, so don't take this as total truth, but you might want to check it out. I had a friend that hated winter much like you do and her doctor helped her overcome it with things like sun lamps in the home and stuff like that. You might want to check it out.

[anleja]

Whoa, I was okay with winter until I read cartmen's post, then I realized how much it sucks.

I get kinda cabin-fevery sometimes, even if I am outside I can kinda feel the weight of the falling snow bear down on me, if that makes any sense.

But on better days I love the peacefulness and silence of it.

[yournamehere]

It's not just you.
I moved south in '75.

Haven't lived above the 33rd parallel since.

What did it for me was standing outside at 4:00 a.m. in 12 below weather, pouring deisel fuel down a hole in the ground to our heater, which ran out of fuel oil. Inside the house, it was 45 degrees and dropping fast. To top it off, we had to drive 20 miles to a truck stop to get the 5 gallons of deisel (deisel cars weren't common yet - truck stops were the only place to find it). As I stood there, knees shaking and teeth chattering, I swore it would be my last cold winter ever. It was.

My only exception is ski trips, with my return ticket safely stowed.

[Bill O'Rights]

No...I don't really hate the cold. I enjoy all 4 seasons, and celebrate each. It's kind of a yin and yang thing with me. Although Autumn is my absolute favorite time of the year.

[rockzilla]

I think the full name of the disorder StormBerlin mentioned is "Seasonal Affective Disorder" (or SAD, the acronym fits pretty well). Getting some sun lamps might help compensate for the lack of natural sunlight. But short of moving south (or buying a truckload of aerosol cans and spraying them into the sky to rip yourself open a personal-size hole in the ozone), winter's not going anywhere.

I don't mind winter that much, except when the temperature drops to -60 F, as it has a couple of times this month. I can't wait for our normal 0 F winter temperatures to come back.

[gremlinx8]

I hate winter. It's hard to find nice things about it other than it ending. I guess I like the way the trees look after a new coating of snow- it's pretty. But snow, cold, ice and walking to class don't mix. I prefer spring.

[ratbastid]

Originally posted by StormBerlin
There's something called "Seasonal Disorder" or something like that. It bascially has the same symproms you describe.

Seasonal Affective Disorder, it's called. <a href="http://www.nmha.org/infoctr/factsheets/27.cfm">Here's the National Mental Health Association's fact sheet on S.A.D.</a>.

I like winter plenty. I like it less now that I'm not in an area of the world that's conducive to skiing. Around here we get the sorta-cold but hardly ever any snow (he says, looking out the window at a helluva lot of snow).

[*Nikki*]

I HATE THE COLD!!!

I feel your pain! I cannot tolerate being cold, it is physically uncomfortable to me. I try to go outside as little as possible if it is below about 60 degrees.

I get so cold during the winter that the only that will warm me up is a very hot bath. Otherwise I cannot even sleep. My feet and hands get so cold they ache.

I would be more then happy to live out my days somewhere that never saw temps below 70.

[bigbad]

I love snow, skiing, making snowmen, doing spinouts in cul-de-sacs... it's all good

[Bill O'Rights]

Originally posted by *Nikki*
I HATE THE COLD!!!

I feel your pain! I cannot tolerate being cold, it is physically uncomfortable to me. I try to go outside as little as possible if it is below about 60 degrees.

I get so cold during the winter that the only that will warm me up is a very hot bath. Otherwise I cannot even sleep. My feet and hands get so cold they ache.

I would be more then happy to live out my days somewhere that never saw temps below 70.

Hmmm...see, now I'm the exact opposite. I can't stand the heat. At least when it's cold, I can put on a sweater, a jacket or something. Worst case scenario, I can put on a pair of insulated coveralls. But when it's hot, all I can do is just be miserable, or run from air conditioner to air conditioner. I just pour sweat from my hair line, and it gets in my eyes, and ARRGH! I don't like it over 80-85 degrees, and I can't stand it in the 90s.

[skysooner]

If you don't like it, move. Sure, my attitude can be partially dictated by the weather. I actually like the way the world changes in Oklahoma when it is winter. We don't get much snow, but the trees lose all their leaves and the grass turns brown. However there is a clarity to the horizon in the winter that we don't see any other time of the year. You can make out individual trees on a ridge 5 miles away. The air is crisp and clear. Snow kind of ruins that, and I can empathize with your feelings about that.

[Mehoni]

I hate snow and cold and i'm overly sensetive (nothing i can control) to the sound of certain snow. I'm almost always cold and I value being warm over being goodlooking when I go out.

Yet, I live in a place where we get -20C to -40C each winter. I can't move, because I have workrehab and things here.. plus the fact that I don't understand what the people in the south are saying. :P

[ubertuber]

As I have gotten older, I am more like Cynthetiq - I like the cold. Even here in NY where we are in our third week of air temps in the 20's I am liking it. I went for a walk today, and 25 degrees seemed pretty warm. What I don't like is being hot and sticky in the summer when it is humid. Then you just can't feel right until you've showered.

BTW, it think Seasonal Affective Disorder has more to do with sunlight exposure than the temperature.

[sherpahigh]

I freakin love winter!! Sometimes the cold is a pain in the ass and I'm no fan of -40 weather like the kind we're having right now. At the same time I'm more pumped about winter this week than I have been all winter for the simple fact that it is dumping snow in the mountains all week. Total depths so for the last 36 hours are 105cm at Castle mountain!! It's supposed to keep snowing until friday and that just happens to be the day that I'll be driving my ass across the frozen tundra to the mountain side so that I can wake up on Saturday morning and rip the shit out of all that powder up there. All the shittiness of cold weather is worth every second for a day of skiing in over a meter of fresh snow. Over a meter!! I can't wait. Bring it on winter, I love it!

Check out a picture from the hill yesterday: http://www.castlemountainresort.com/...oPictureID=148

That's gonna be me on the weekend. Yeeeehaaaaaaa!

[cartmen34]

Originally posted by *Nikki*
I HATE THE COLD!!!

I feel your pain! I cannot tolerate being cold, it is physically uncomfortable to me. I try to go outside as little as possible if it is below about 60 degrees.

I get so cold during the winter that the only that will warm me up is a very hot bath. Otherwise I cannot even sleep. My feet and hands get so cold they ache.

I would be more then happy to live out my days somewhere that never saw temps below 70.

Here Here! I'm glad I'm not the only one. The pain of cold hands and feet is pure torture to me.

Originally posted by skysooner
If you don't like it, move.

oh..... yeah! Nothing would make me happier than to get out of this shithole of a state I currently reside in. However, my wife is here for school, and she won't be finished for at least another 3 years. (therefore, I am also here for at least another 3 years.)

Thanks for all the input people! S.A.D.... interesting. I might look into that... thanks for the link, bastid.

[wry1]

Oh, I hate the winter weather at least as much as you do!

The only thing is: I'm willing to move even farther north for the woman I love.

...if that's not sacrificing, I don't know what is!

[cartmen34]

And again I say... here here Mr. wry1! True love does prevail over all, doesn't it?!

As much as I'd love to kiss off this horrible, awful place, I would never, never, never, even think about leaving unless she was coming with me.

[raeanna74]

Oh sure I hate the cold, the biting wind, and numbing temps. It's been hovering about 0 F here and dropping to as cold as -50 F windchill.

Thing is I love solitude. Up here in the cold you get solitude. (Not necessarily with my job that doesn't count) I love being able to walk out my door at my place here in town, walk 2 blocks south and be in woods. Or walk 1 mile north and be in wetlands. I love being able to drive through miles of tree lined roads and love the look of snow heavy on the trees. I hate when there isn't much snow. I love building a quinzy with my daughterand when you crawl inside it the temp doesn't drop below 40 and is sometimes as warm as 65. Imagine a pile of snow insulating that well. I like cold to a point. It's the extreme temps that are so unbearable but they last for really a short portion of the winter. January being the worst month. I would gladly give up the warmth for one month to experience the beautiful snows, and see the winter wildlife that don't show up in the heat of the summer. How many of you southerners have seen a brilliant red cardinal feeding a spouse from your feeder? or the bright orange of a red fox contrast against a stark white landscape? It's the harshness of nature that I find brings out some of the most strikingly beautiful scenes.

[Symphony]

I can't wait to get the hell out of this climate! I'm miserable all winter long! I don't know anyone who hates winter as much as I do...well maybe a few of YOU!!

I'm waiting for my husband to finish school and then we're out of here! (His school is paid for and we can't afford to give that up.) Sacrifices!

I bought a light and it does help....if you use it regularly.

[bermuDa]

I've always seen beauty in snowy landcapes and I find them romantic, but then again I've spent very little time in the snow. I suppose it'd seem less romantic if I had to live in it for a long time.

[kulrblind]

A good mix of opinions here. I hope cartmen34 is feeling a little better about things. More than that, I hope things in cartmen34's part of the world are warming up.

For myself (having lived in some of the colder cities in Canada growing up), the thing I appreciate about winter is the sense of change, and the cyclical nature of the world. Winter serves a purpose, and at least for Canadians, makes us appreciate the spring season all the more. In conversations with friends, we often remark that were it not for winter, we wouldn't love summer so much.

Happy and warm thoughts to you, cartmen34....

[cartmen34]

Thank you very much for the thoughts, kulrblind.

I guess that is just the way I think. Although I try and think the way you and your friends do by using winter to appreciate spring more, it just does not help my mindset as I'm grinding away on the starter of my car, hoping it'll start up just one more time.

And no it's not warming up.... almost 8 inches of snow, and several more inches coming in the next few days....and -10 wind chill temps *sigh*