Baby, It's cold outside

Brrr....

It's starting to get cold -- and stay cold for more than 3 days at a time. Winter is coming, the days are getting shorter...this whole turning the clocks back thing means it's darker earlier...and I, for one, couldn't be happier.

Maybe it's that I grew up in New England with a winter that is slightly harsher than that of New York City, so it doesn't bother me. But I don't think that's it.

I think I love winter for the same reason I love summer days with unbearable humidity; masculinity.

Let's face it; I'm not the most manly of men. But even I have a male ego that needs to be played to. It doesn't happen in the form of fitness. (Hell, I've seen middle-aged women with more physical power than I on a daily basis when I go to the gym.) It doesn't happen in my ability to get women. (I don't think I've been on a second date since February of 2002.) It doesn't happen in my financial independence. (I mean, c'mon, I'm a musician...and a student.)

So it comes in my ability to withstand temperatures of all extremes.

When summer comes and everyone is dragging, I get my extra burst of energy and leave everyone in the dust. When winter comes and everyone hates it, I bundle up -- in the same 6-year-old thin fleece jacket I wear anywhere from 0 to 60 (Fahrenheit) -- and a hat and gloves, and I just go.

It's like I have the streets of New York to myself. All the sane people stay in, and then there's me.

I've said before that I know I'm not 'a beautiful person' because the beautiful people come out when the weather gets nice and I am out all the time. But hey -- I'm manly!

(Or at the very least, stupid...which, according to my mother and multiple ex-girlfriends, is synonymous!)