I would like to take a moment before the post begins to say that, if you are in the US and are of 18 years or older, you should GO VOTE. HELP THROW OFF THE CHAINS OF FACISM AND POWER-HUNGRY RIGHT-WING ASSHOLES BEFORE WE CAN’T ANYMORE. IF YOU’RE NOT SURE HOW TO DO IT, HERE’S A HANDY STATE-BY-STATE GUIDE OF USEFUL VIDEOS! With that said, let’s move on to the original topic: The Weather.

After a brief period of cooler weather, we’re back in sunny summery days with cold fall nights. It broke past seventy degrees again today and I went for my walk in my usual shorts and t-shirt. I spent most of it missing my shoes that broke last Friday since I’m back to my hiking boots as my main footwear and it’s far too warm for these heavy, worn-out old things to be my all-day shoes. That said, I still enjoyed the sun on my face quite a bit, even if it made for a bit of a visually difficult walking experience. It is too bad I’m so tired and worn out this week (an on-going theme in this period of heavy stress and coming winter), otherwise I would probably enjoy this rather unexpected burst of warmth.

It’ll only last a couple more days, though. After that it’s pretty much predicted to be in the solid sixties. Or maybe it’ll change a whole bunch like it did in the twenty-four hours between when I wrote the old version of this thought and when I wrote this version of it. The point is, the blast of summer is ending and who the fuck knows what is going to come after this, so I’m gonna do my best to appreciate it while I can.

My only regret about this lovely weather is that I work inside all day and don’t have visual access to any windows without needing to go for a walk. It’s not a long walk to a window or even outside, but it still takes enough effort that I can’t really just savor the sunlight or blue skies we’ve got going on right now any time my brain needs to stop focusing on whatever work I’m doing. I have to mask up, walk away from my desk, and try to avoid thinking about the work I should be doing or the fact that I might miss someone coming by my office for something. Again, it’s not a lot of effort, but it’s just enough that I’m not going to casually do it.

I used to take window access for granted. My first job out of college, I was in an office with a window (and usually right beside the window at that). When I got a new job, I was in a cubicle in the middle of a sectioned-off part of a manufacturing floor, but there were skylights and a bank of windows along the top of the wall. Now, after a move, our lab facilities have vastly improved, but I don’t even get indirect sunlight anymore. In the winter, when I’m usually in the office during most if not all of the sunlit hours of the day, I used to go entire workweeks without seeing the sun (one at a time, of course. I always made sure to get some sun on the weekends back then).

In fact, since my office moved locations, the only time I didn’t get severe seasonal depression was the winter of late 2020 to early 2021 because I was working from home all the time. I had other issues at the time, though, that prevented me from appreciating it the way I would if I had that choice again. It is too bad that the world and I were both a mess. There’s a huge difference in working from home because you’re afraid of dying from a deadly pandemic and working from home because that’s where you feel the most comfortable. Nowadays, as I’m back in the office again, I make sure to go on my daily walks right around noon to maximize my sun exposure. It has worked pretty well, so far, even though I’d definitely prefer to be working from home AND going on daily walks at noon.

Regardless, I enjoy having the flexibility to take time away from my desk and my work to enjoy this burst of warm weather. Even if it is much cooler in the shade, it is still nice to take breaks and go stand outside for a little while to absord what ambient warmth I can find. I mean, I’d still rather have a window and sunlight throughout the day rather than just during the times I can take a break to bask for a bit, but I’ll take what I can get.