Deconstructions, 3

Initially appeared on doktorko.com on 3/29/2006.

Spring is here!

It'll be nowhere NEAR warm, averaging out only at around 50 degrees fahrenheit (10 degrees celsius - a cool Baguio day), so i may not be able to shed my hated long johns just yet, but the time is nigh.

Anyway, replaying in my head is something that happened a few months ago at the onset of autumn-

The temperature had begun to drop below fifty, and i had started wearing my long johns as well as my ear grips and light gloves.  We went to a local Filipino's house for a party and our friends ribbed me good-naturedly because of my cold intolerance.  They've told me before that i'd get used to it (which i never have), but they know how i prefer to keep my homeostasis at Philippine standards, so they left it at that.  However, there was one particular fellow (who is NOT in my usual circle of friends) who made it a point to guffaw loudly at me and say "Kami hindi giniginaw - taga-MEESHIGAN kami e!"

It would have been more believable (but not by much) if he pronounced Michigan properly.   More believable still if he had not uttered this statement in the slurred nasal tone of the professional  lasenggo.   For some reason i just found it so idiotic that somebody who looked and sounded like he'd be more at home drinking Tanduay on some Tondo street corner at 9 in the morning would make such a statement; so i just held my peace and stayed my tongue.  In retrospect, i wonder if i should have exposed the colonial buffoon for what he really was by replying "Pasensya na, taga PILIPINAS ako e," but confrontation is never the best way to deal with fools (see my previous blog post).

For the curious, the reason i don't try to acclimatize myself to the temperate climate is that i think it's unnatural.  I lived 28 years of my life in temperatures ranging between 80 and 90 degrees fahrenheit (26 to 32 degrees celsius);  heck, MY ANCESTORS were born and bred in the same temperatures.  While it's true that i spent much time in airconditioned rooms, 68 degrees fahrenheit (20 degrees celsius) was usually cold enough to warrant consideration of wearing a light jacket.  Call it psychosomatic, but to me anything colder than that is just COLD.

While it's true that it would be possible (though improbable) for me to slowly get used to the climate and eventually call 60F (15C) "balmy," i prefer not to.  Because i believe that it would mean the beginning of the end - that i've decided to give in and become comfortable in this place that far from my true home.  And because if i don't pay attention, i could quickly degenerate - as i suspect many people have - into this @$$h013.