I feel like the since the fall has begun, we’ve been shafted out of one of the seasons. The euphoria of my first summer in New Paltz has come and gone, and now it’s just freezing. The realization came when I accepted the fact that I could no longer wear the same pair of $3 shorts from Salvo every other day, and it was tough. I definitely had my fill of High Falls, but still feel I didn’t do enough exploring and it’s about that time where I start getting anxious because an increased amount of time will be spent sitting indoors.
It’s only difficult because cutting down time spent outdoors due to cold weather means cutting down exciting possibilities. Everything is more consistent in your own house. True, I have trekked through the Rail Trail with a few friends during last winter’s three-day snow storm vacation, only to slosh back in knee-high slush, but walking around outside in warm weather is a little easier.
Sure, it’s fun to relax and lounge the house lazily, but that gets old quick. For some reason the cable guy gave us free service over the summer which we only set up a couple of weeks ago, and no one has watched it since. I thought I was excited to watch the season premiere of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” but for some reason decided to cook beef teriyaki instead. Even my Xbox 360 is incapable of holding my attention for a full-length release anymore. I’d rather run around cutting cartoon bears’ heads off with a fish in the Arcade games; why save an entire world when a 2-D princess is ten minutes away?
Still, that only goes so far. Being indoors is as much limiting as it is comforting. I find more and more every day that this world is just as out there as an imaginary, virtual world. Ice caves and endless forests exist in real life, all in very close proximity to this town.
Though this is kind of a really random tangent, I should mention that my roommate just stumbled upon something strikingly interesting and sort of weird about natural foods that resemble human body parts; certain fruits and vegetables actually aid the organs they parallel in shape and/or size. Sounds stupid and could be considered coincidence, but examples include walnuts, rich in omega-3 fatty acids that are essential for the brain to function properly and avocados – strangely similar looking uterus, can help to lose unwanted birth weight and balance hormones; they ironically also take nine months to blossom.
The natural world can seem so weird, but that’s because it’s in a constant state of change. Everything is constantly adapting, and that’s what’s great about being immersed in it. Coming from Queens, I’m also inclined to find something so different to be so intriguing.
Maybe I’m just simplifying anxiety to the weather, when it’s really just the simplicity and liberation of summer living here that I miss. I believed my trip to Bisco was a great vacation, but in all honesty I’d have to consider the whole season as such, although that seemed to grow old as well. I guess the constant search for something more will never cease.
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Pete Thompson is still trying to be a renaissance man, having recently added cooking and reading Emerson to his repertoire. He likes things either organic or interesting, but preferably both.