little. yellow. different. A weblog by Ernie Hsiung

heat make ernie crazy

Most people in the San Francisco Bay Area, especially those people living near the coast like I do, don’t have air conditioners. My parents house never had an air conditioner. Our apartment doesn’t have an air conditioner.

“We don’t need air conditioner,” my father would say. “We have ocean!” And for the most part, that’s true. Thanks to the Pacific ocean and the notorious San Francisco fog, we have 68 degree days, whether it be the week of Christmas or August. “It only hot four days a year,” my dad would say.

Today is one of those four days a year. It’s fucking HOT here. It’s probably somewhere in the mid-90’s today. And because my apartment faces west, directly facing the afternoon sun, my apartment has absorbed the heat; it’s probably a good 95 degrees in here, while it’s a good twenty degrees cooler outside (as of 11pm).

Now everyone pretty much everywhere else in the country is rolling their eyes. It’s 95 in Arizona in December! In Las Vegas, it’s 110 degrees, and that’s at three in the morning! In Florida, 90 degrees is a cold spell! And at least it’s a DRY heat.

But I’m in Berkeley. We have no coping mechanisms to deal with the extreme heat. We have no air conditioner. Let me remind everyone that I live on the third floor, and heat rises. The heat generated from the laptop I’m typing this entry from is getting on my damn nerves. Oh yeah, and we’re in California, so naturally we’re going to be a bunch big, whiny, liberal, tree-hugging San Francisco crybabies afraid of a little rise in temperature.

Fuck you. It’s fucking hot here. This sodomizing tree-hugger needs another glass of ice water and a cold shower.

i know what you mean. i’m from MTL which is freezing for one third of the year and fucking hot the other third, but they still have aircon, being civilised east coast folk.

now i’m on the west coast and it’s like they’ve never heard of aircon (or screens for that matter). so on days like today, i spend the day in my car just for the aircon, like the big heatphobic wimp i am.

Heat index in Houston the other day? Oh, sure … it was just 96 degrees outside, but with the heat index it was 110. I feel no pity for you. (Ok, I feel a little pity - because I *hate* to be hot like that.)

want to talk hot? i’m in houston, too, only i have a FEVER.

Ernie! You MUST make your mini-blog links open in new windows!

So, that weird ‘fairry boy’ bar you live across from is now in Okaland? Dream on. I love you Ermie.

Ernie, is it as bad as when you got underneath a comforter and electric blanket?

“sodomizing tree hugger”! Ah-HAHAHAHA! funny ’cause it’s true…

Well, speaking as an Arizonan (by location) (and btw, it’s only in the 60’s in December )you should see us pulling out our Winter Woolies when it hits 65 degrees!

I swear the world is going to end… it’s hot in DALY CITY, for goodness sake’s… it’s supposed to be eternally foggy and no higher than 60 degrees here, EVER. The puffy-jacket kids are all confused!

ernie gets hot hilarity ensues…

July, 2002, Brooklyn, 4th floor, no air conditioner.

God bless the Vornado.

You’re in San Francisco for crying out loud. Take your shirt off and strut your stuff.

Oh, get over it. We love ya, Ern, but get over it! Would you like to trade for New York weather? Yes, we have a/c, but we also have to go outside. Some of us have to wear suits & ties and go outside at work (that would be me, for one).

As for your predicament–not that it’s likely to last long–if it’s cool outside at night and hot in your apartment, there’s this high-tech device you could buy. It’s called a fan!

Reminds me of band camp in rural Alabama - 110+ degree heat (not the heat index, mind you) and carrying around a huge sliding metal instrument.

Torture. I’m five shades darker because of it.

in DC we’re also sweltering. I don’t have AC either….so I’m slowly turning into a little puddle of water as I melt away in this heat.

About 6 or 7 years ago my mom, my friends Dimple* and Ingrid, my nephew and myself all piled into my mom’s car and DROVE TO FLORIDA. I should mention it was August, my mom’s air conditioner was broken - AND her power windows were all stuck in the up position. There we were, flying down the interstate at 50mph and I’m holding the door open trying to get some air in the car. GOD that sucked.*Yes, that’s her name.

weiner.. i just moved from indiana to Las Vegas.. talk about culture shock! Not only are the people here strange, but i went from 70 degree high and 40 degree lows to 110 degree highs and 70 degree lows in a week! So suck a duck and get a boxfan or something..

Jeremy: if you’re using IE then SHIFT+CLICK a link to open in a new window.

Ernie: I’m with you, I really am. I grew up in the desert, moved to the valley, and got used to three digit heat. Then I moved to San Mateo — similiar weather. Finally I moved in to SF proper and thought I was in heaven.

Then it got hot.

I COULDN’T TAKE IT!

I was also on the third floor — and I couldn’t even find a fan at Target. There was no breeze, a lot of heat, and nothing I could do about it.

Even the crappy apartments I’ve had in the valley (all but one) have had swimming pools. At least when my one room joke wall unit AC cycled off I could go swimming. In SF? Nope, suffer.

I’m feeling your sweat. I live in a cinderblock house in NC with no A/C. I recommend taking a shower and jumping on the bed with 2 fans blowing on you in opposite directions for crosswind action.

How exactly does one suck a duck? DOn’t worry, I feel for you ernie. I get incredibly irritated when I’m in a hot room, or car, or air. I totally destroyed my car’s horn three years agp because I took a wrong exit and it was like, 140 degrees out. I was late for a job training session and just realised that the exit I had mistakenly taken was going to put me over an hour late. I started yelling at myself and pounding on my steering wheel. Anger management has gotten much better since then.

Werd.
Pass the freon.

Aww, poor ernie. Come down here on the farm and say that.

I feel ya, Ernie. I live in Oakland and work in SF, and I’ve been whining and wilting for the past few days too. IT’S TOO FUCKING HOT and no one is equipped for it. Even BART and AC Transit lack A/C.

But the forecasters are saying the temp is supposed to drop into the high seventies for next week.

Get yourself a box fan (they’re like $15), put it in your window, and have it blow the outside air in (if it’s cooler outside). If your window is too small, get one of those smaller window fans. If it’s still too hot, make a bunch of ice, put it in the biggest baking dish you have, and put it on a table in front of the fan (my friend used to do this, I don’t know if it really works).

Ernie, I’m with ya. I hate the heat and I’m also on the third floor with the afternoon sun beating down my bedroom window. Would I trade it for New York weather? HELL NO! At this shit is DRY heat!

you know what really sucks? i live in san francisco with my husband. his father OWNS a hvac (heating ventilation and air con) company. my husband works for an air conditioning company. WE DO NOT HAVE AIR CONDITIONING! what the hell?

I miss the fog SOOOOOO much. Fog is one of the most wonderful things in the world. It’s that wonderful amazing crisp bite that rolls over the hills and soothes you when you’re coming home from a godforsaken hot place like Sacramento. If only we could bottle fog.

How happy am I to be in San Diego for the summer instead of up in Berkeley? Very.

I was in Maine yesterday and it was 95 degrees there too (it was that hot in NYC where I live). What the hell?

The worst thing about the heat is that my super hasn’t turned off the heat yet. Even with the A/C on high, I have pockets of heat and my floor is warm.

Well, at least you only have 4 days of cold showers and frequent nudity. I have at least 8 more weeks of it.

As a Seattle native, I completely symphathize. My favorite thing about of the four hot days in Seattle was how restaurants would put up all these little handmade signs that said “WE HAVE AIR CONDITIONING!!” on their doors. That was a big ass deal. As someone living in LA now, I have to say that I still sympathize, cuz I live in Venice where it’s always 15 degrees cooler than the rest of LA.

Tip: cold washcloth on forehead. SERIOUSLY!

a simple, but useful tip:
run cold water straight from the facuet on to the inside of your wrist (in the place where you’re most likely eyeing to slash at this point).
There is some sort of sensor there that triggers the temp in your body.
When I was a kid in the Kansas summer heat, my parents would take us to the movies a lot to avoid sitting around in a hot house.

STROM IS DEAD!!!!!!!!

and while he is still a human being and i should mourn the loss of life, i don’t.

and WE HAVE THE RIGHT TO SODOMIZE AT WILL!!!!

it’a a great day

(by the way, folks: When Erin said “Storm,” I thought she was referring to a weather storm, and then Storm the X-Men character, as opposed to Storm Thurmond, senator older than most oak trees. And I was all, the storm is dead? We’re not having a storm, we’re having a heat wave.)

(eh, i thought it was amusing.)

Isn’t it ironic? The news of the Supreme Court decision probably killed him.

i work for the LGBTQ paper here in Portland, oregon. Strom, the supreme court, and the fact that Howard Dean won the Moveon.org primary has caused much hooting and hollering here today.

ernie, it’s hot here, too. but Oregon isn’t known for heat or predicatble weather. on Sunday, when we have Peacock in the Park ,a huge drag show up the the rose gardens, its gonna be 65 and cloudy again. Given the choice of a melting or a slightly chilled drag queen, I am glad it will be cooler

So which do you sodomize more, trees or huggers? (especially now that both are legal)

Its very cold in Arizona in December.

60’s

Yes.

Just thought I would add that.

One time I was in jail, and the air conditioning broke, and all the inmates stripped down to their underwear.

But I never thought of it being sexual.

we don’t have an air conditioner either… and my room is on the second floor and i have 2 1/2 walls of windows that i’m accustomed to leaving open. when i got home last night, it was 90 degrees downstairs and over 100 and STUFFY in my room. gahhhhh.

i ended up taking a cold shower while still in my pjs and then just flopping on my bed, dripping water everywhere. doesn’t matter, though — it was all dry by the time i woke up!

70s in perfect-weather San Diego, CA! It sucks sometimes because we don’t get real heat. As a matter of fact, for me, real hot would be 80°. I remember those old days back in Chicago though, super fuckin hot I would sleep naked!

It got so hot here (S. Ohio) yesterday that when a sudden rainstorm came up, the sidewalks were steaming.

Eh, I just mowed the lawn in 110 Las Vegas style baking sun heat …

But it isn’t as bad as tropical heat mixed with heavy tropical moisture … that was hell …

In January, I went from Vancouver, BC to Perth, Australia- from -10C (14F) to 43C (110F) in a span of 28 hours… I felt like I was melting!

Don’t even go there, boyfriend!

Try living A/C-less on the third floor in Hanover for the whole summer!

tsk…tsk!…i’m with you jess…it IS called a fan!…is there anyone out there that has been caught in the kind of degrees that palm springs can offer?…now that is some sweltering…if you haven’t felt it…you haven’t lived it thank you very much!

well this current weather anomaly does allow everyone to wear their hot weather gear. and seeing THAT is worth all the discomfort. ^_^

Dude.. I am with you. It was 110 in Walnut Creek today.. thankfully I DO have ac in my apartment, or I think I’d be dead right now.
So.. you can come over and hang in my air conditioned place if you want.. I am right by the pleasant hill bart…

I hated SF. Two summers ago, I joined my parents who were vacationing in Japantown 4 days after they arrived there. Before I left AZ, they warned me to bring warm clothes because it was cold. I laughed and said THEY were cold because they are old. When I left here it was 112, I was wearing shorts, a sleeveless top, and sandals. Shortly before my plane landed in SF, the old lady next to me asked me if I had a sweater. A SWEATER in the summer?! Again, old people are always cold. The second I went outside to catch a cab, I thought my nipples were going to fall off and my toes turned purple! Needless to say, an emergency trip to shop for sweaters, jeans, thick socks, boots and a leather jacket was in order. Even in that gear, I was still freezing. It was windy, ICY, foggy and wet in JUNE. Yuck. But sucks to be you Ernie, no AC….Heh.

I think you need to take your new constitutionally-protected right to sodomize and make use of the heat. Mmm. Hot, sweaty sex. *shudder

Jason

Yeah, Ernie, I’m in SF and this heat just sucks, and not in a good way. At least all the guys will have their shirts off tomorrow at the Pride fest. I love public shows of skin.

BTW, did you know your new site crashes IE 5 Win? (Unless you changed the code in the last week or so.)

Don’t worry! In a week it will be cold again.

Havin’ a heatwave, tropical heatwave!

Gosh, I am telling my age…LOL!!!

Las Vegas! It’s over 110 today! I had to take the un-air-conditioned bus to work today! At least you get to lay around and play with ice you bastard.

I bought an AC in Ithaca, NY…It was the same thing–4 hot/humid days. 4 days where I might commit some crime punishable by life in prison or worse. Better to pollute than to kill directly and brutally. Sold it. Just bought another one. I’m saving lives, I tell you.

sucks to your assmar. karma’s gonna set Santa Barbara on fire one of these days I’m sure… til then, I’ll be relaxing in 70/50s

preach it my brother! People back East do not understand that many people live in San Francisco because we like it cool (aka not hot), we have no patience for heat… the occasional heat wave w/o AC means lack of sleep and general heat-related malaise… bring back the cold!

Shower, be cool. Fly, be free!

hey there, great blog u have here. im figuring out how to use MT though. really an uphill task in setting it up!

Ack! I can totally relate. Portland was hot this weekend and my house was miserable. When I got up Sunday morning the house was still 86 degrees. We have a small air conditioner in the bedroom. So we have one cold room. Trust me, it’s worth the $200 investment.

I’m a Southern California native living in LA and have no patience for heat OR cold. I’m a total temperature wimp, but I don’t care. If I wanted “weather”, I’d move…well, pretty much anywhere else in the country…

I feel for ya. I used to live in Texas (the boiler room of the United States) and when I first moved up here I was all bark about “oh you pansies don’t know what heat IS!”

until I acclimated. So I feel your pain Ernie. I can’t stand for it to get above 88 here.

I remember those days in Berkeley quite well. We had the added problem in that since our apartment windows had no screens and there was a big beehive somewhere nearby that would send bees into our apartment, we couldn’t open any outside windows either (just those leading to the inside of the building. Those days, I would work late heh

i left vegas on 6/28 and it was (according to our thermometer) 122. then i got to boston and it was 60. it was twice as hot in vegas! i thought that was so cool. no pun intended.