This One Time I Thought I Was Really Hot (But It Was Just The HVAC Talking)

Back in San Antonio, my friend Stacey had asked me to pick her up from the airport. It was full summer, and for those of you who haven't been in San Antonio in the summertime, you know that expression 'hot as an oven'? Well, I like to say San Antonio summers are 'hot as downwind from an exhaust pipe.' (Which means when you actually are downwind from an exhaust pipe, things get really unpleasant.) It's quite common for there to be a temperature difference of 35-40 degrees between indoor and outdoor air during a San Antonio summer. True story: I had a small heater at my work desk and turned it on in the summer, not winter, because the air conditioning was on so high in our building I froze to death at my desk.

So anyway, I go straight from the gym to the airport to pick up Stacey. It's 10 pm but still around 100 degrees outside. Inside, it's a balmy 60 or so. Gotta give those tourists a false sense of comfort! I'm pacing a bit in the baggage area waiting for her to arrive and I notice people (read: men) are staring at me. Hmmm...did the gym suddenly transform me into a super hot girl? I guess so! I was in my standard gym attire of black yoga pants, black sports bra and sheer white fitted t-shirt, sweaty skin and hair. I guess this outfit was much more sexy than I thought! I wander for another 10 minutes or so (lots of stares, I'm pretty hot stuff in the San Antonio airport!), when I decide it's just too cold in there for me and I'm going to go wait outside in the heat. I hit the full-glass automatic door and catch a glimpse of myself: yup, it sure is COLD in there alright! These weren't headlights, these double high-beams. Haha, it takes so little to be so "hot."

I was reminded of this the night in China I went running at a friend's school track and it started to rain (story of life in Chongqing, the Seattle of China) and I headed back inside to his apartment. Similar attire as at the airport. This time I caught a glimpse of myself in his apartment building's glass doors and knew what was going on, but also knew there was nothing I could do about it. Oh well. He did a very gentlemanly job of quickly glancing away, then offered for me to stay the night (completely platonically) because it was raining hard and I didn't have an umbrella. In the morning, he said, "It's still raining; do you want this extra umbrella?" I remember thinking,"Wait-- why didn't you give me the extra umbrella last night?" Such is the power of cold air; he completely forgot about his extra umbrella!