André: “I wouldn’t put an electric blanket on for anything. First, I’d be worried I might get electrocuted. No, I don’t trust technology. But, I mean, the main thing, Wally, is that, that kind of comfort just separates you from reality in a very direct way.

“I mean, if you DON’T have that electric blanket, and your apartment is cold, and you need to put on another blanket, or go into the closet and pile up coats onto the blanket you have, well then you KNOW it’s cold.

“And that sets up a link of things. You have compassion for the per… well… is the person NEXT to you cold? Are there other people in the WORLD who are cold? What a cold NIGHT! I LIKE the cold, my God, I never realized! I don’t WANT a blanket. It’s FUN being cold! I can snuggle up against you even more BECAUSE it’s cold! All sorts of things occur to you.

“Turn on that electric blanket and it’s… like taking a tranquilizer—it’s like being lobotomized by watching television. I think you enter the dream world again. What does it do to us, Wally, living in an environment, where something as massive as the seasons, or winter, or cold… don’t in any way affect us? I mean, we’re animals, after all. I mean, what does that mean? I think that means that instead of living under the sun and the moon and the sky and the stars, we’re living in a fantasy world, of our own making.”

Wally: “Yeah, but I mean I would never give up my electric blanket, André. I mean, because New York is COLD in the winter. I mean, our apartment is COLD!”

Autumn is in the air in the north woods. Leaves are beginning to change, and drop. And the acorns.

The air is no longer oppressive. The bugs are, well, less overwhelming.

And, I’m discovering, I wake up a li’l more… stiff. In good ways, and bad.

Yet, I love the above sentiment! What’s wrong with being cold? I ENJOY feeling a briskness in the air. And if I can use it to snuggle under a blanket next to the lovely girl lying next to me… well, that’s just bliss!

Stiff. In good ways.

André is correct, however, in that comfort IS dangerous. People are using it to become numb to their surroundings.

One of my closest friends thinks I am insane for not keeping my home at 65° year round. After all, the miracle of modern science!

And maybe I am. Insane, that is.

Because, to me, what is wrong with the sultriness of an 82° home in the summer? Or the briskness of a 58° home in the winter?

I ENJOY feeling the change of the seasons. Plus, it makes the transition to the out much less traumatic.

I feel man will always try to reign in nature. Because science. And comfort.

And lack of awareness. And controlling his feelings. And control.

Perhaps, I am the crazy one. For enjoying the sensation of sitting ON a frozen car seat, instead of in it. And the sensation of breathing in sharp winter air. And the sensation of her warm body lying next to mine.

And the reaction when my cold foot touches her warm leg. Or ass.

What is so wrong about feeling… alive?

It’s always fun when there’s a chance that nature can hurt you.