Ah, summer. I distinctly remember wishing for your arrival with great desperation, when bitter white stuff covered the ground and the sky was always stormy grey. What was I thinking?!

I hate summer. Well, maybe hate is too strong a word (nope). After all, the average American equates a lot of positive images with the season, such as parties, vacation, swimming, more parties, working on a tan, being out of school, enjoying the great outdoors. And these are great things to be sure, but they always seem to fall far short of my expectations. And then there's the weather. Yes, warmth is nice. Warmth as in 70 degrees. But summer isn't warm, it's hot. Scorchingly hot and depressingly bright. Where does all that stupid sunshine come from and how come it has to hurt so much?
It's too hot to do anything without air conditioning. And the longer this summer thing goes on, the more I want to find a cool dark cave, crawl in, and never come out.

In the meantime, I have started watching Anthony Bourdain on the Travel Channel. No Reservations has become my new favorite show, almost an obssession really. After all, what's not to die for? Exotic food, exotic locales, and a level of grumpy cynicism that feels as comfortable as your favorite chair. I like this guy and I'd have a ball following him around. He's like a cuter, hip-er, nicer version of my stupid brother. I wonder if I can get the two to switch places...

I have to admit, it's hard to decide which of Bourdain's subjects is more stimulating: the food or the travel. The landscape of my own freezer is just so barren in comparison. Figuring out what to do for lunch after watching Tony eat his way through Rajasthan can be a nightmare of frustration and thwarted desire. Now that I'm obviously doomed to culinary oblivion for the forseeable future, my foray into a possible pasta salad for dinner just doesn't hold the appeal it once did.

I suppose it could be worse. I just couldn't handle a similar show with a textile arts theme. Traveling to exotic locales, eating exotic food, and discovering native exotic fibers (and the crafts that go with them)... well, that would be something too intense for me to handle. Though if ol' Tony needs a sidekick, my bags are already packed.