In View Of The Coolness

I've lived in the modern surroundings of first-world cities all my life, but I take nothing for granted and let no part of my circumstances go without circumspection. To be indoors is an experience which has consumed probably most of the hours in my life, and yet I found it rather remarkable briefly one night not so long ago. I was in a bar dancing with friends as a DJ played track after track of thumping hip hop beats. Along one wall of the space were several windows, some cracked open.

It reminds me of some story wherein a man forced to spend the night out in the cold takes solace from being able to see a fire off in the distance. I think of it from time to time in connection with different contexts. In this case I describe it was quite the opposite, for inside it was far too warm, physical exertion and alcohol doing what they will. Being able to see outside where the air was so brisk and only occasionally feeling it directly was nothing short of tortuous.

It wasn't just that I wished I could be out there to cool off. I'm a young man in my prime, but I will confess to having had more than my fill of loud noise. Maybe that sounds silly considering how much of the same I am guilty of polluting the ears of listeners with, but it's true anyway. A protracted session of earsplitting music is not in my line. I was desperately envious of the people I could see down on the street not just because they were cool but because they basked in the relative silence of a major Los Angeles traffic artery.

Lest it sound otherwise, I did not constantly look balefully towards the window like a schoolboy anxiously counting down the minutes towards the end of class. I did enjoy myself, and even enjoyed being there in that bar with the conditions that I described. I just wouldn't want that all too often. Quiet, properly room-temperature drinking is preferable not just because you can hear your friend's words or because the spirits are so much cheaper, but because you'll live longer with intact ear drums and a constitution untested by oven temperatures.