Rant #1,438: I Need My Air Conditioning!

Yes, it is that time of year again, where the pollen is killing me and the heat is starting to get to me big time.

I need my air conditioning!

How I survived the first roughly seven years of my life without it at all are beyond me.

A lot of it has to do with the chronic allergies that I have.

I simply have a hard time breathing, seeing or feeling good when it gets warm like it has in my neck of the woods.

The pollen is everywhere, and I can even see it all over my car, falling from the trees that I am parking under both at home and at work.

Not only is it difficult for me to breathe--and no, I do not have asthma, by the way--but the weather makes me, a very warm person, both figuratively and literally, uncomfortably hot.

Yesterday, we got into the high 80s here, which isn't the 90s, but it is about 20 degrees higher than it should be during this time of year.

I was very warm all day, and forget about work, they keep it at an almost constant 79 degrees in there year-round.

So when work was over, I hopped into my car, but the air conditioning did not go on, simply because I generally do not put it on during the week.

When I drive home, there is bumper to bumper traffic on the highway I use, and even though today's cars can stand it better than the older cars, I just have this thing in my head that I am going to overheat in the middle of traffic, so I do not put it on.

I do have the windows open and the fan on, so at least there is some air circulation.

Anyway, I get home, it is still very warm, I eat, and prepare for the evening.

My wife and I retire into the bedroom to watch some TV, and last night, at least, it was my wife--who has made it very well known to me that she hates air conditioining--who said to me, "Put it on!"

Now, when she says put it on, I know that it just isn't me; it really is very warm.

We had it on the entire night, and it is still on in the bedroom, as she hasn't gotten up yet as I write this.

I have always enjoyed air conditioning. As a kid, my doctor said that I needed air conditioning for a variety of reasons, and I got it when we lived in Rochdale Village, South Jamaica, Queens, where each apartment in the 20 building complex had central air conditioning.

Very novel for the time, during the mid 1960s.

Anyway, we moved to Long Island in 1971, and our house had nothing. The doctor once again said that I had to have air conditioning, so I was the first one to get it in my family, I have had it ever since, and I still need it (thank you, Dr. Geller).

We have several air conditioners throughout our house now. The one in the master bedroom is very old--probably at least 25 years old--and it does not make things cold anymore, but it does cool things down, which I think my wife likes. She hates the cold, so the air conditioning we have does provide a comfort level for her that she can enjoy.

We have a Sanyo air conditioner, believe it or not (not pictured), and it still works to a certain extent. But it doesn't make it frigid. 

Me, I like it frozen, but I won't get that in that room.

So be it. At least it is something.

So, with winter seemingly going directly into summer in my neck of the woods, air conditioning has become, to me, almost like an oasis in the hot desert.

I need it, I want it, and I have it.

And I will run it.

Simple as that.

And I hope all of you have it too.