Once again, I wandered around campus exploring the new dark corners. My favorite part of my walk was a question that someone asked me when I passed him and his friends. I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt, and as I passed the kid, he asked, "Dude! Aren't you freezing?" He and his friends were all wearing sweats and sweatshirts, but they still looked like they were having trouble staying warm. I laughed and answered, "No, are you?" Then they just looked at me in disbelief as I turned the corner and headed through campus. His question got me thinking about why I wasn't cold. As I walked in a random pattern, I searched for an answer.
I didn't notice that it was cold. The feeling that I get when I walk outside isn't like the feeling when I touch something cold. When I touch an icy pole, the pole immediately draws heat from my hand, and it is a rather drastic temperature change. Entering the cool air outside doesn't make me shiver, and it doesn't give me 'goose bumps.' The air outside is something of a constant temperature that doesn't draw heat from my body as drastically as the cold pole. After a few seconds of entering the cold, I become used to the temperature change and pay little attention to it. I was walking around with an ice-cold beverage, and I didn't even realize that my hand had gone numb to the feeling of the drink.
One thing I do notice about the changing temperature is that I am much more alert than I would normally be. There were no people on the pathways that I walked, but I was constantly scanning for movement and noises. At one point I heard a leaf crunch behind me, but I did not see anything. I knew where my knife was if there came to be a situation where I'd need it. I love walking when there is the possibility of danger, for it keeps me vigilant.
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