(no subject)

Gonna make a longer post about the whole Big Things situation sometime next week (can't do it earlier because sick now, and then Radiohead).

Just need to do some venting about heating.

Ugh.

I just got the heating bill for last year. Nearly 600 euros - for a 42 square metre flat. Of which I only heat one room, usually. Also, apparently only 50 euros of that were covered by my monthly advance payments, so I have to pay 550 right now. :-(

The really shocking thing is that the woman who lives on the ground floor, and who has a flat almost exactly double the size of mine, has a much lower bill than me (I saw the entire house's amounts, they were all on the same page). So, clearly, I'm doing something terribly wrong.

I know that officially, 20-21 degrees Celsius is considered the best temperature for your living room. I usually have it a bit higher, at 24 if I can manage it (can't always manage because this house has zero insulation, so in deep winter, it inevitably gets colder), because I get cold so easily (despite layers and layers of sweaters, wool tights, wool socks, blankets etc.). But in the light of that bill (and also because I hate wasting energy on principle), I'm now trying to train myself to tolerate 20-21 degrees. I've read that you can do this... But ugh, I'm SO COLD. My feet are like ice, and so are my fingers... and my legs are cold, too, not just my feet. I'm currently wearing wool tights, sweatpants, two long-sleeved t-shirts, a hoodie and a wool sweater - and wool-lined shoes. I could add a pair of wool socks and another sweater and a blanket, but I kind of don't want to go that far this early, when I'll probably get even colder later in winter...

Has anyone here successfully trained themselves to be okay with lower temperatures than they used to be comfortable with? Are there any tricks? Or do I just have to persevere for a few weeks and eventually it'll be all right?

Cold/Radiohead/my problems

1.) Since I talked about the cold and Radiohead in my last post: I haven't managed to organise my notes about my three concert experiences yet, but this here is an accurate representation of me at the last one. Coldest concert of their career, according to Thom Yorke - who arrived on stage visibly shivering and didn't stop griping about the cold for the next two hours! Poor guy, figures he'd be cold - he's my height and size, more or less, and he didn't have a blanket. ;-)

(That's the blanket I also use at my desk in winter, btw. Though I may have to get a new one, as this one was seemingly irredeemably muddied at the concert. I've washed it, but there's still a ton of mud in it. - And my eye's kind of half-swelled-shut in the picture because I had a pretty bad cold and that always affects my eyes.)

2.) Thanks for the encouragement regarding my temperature experiment! Nice to know that there's hope... I've decided to postpone the continuation of the experiment till after Radiohead, though, because it just occurred to me it would be bloody stupid of me to get another cold before the concert. Wasn't much fun to be coughing instead of singing along the last time around... :D (Yes, people do sing along at Radiohead concerts.)

3.) I just talked to my aunt on the phone and she had the most brilliant idea. We talked about my lack of self-control and my inability to organise my life and go to bed at normal times and get up in the morning and so on. She suggested that, every time I do something like getting up too late, I should give some money to some political organisation I utterly despise. Germany's ruling conservative party; a lobbyist group for the coal industry; something like that. :D

I actually really think this is a brilliant idea. Part of me really wants to try it... though I'm also worried, because what if even that deterrent isn't strong enough, and I end up transferring lots and lots of money to a lobbyist group for the coal industry? I couldn't live with myself...

Still... kudos to my aunt for thinking outside the box. :D