August 15, 2003
the light nazi
Have I told you that BrilliantEditor affectionately calls me the Light Nazi? I'm kind of cuckoo about making sure that lights are off when I leave the room. I also turn off the lights if someone else has left them on. I turn them off if the sun comes out and the lights are redundant. I turn them out in half the room if only one half is being used.
I also turn them off when BrilliantEditor is in the basement being quiet (oops). They go back on when I hear him say, "Hey! What about me?"
On the other hand, I know it isn't that dark without the big light on. There's a little light that's on all the time (which is allowed since it keeps the dehumidifier from freezing) and the little light is enough to load the washer, right?
I have radar feet, of course.
Still, I can see how some of these behaviors might be interpreted as slightly neurotic. Charmingly neurotic, of course.
But I have earned a new name. I am now called the Freeze Nazi. I turn the air conditioners off compulsively. Because it's been so incredibly hot, we've got the air conditioners on in whatever room we happen to be in. Of course, I demand that the air conditioner will be turned off upon exiting the room.
BrilliantEditor is less tolerant of this form of fascism. He actually likes it cold. The really cold cold, he likes that stuff. Weeks and weeks of snow are cool with him. He likes the kind of weather that brings Jack Frost to the window to do his frosty sketching. He likes it when the sketching stays in place.
But me, I like it warm. Not hot, no, hot is sticky and stifling. But warm is nice.
So you can imagine what the Freeze Nazi has to say about the thermostat setting. It's something like, "70 is too low. 75 is fine." The he hears *beep beep beep beep beep* as I turn it up. I'll come back in the room to find it at 73. Fine. I need to share nicely.
(Incidentally, I had been calling 75 a compromise since I would have it at 77, if I had my way.)
But! I think I have pushed him too far. Now he's confusing me.
Check out these mind control tactics.
He had the air conditioning on in our bedroom.
He wasn't going to bed yet!
But it was set at 75.
What's going on with that?
It reminds me of the movie A Year Without a Santa Claus. There were two brothers in it whose pictures are herein contained.
Posted by dotty at August 15, 2003 10:22 PM