06 December 2003
As quickly as the time has flown by, I didn't even truly connect December and snow.
In Minnesota, we aren't surprised when we have blizzards in October. And yet, I didn't even notice the fact that here in New York, we got our first big snow in December.
I've always wished for a longer autumn--though I often profess a special admiration for spring, my birth season, I've always preferred the colors, the crisp feel of fall--not cold enough to be winter, but not hot enough to be summer.
Isn't it strange that humans prefer averages? In psychology class we learned that what made someone's features beautiful was symmetry and average-ness. Even at a young age, we learned through the story of Goldilocks that the middle between two extremes--hot/cold, hard/soft--was preferable.
But when someone describes something they like, they use such words as "very" and "really" to try and fully get across their admiration. They use the extreme adverbs in order to illustrate their love of the average.
Very ironic.
In Minnesota, we aren't surprised when we have blizzards in October. And yet, I didn't even notice the fact that here in New York, we got our first big snow in December.
I've always wished for a longer autumn--though I often profess a special admiration for spring, my birth season, I've always preferred the colors, the crisp feel of fall--not cold enough to be winter, but not hot enough to be summer.
Isn't it strange that humans prefer averages? In psychology class we learned that what made someone's features beautiful was symmetry and average-ness. Even at a young age, we learned through the story of Goldilocks that the middle between two extremes--hot/cold, hard/soft--was preferable.
But when someone describes something they like, they use such words as "very" and "really" to try and fully get across their admiration. They use the extreme adverbs in order to illustrate their love of the average.
Very ironic.