I love living in Southern California. Most of the time the weather is very moderate. We don’t experience the frigid winters of the east coast nor the sweltering, humid summers of the south. This past week, though, has felt more like Florida than California.
Yesterday, while manning the Next Steps table in our church’s courtyard, I was literally dripping sweat onto the tablecloth. To help me cope with the heat here’s a list of much hotter nerdy places.
Felucia
Felucia looks like one of the most tropical planets in the entire Star Wars galaxy. It’s an exotic environment filled with many colorful plants. The beauty of tropical locales comes at a price though: oppressive humidity. The humidity is what has made this past week in California unbearable. I’m used to triple digit temperatures with zero humidity. Not only is the humidity giving me Counselor Troi “Encounter at Farpoint” hair, but it’s also making me pretty grumpy. It may be bad, but at least I haven’t been gunned down by my contingent of clone troopers.
Bowser’s Castle
Every iteration of Bowser’s Castle has looked hot and unpleasant. Lizards are cold-blooded so it makes sense that Bowser would want to keep his home hot. Bowser’s castle would be too hot for people to live in but it would make for the best games of the floor is lava. I’d be nervous to go to any dinner parties at Bowser’s Castle. In every Mario game, from Super Mario Bros. to Mario Kart, I always fall in the lava. I’d hate to ruin the cocktail hour with the smell of my burning flesh.
Lambda Paz
100 degrees with 50% humidity is bad but it is definitely preferable to 132 degrees in the middle of a desert. I was always envious of Wesley Crusher so I was happy to see him leave the Enterprise. During his final mission as a crew member of the Enterprise, Wesley crash landed on Lambda Paz with Captain Picard. Lambda Paz was a desert moon with an average temperature of 132 degrees. Picard was injured in the crash but, because of Wesley’s heroics, they survived the crash and the extreme environment. Even Wesley’s farewell mission filled me with jealousy and envy. Why did he have to save Picard on his last mission? Why couldn’t he have just gone out with a whimper like all those other red shirts?
It’s been really hot but at least the heat brings to mind Psalm 42’s image of a thirsty deer. Heat like this can remind us how desperately we should thirst for God.
It can also remind us how supremely grateful we should be for central air.
What other nerdy hot places would you like to avoid?
Clever idea for a post!