I have decided that if I could be a force of nature I would be a wind tunnel. Forget the mere power of wind (which has been championed for years by Linka on Captain Planet), I believe the wind tunnel is vastly more powerful considering my past experiences with them. I have to pass through a wind tunnel to get to the campus rec center every morning when I go running and every Tuesday and Thursday night for dance practice. Every time it is a battle for my life – or at least my worldly possessions. I swear that I have lost a severe amount of skin cells on my face from passing through during winter storms. And don’t even get me started on rain storms. During torrential downpours you might as well forget about using your umbrella. In the wind tunnel the rain defies gravity and falls upwards, piercing the forcefield that was supposed to protect you and soaking everything regardless of umbrella coverage. I am sure that many an umbrella has fallen to the might of this very wind tunnel. Even when it’s not being helped by miniature monsoons, the wind can turn an umbrella inside-out without even flinching.

Right now, Dallas is experiencing some of the coldest weather in decades (or at least that I can remember). It is so cold that when I walked across campus this morning my hair froze. I like cold weather, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t like it when my fingers freeze through my gloves or when I can no longer feel my earlobes. But, I digress.

I mention this winter storm because it is what has cemented by belief in the power of wind and its partnership with walls, partitions, and other various wind-converging surfaces. That is because I now have to walk through Antarctica on my way to the gym. It is so cold that I lose feeling in my entire face and my legs start to tingle like when you wake up in the middle of the night to find that your limbs have fallen asleep. What’s worse is that when I finally make it to a safe haven of warmth, my whole body starts to burn like when you get into a hot tub after taking an ice bath. Today I seriously considered giving up halfway to my dorm and just crawling in a corner to die (of course I abandoned the idea once I realized that the walls were rounded and there were no corners). The journey felt like it an eternity, but I braved the pass and finally made it back to my building. I am frankly surprised that I have not developed some form of frostbite from my escapades.

All I know is that everyday I do battle with a force of nature so powerful that it renders me helpless regardless of weather or time of day. However, it might prove quite useful for flying a kite.