So hot we'll melt your popsicle. (Or, Summer in Baton Rouge)

Baton Rouge is HOT. Like, I'm not just complaining and I'm not just being a wimp. I've been to hot places. And Baton Rouge is one of the freaking worst. The real problem isn't the 100-degree weather, but the fact that you step outside and it feels like you are U N D E R W A T E R. Your lungs desperately attempt to breath air and suddenly you're waterlogged, gulping like a big ol' bullfrog for something other than humidity. Oh! and you're drenched.

However. Baton Rouge also has the most beautiful clouds that I have ever seen. In the late afternoon and evening those puffy masses of condensation are like a panorama of the Old West. And they also bring hurricane amounts of rain which cools things down.

So I'm saying that right now it's only 80 degrees outside and that's a miracle and I'm glad for it. The crepe myrtle buds are drooping and dripping outside the window next to me and even though everything looks soggy, it also looks fresh. (By the way, what's the noun form of soggy? I was trying to figure that out the other day because I said that my cereal had become one big "sog" and then I realized that probably isn't a word at all.)

Sarah and I have a new pastime while we're driving around Baton Rouge: Calling KLSU (the college radio station in town) with song requests. I mean, we get so excited about this you'd think it was Christmas morning or something. (Maybe I'm exaggerating a little.)

Friends seeing Sleigh Bells tonight: I momentarily feel a lot of resentment about this.

Hurricane season is coming -- rather, it's here. AAAGGGH!!! Only visible signs of it in Baton Rouge thus far: every other house on our street is having major trees cut down. That's the worst. I mean, I know you don't want your house getting all smashed down by a giant oak, but seriously, what is all that money you spend on insurance for anyways?? And now you fork out even more to kill a neighborhood tree that's probably been around a lot longer than you just on the off-chance it'll suddenly decided to kamikaze into your roof. Ugh.

Something I really love about Baton Rouge is that nothing is pronounced the way it is everywhere else in the world. Like, every reasonable pronunciation rule you ever learned -- out the window. Think French. It's not "Richard," it's "Ree-shard."

Summer: joie de vivre.