I come almost entirely from northern European stock--there's rumor of some Cherokee heritage in my background somewhere, but it certainly hasn't manifested itself in me--blonde hair, blue eyes, tall and lean.
As such, my body seems to be adapted for long, cold winters. I generate heat like a furnace, and I'm comfortable walking around in a T-shirt in weather that would make most people run for a parka. I typically keep the heat in my apartment set at 50 degrees in winter.
These are nice benefits to have, but there are weird side effects. Every fall, when the days start to get shorter and the weather gets colder, my body becomes convinced that there's a famine-stricken Artic Circle winter coming. It tries to adapt accordingly, apparently by making it very easy to put on a massive amount of fat.
For the third day in a row, I've had to force myself to get out of bed after twelve hours of uninterrupted sleep--presumably because bodies at rest don't burn any calories.
I'm hungry all the time--even when I've just finished a meal.
All this seems especially pointless when you consider the fact that I'm hoping I won't have to be anywhere near Wisconsin when winter sets in for real.
