Have you ever stood in the shower, fiddling with the knob for the water and discovered there’s a point above which the water’s obnoxiously hot? A mere millimetre below that spot, the water’s glacial. Then if you spend about five minutes, undressed, messing with the dial, you can have a perfect blend of lava and ice floe. Of course, having two knobs—one for hot and one for cold—simplifies this matter. As you may suspect, I just took a shower. Mind you, taking a shower is not a big production for me; I don’t mention showering because it’s unusual for me to do so. Freshman year, my roommates noted that I take short showers. Taking a less than ten-minute shower was called taking a “Q-rate shower” amongst residents of Buyers 12. When I was younger and had less surface area, I took really short showers (OK, so, my brother and I would time each other…bragging rights for the one who took the quickest showers and managed to scrub everywhere despite time constraints).
