Now after the present deluge of monsoon rain (I’m purposely trying to sound as dramatic as a native southern Californian right now) I’d have to agree with my roommate. And it isn’t only the crazies that come out nor who I want to focus on here (since their behavior really doesn’t vary according to the rain; they’re usually strange no matter what) but rather it’s the average Joes and really cool kids who start to act particularly odd.
One of the more amusing things I’ve noticed revolves around fashion. Even prior to the monsoon one of my favorite people watching experiences takes place every year during the historial winter months (December, January, February), during which southern Californians don the fashions of New York City. That in and of itself wouldn’t be odd if I’d replaced southern California with say, Chicago or some other cold city. But when it’s 72 degrees and sunny wearing a parka, uggs, and a knitted hat make about as much sense as wearing a bathing suit on the streets of New York in 50 degree weather, even if it is July. I’m not saying don’t wear those fashions, hipsters of the greater Los Angeles area. Just wear them when they actually make some sense, like during one of those few days when it actually does dip into the 40s. I know those days are far and few between but they do exist. ‘Course that doesn’t give us much of an opportunity to wear our cute wool peacoats but then if you really need the additional weeks head to Mammoth or Tahoe or Denver or Siberia.
This leads me to the opposite phenomenon that occurs during rainstorms, in which our fashionistas (okay, and everyone else) are inadequately prepared for even a mere sprinkle (this includes myself as I’ve lived out here for a good five years and forget that I ever survived a day of rain in my life). No one owns umbrellas, raincoats, rainboots, rainpants, rainhats, or any other number of rain repelling clothing that makes getting around during an onslaught of wetness that much easier. So at the first drop everyone heads to the stores and those of us unlucky enough to get there after an hour have nothing left to choose from. “I think this coat’s waterproof,” says the 17-year-old salesboy at Target. “No it’s not! It’s 100% denim!” Thank goodness for uggs and that knitted hat from Grandma.
Now this is an LA Raincoat Man!
Aside from the fashion, southern Californians also let their conversation and lives completely revolve around the weather when it rains. The conversation part makes slight sense since there are something like 360 days of sunny blue skies and 70 degree temperatures. When it dips into the 60s or moisture falls from the sky (or even threatens to fall) that is news. However, the panic it induces is unforgiveable and something from a post-Apocolyptic film. People forget how to drive, how to walk, how to work, how to watch a movie, how to microwave popcorn… They revert back to infancy. Some real life comments I’ve heard are: “Are you really going to work in this hurricane weather?” It wasn’t even raining at that moment. “Should we really go to that concert? It’s supposed to rain.” Again, wasn’t raining at that moment and wasn’t supposed to until the next morning, by which time I was certainly planning on being home. And even if I wasn't a little rain wasn't going to keep me from enjoying myself indoors. Luckily there are those of us who aren’t native southern Californians to remind them of their idiocy and that updating your facebook status to let us know it’s still raining (something we can all ascertain looking out of our bedroom window when we wake up) is entirely unnecessary.
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