Saturday, December 31, 2011

Under my umbrella

I always check the weather forecast before I go to sleep to ensure I’m adequately prepared for any form of precipitation that threatens anywhere within a 10-mile radius of my residence the next day. The anxiety of being caught in the rain without an umbrella to protect my precious notebooks (from what my water-permeable backpack cannot) probably originates from my experience in the summer BRIDGE Program in 2008. That summer, a monsoon-like downpour bludgeoned Charlottesville, but I didn’t know it was going to rain that much — or at all — so I walked around without an umbrella and was soaked to my socks by that afternoon. My notebooks were the unfortunate casualties; I had to write on curly pages spotted with bled ink for the rest of the program. I’m glad I didn’t write in gel pen. 
Ever notice that it never seems to rain for a single day at U.Va, but rather for entire stretches of time? And it almost always rains during finals, but at least it gives me a legitimate excuse to lounge around in the library wearing cozy leggings (my rain attire = leggings + rainboots + top). Rain boots, moreover, are a necessity as the sidewalks at U.Va flood at any hint of precipitation. 
Also, I’m an inadvertent umbrella murderer: Though I’ve only spent 2 years at U.Va, I’ve gone through countless umbrellas and I’ve even had several invert at the slightest puff of wind, while others are hardly more useful than shielding myself from rain with tissue paper on a straw. 
I wore rain boots to school today because it was forecasted to rain. It never did.
Me visiting Hallie at St. Mary’s College of MD on a rainier day. The sign reads, “STOP worrying.” (March 2010)


(Originally posted June 9, 2010)

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