&#034In certain trying circumstances, urgent circumstances, desperate circumstances, profanity furnishes a relief denied even to prayer.&#034 -Mark Twain

I&#039d been carrying my damned umbrella around for a week and a half. No rain. I mean, it&#039d rain at night, but I wasn&#039t walking in it, so who cared? Yesterday, however bright and burning it was in the morning, by the time I finished running errands downtown and was on the way to the Commons for lunch, it was starting to cloud over and I got drizzled on a bit.

I ate lunch, got stuck sitting at a table with a woman I don&#039t know after the person I do know left, and I didn&#039t get to leave the table until it was decidedly dark as well as too late. Torrents. Buckets. Downpour. However you want to describe it, it was coming down in sheets in about three seconds flat after walking out the door. I got stopped again by a student I tutor, long enough for me to put my watch and glasses in my purse, and to shove the two notebooks I was carrying under my white T-shirt. The one day I decide, fuck the umbrella, and it&#039s a monsoon. The walk from the Commons to Gillum is only about a block, but with no umbrella and while trying to keep my belongings (but not myself because that would have been an exercise in futility) dry, it seemed to last much longer.

Now, mind you, I really do enjoy the rain. I like walking in it, watching it, listening to it. I don&#039t like walking in it while carrying precious notebooks and my brand new CD player (in the purse) along with the checkbooks and my journal which, had the rain gotten through my purse, would have been equally fucked. By the time I reached the tutoring center, my hair was soaked, the T-shirt was soaked through, my shorts were pretty wet, and my sandals squished when I walked. I rode the elevator up with a guy in a nice suit who had had an umbrella with him. I stood as far away from him as possible, and when I stepped off, he made the comment, &#034Wow, I&#039m glad I remembered my umbrella.&#034 I smiled politely at him and was mentally flipping him the bird.

Once in the Tutoring Center, I dropped my things off in Brad&#039s office, checked the contents of my purse for wetness (Surprisingly, everything was dry. Good purse!), then stalked off to the bathroom. It was lunchtime, so no one was around to see me in my miserable state. After using paper towels to roughly dry off my arms and face, one of the athletic advisors came in and saw me, saying something about &#034The rain got you, huh?&#034 I said, &#034Yup.&#034 She then told me that the other athletic advisor had a bunch of spare T-shirts in her office, so I followed her in there and got one to change into. It was likewise white, but at least it was dry. I combed out my hair, wrung out the shirt I took off (Lots of water wrung out of it, believe me.) and then went back to Brad&#039s office where I could take my sandals off and put my purse on the register.

So, cute, Weather. Real cute. Just to spite you, I&#039m going to carry my umbrella today.

Posted: June 16, 2004 at five to eight in the morning.