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A sure sign of boredom

...is when people talk about the weather.

Todays weather talk comes from the storm we had today here in California. Now I feel guilty talking about the weather here in California because compared to most places in the world, we simply dont have weather. We Californians dont live in weather, we visit it on weekends like someone elses step children. Live in snow? I think not. Live two hours from fine skiing? Oh sure, thats how you do it.

Suffice to say that todays news was full of politics and news that California was being hit by a large storm. Weather makes news in California for only one reason - we have all the media people and their video cameras.

How did the weather effect me? I have a well known talent of being able to sleep through anything. Yes, I have even slept through the detonation of a one thousand pound US Air Force bomb( but thats another story for another time) but last night I didnt get any sleep at all. We had some heavy winds, about 40kts, which by itself was fun but what made it extra special was two things. First, it wasnt just a 40knot wind, it was also accompanied by 70 knot gusts and second, the wind was coming out of the east. Here in the central valley, the wind rarely comes off the mountains to the east as anything more than a breeze, but last night the wind was booming. It was like hitting the house with a sledge hammer at random moments for eight straight hours.

So, no sleep, which is bad. It makes for a real long day at work. Next up, the backyard fence decided to collapse down the side of the hill. I felt bad about this at first, thinking that my landscaping ( or horrible lack of it ) had somehow contributed to the failure but a quick trip around the neighborhood showed that everyone with a north-south running fence took some damage. I had company, I felt better and had much less shame, so it was a win-win for me that everyone else suffered too.

So why is it such a big deal when California gets any sort of weather? Like I said, its because we dont really get any for the most part. When any weather actually does happen people here always act like they've never seen rain before or that they are made of alka-seltzer and will "effervece" to death at the slightest touch of water falling from the sky.

Interestingly enough, rain always happens in this time of year in California. This time of year was known by the native Americans who once populated this fair state as a special magical period known as "Winter".

Think of it this way, unless you are in California, you rarely get to experience earthquakes. So you wake up one day and you experience a 4 point quake and you cant shut up about it for a week. Here in California a 4 point quake wouldnt rate mention in the newspaper and if you did mention it you would get the look we reserve just for tourists.

Its like talking about rain in Seattle. The locals in Seattle dont talk about rain no matter how much it rains or for how long or take even the slightest notice of it , they just carry on living life like we do, only much, much wetter. So if you do notice it, if you blurt out "Gee sure is raining alot lately" that will make you " one of those people..." and everyone will point at you like you are the last unabsorbed human in "Invasion of the Body Snatchers".

You know, a "Californian". You know, its funny because when they say "Californian" up there, its like a dirty word or something. It always makes me laugh when they do that. Its like they are saying "Colon Polyp" or something.

Posted @ January 04, 2008 08:56 PM | Current Affairs

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Posted by: Vootie at January 11, 2008 03:43 AM