NorCal versus SoCal // Rain

It finally rained!

In case you haven't heard, California has been in something of a drought recently. Like... no-real-rain-since-last-winter kind of a drought. And it's already February. So this is bad.

But it rained today in NorCal! Less than half an inch worth, but it's still something.

Zoe and I celebrated by putting on our raincoats and running around outside for over half an hour.

Well, she ran. I stood there and threw the toy.

My dad thought we were nuts.

I thought we barely got wet at all.

Zoe thought THIS IS AMAZING BUT THERE'S WATER IN MY EYE AUGH BUT TOY!

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I like NorCal rain. It sounds pretty, it's just the right amount of cold outside, and there are storm drains everywhere so the water doesn't flood everything.

SoCal rain, on the other hand, is a WHOLE different ballgame. It's angry {no, really, when it rains, it comes down like it's trying to kill you}, it's sometimes still warm outside so you just get all humid and sticky in your rain gear, and STORM DRAINS ARE FEW AND FAR BETWEEN which result in rushing rivers instead of streets and giant lakes instead of any and all flat surfaces.

Los Angeles is not built to handle rain.

One of the things I've repeated often is that, when we started college, no NorCal-ers owned rainboots, but all the SoCal kids had them.

And they're the ones who tell us that NorCal is this mystical grey, gloomy, cold, rainy place with nothing fun to do and no interesting anything {seriously. I never even realized there was a "feud" between NorCal and SoCal before I went off to college; so obviously, it's a one-sided thing, no? Cause we honestly don't care WHAT they think of us. So there}.

Did you know I finally gave in, after wading ankle deep to get to class for the last time, and bought rainboots Winter Quarter, my senior year?

When the rainboots arrived, the rain stopped. Because that's how these things work.

And then I moved back up to NorCal where rain doesn't require rainboots.

So now I feel silly.

Lesson learned: if you're going off to college in SoCal for four years, get the rainboots early. They'll save so many pairs of your shoes and socks from soaking in nasty street water for the entirety of your three hour class and keep your feet and ankles from freezing and feeling squishy {those wet socks retain water like no other}.

HOWEVER. If you've already survived three years of torrential LA downpour, suck it up and continue to survive for that one last year.

Because getting rainboots your senior year is useless.

Sigh.

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My thoughts on The UCLA Student's Essential Guide to Rain, part one and part two, from 2012.