Umbrellas

So I probably shouldn't be writing this right now given the ridiculous amount of stuff I have to do BUT something has been on my mind.

The past two days here have been DISGUSTING. I'm talking torrential rain and gusty winds. Really bad. Denim sticking to your legs is not fun, I'll tell you that much. The point is these past two days I've had the opportunity to observe people in the rain. Specifically, I've been noticing people and their use of umbrellas. My conclusion: when the rain is THIS bad, and it's THIS windy, DO NOT USE AN UMBRELLA.

Literally every time I walk out of my dorm, within 30 seconds I observe at least two people with up-turned (correct word?) umbrellas struggling to fix them. Then they stop to try to make their umbrellas right again, getting blown around by the rain and soaked by the wind because their umbrellas are no longer functional. I noticed this earlier this year and it was hilarious. But now it's kind of annoying. An umbrella clearly isn't going to do you any good. About 20 minutes ago when I was coming back to my room, someone with a hoopty umbrella was walking around with the wires sticking out of the side. I also passed at least two pathetic broken ones sprawled out in the yard. How sad. But you know what? I don't even feel bad. You should've known better. The umbrella isn't practical in these kinds of conditions. Especially an enormous, unnecessary sized golf umbrella that becomes even heavier than it normally is with the wind. Saw at least three people struggling with those this afternoon. Get it together, boos.

THEN there are those people who, in an attempt to deal with the wind, put their umbrellas facing forward in front of them, making it seem as though they're going into battle and need some sort of shield. Too much! While these people don't end up with broken umbrellas AS often as the others (I have still seen them break from this), the result is what? You guessed it. You can't see in front of you. Let's assume you're walking forward. You can't see where you're walking. I literally witnessed two people who were using this umbrella/shield contraption walk into each other two because neither of them could see what was going on. Imagine if one of these umbrellas had been broken like another and had the wire sticking out of it. Before you knew it, you'd be charged with stabbing someone in Hahvahd yahd.

My point is, if you haven't noticed these things already you should. The second someone stepped out of Annenberg today, his umbrella flipped up. Why put yourself through the trouble of having to fix your umbrella every time you step outside and consequently getting soaked which is what you were trying to avoid in the first place? My advice: buy a good raincoat. I bet the cost of a good raincoat is less than the money one would spend on buying a new umbrella every week. If not for yourself, do this for me. I got some giggles out of observing people and their umbrellas initially, but now the joke is getting old. Buy a raincoat. Leave your umbrella in your closet and if you must use it, don't use it on a day when there's a torrential downpour in addition to really strong winds.

Instead, save it for your next music video.

I sincerely hope this helps those of you in need.

Stay dry!

-JRJ

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