stream of consciousness, stream of water gushing down my street

I just realized that my last four Facebook posts were about the rain. I’m a predictable SoCal native—like my cat OC (also a native), I am surprised and a little unnerved when water starts falling out of the sky. I’m one of those freaked-out drivers you hate. I stay home and ruin the economy, although I did clean the house. Eventually.

When you put up barriers, you miss out on the love, Grumpy Cat.

First I went back to bed and read Sharp Objects—another creepy-good Gillian Flynn novel—until noon, and felt guilty about it, naturally, because people with more important lives don’t do this, right?

I might have a mild case of SAD, or I might be mildly under-caffeinated. I griped at AK for having an overbooked day. I thought about how I would be more confident if I lost six pounds. It’s March 1, which is a great day to be ambitious about such things, except today feels like gloom, not rebirth.

I listened to This American Life, an old one from 2002, where they spent the day on a Navy aircraft carrier. Every time a plane landed on the ship, it was sort of iffy as to whether it would crash or not. There were also reports about ship romances and ship vending machines. Ultimately, everyone felt very committed to each other and like they were part of an important mission. It reminded me of Homeboy that way, and then I felt depressed that a mission to kill people and a mission to stop the killing of people could look so similar.

Just when you think aircraft carrier life can't get any more fun, this guy shows up.

About twenty-five percent of the people I know are in Seattle at AWP right now, posting about how much they hate AWP, which is half humble-brag, half what happens when you force a bunch of anxious introverts to network. They’re being rained on too, but I’m tiny bit jealous.

Also in my feed: pregnancy and cancer and more rain. The irony is I turned off a TED Talk about how technology is a cheap substitute for actual friendship and vulnerability (another mindblower courtesy of TED) to log onto Facebook.

On Friday my coworker Lauren got caught in the day’s worst downpour—one of the gusts of wind-water-mist that made all the homies whoop and applaud (because they are SoCal natives too). From my office window, I could see her laughing and wrestling with her inside-out umbrella, pure Mary Poppins stuff. I am so not Lauren or Mary Poppins. But I did just drink a two-teabag mug of tea, so I expect things will be looking up soon.