Where's the California sun?!

It's been raining here in La La land since this past Sunday and it's forecasted to continue until Saturday! I have to say, this is our rainy season so if it's ever going to rain during the year, this is the time that it does! It's just that us Angelenos are SO incredibly spoiled when it comes to weather! I mean, for the majority of the year, it's sunny and gorgeous outside! And even during the rainy season, we may get only 3-4 storms come through. Well the news is saying that this is another "el nino" year and that we should expect a lot of rain. In other words, maybe up to 6 storms this season! The rainy season starts in November and ends in April however, it REALLY only starts raining in January and typically ends in March. Being that this is our first real major storm this season, I realized that I don't have an umbrella. I have this weird complex with umbrellas...I don't know why, but I just hate carrying them! It's weird, I know! But I needed one so I went to CVS to buy one on Sunday night. Well, when I got there there were literally 3 left on this huge wall! Luckily there was a black one left! Thank God, because I didn't really care for the neon green or the Dora the Explorer umbrellas. I took the last decent umbrella and went up to the register. I waited in line for 15 minutes and I have to tell you, 90% of the people in line were purchasing umbrellas!

The local news channels usually go NUTS when it rains too! You can be in the middle of your favorite TV show and they will cut to "BREAKING NEWS" and you think, "Oh God! There's been a horrible plane crash, or something devasting has happened somewhere" but no, it's about the "storm of the century"! How there is water building up on the sides of the streets and people are driving slow. Southern California streets really weren't made for any type of weather what so ever...other than sunshine of course...so they're a total mess when it rains. BIG Palm tree debris in the middle of the road causing everyone to slow down to about 5mph in order to drive around it, gushing water rapidly flowing down the sides of streets, and sewers furiously overflowing with too much rain water. Even the slightest drizzle out here will make traffic lights go out! I used to complain and bitch about the drivers out here and how they can't handle driving in this weather however, after living here for so long, I've found myself driving REALLY bad in the rain as well. In fact, if I don't have to leave the house when it's raining, I won't. I park my car in a parking garage so it's great...when I leave my place, I don't have to go out into the rain to get into my car. And when planning on going somewhere in the rain, I will plan on where I'm going based on whether or not they too have covered parking. I'll even find myself going out of my way to a place just because they have covered parking. Well, yesterday afternoon we had a little break in the storm and one of my best friends had an accident at work last week and he can't drive right now so I told him I would pick him up and take him to Trader Joe's to get some food shopping done. He lives about 5 minutes from me. Well, just about every traffic light on Santa Monica Blvd through West Hollywood was out and flashing red! OMG! Not only is it annoying when it's flashing red but no one gives a crap about who's turn it is next to go through the intersection! I think we also get confused when there's someone trying to turn left. The whole left turn thing at a 4 way stop can really throw a monkey wrench into the already messy situation! No one knows when it's really supposed to be their turn so it usually ends up being a big hot mess! On top of that, people drive VERYYYYYYY slow when it rains. Almost as if they were driving in an ice storm. My favorites are the ones who drive with their 4 way flashers on...as if it's an emergency situation or something! I will admit, when driving up in the hills, it can be like driving through a waterfall...the water REALLY comes down those streets like crazy! But I was in the flats...there's no need to drive 5mph with your flashers on!

So after about 20 minutes, I get to my friends house and we drive to Trader Joes. Luckily, there's an underground parking garage! AMEN TO THAT! I hate getting wet from the rain! We circled the garage about 3 times until I finally found a spot to park in! Took the elevator up into the store and as the elevator doors opened, I could tell it wasn't going to be pretty just from the sound of banging carts and people shouting! I've experienced this before several times during rain storms so I'm becoming accustomed to it now. People go completely bananas at food stores right before or in the beginning of a big storm! They panic like they're going to run out of food in their "hurricane shelters" or something! As if food shopping wasn't annoying to begin with, try it when it's raining in LA! No one has ANY regard for ANYONE else in the store! It's all about survival of the fittest! They'll bang into your cart and won't apologize, and they'll even take the last item of something that you were reaching for. They're very good at this too! It's almost an art form really...the way they've conditioned themselves to food shop before a storm. Like a pro athlete has been conditioned his/her whole life. So, I'm sure it comes as no surprise that the majority of the shelves were pretty much empty...most especially the liquor aisle!!! You would think the essentials would most likely be gone for sure...milk, eggs, bread, etc, but that's not the case here...liquour beats them all I guess as THE essential for a storm. I guess they figure if it's going to rain all week and you're going to be stuck in your house, might as well have a little party!

Now, you're probably thinking, don't these people need to go to their work?! I know...that's what I thought! People in Southern California seem to work when they feel like it! I kid you not! It's the strangest thing! You can call up anyone any day and they can, most likely, meet you for lunch or go shopping or do something. And it's never a quick 30 minute lunch either. People here can stay at lunch for over an hour...and have martini's in the middle of the day too! I never fully understood that either! How these people can afford to live here and have their work schedules so non-chalant (one of my fav words!). So when it rains, they definitely don't work!

All said though, as much as I don't like the rain, it is nice to get some out here every once in awhile...it clears the air, and makes the crops grow. I'm sure there are other benefits of rain but whatever. It's funny how the weather DEFINITELY affects us out here. When we don't have our sun shining, it's almost like an instant panic that comes over all of us and we basically shut down! There's definitely something to be said about the California sun! We wouldn't be California without our amazing weather and constant sunshine. It's amazing, really! The sun gives us so much power and makes us feel SO great! It makes us tan, gives us confidence, makes us get out and do more things. Maybe that's why Californians are such happy people! We really are a true Prozac nation out here...the constant sun is our anti-depressant. The Mama's and The Papa's said it right when they said "all the leaves are brown, and the sky is gray, I'd be safe and warm...if I were in LA"...except of course, if you were here this week! I don't know about being safe and warm this week...try us next week when the rain is over! ;-)