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Skywriting

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A little black rain cloud


A few entries ago, I identified California's seasons as being: Tourist, Fire, Holiday Shopping, and Mudslide. Lo and behold, a mere week after the last throes of shopping had faded, the sky opens up and drops more rain on us in two days than we've had in the last six months.

 

I was supposed to go visit my parents this "weekend" (which, this week, was today and yesterday), but tmy parents live in a rural area. An area that is pristine in its natural beauty, and has roads that flood out at the drop of a hat. Not only that, but the snow level dipped well below their elevation, so if I did go up, there was no guarantee that I'd be able to head back down off the mountain. While I've no particular objections to that fate, my job might take exception. I have to be a good little boy right now, so no road trip.

 

This week's book is Prom Nights From Hell, an anthology of horror stories written by teen and horror authors1. I'm just about through it, and I have to admit I liked it better than I thought I would, not only because I'm a guy and most of the stories are written from a female perspective. I didn't go to my own prom, since all my friends took the night off work, and someone had to take the short straw. Besides, working gave me a good reason to not bother finding a date, and all those complications. Since I was so ambivalent about my own prom, I thought I'd be a bit lackadaisical about this book, but apparently not. See, the each woman took the ball of anxiety that many girls feel in regards to their prom, and magnified it to grotesque proportions, exactly like a good horror story does.

 

The only thing missing is a story about trying to find that perfect dress. It's their book, so it was their choice, but I can't help but feel this void was a misstep. Oh well.

 

1Technically authoresses, but I despise gendered terms.

3 Comments


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Masked Monkey

Posted

Didn't read the previous blog entry, or missed the comment, but I have always know California's seasons (and I was born, raised and lived there for 38 years) as fire, flood, mud and drought. Not too different from yours, but much less commercial :P ... guess that is the way of all things.

 

:king: Dr. Mr. Snow Dog

Lucy Kemnitzer

Posted

Didn't read the previous blog entry, or missed the comment, but I have always know California's seasons (and I was born, raised and lived there for 38 years) as fire, flood, mud and drought. Not too different from yours, but much less commercial :P ... guess that is the way of all things.

 

:king: Dr. Mr. Snow Dog

 

Central Coast California seasons:

 

"Will we ever see the sun?" season (April through June: summer fog season)

Fire Season (July through October)

"Will it ever rain?" season (October through early December)

"Will it ever stop raining?" season (December through March) -- except in drought years, in which case it's "How can it still be Fire Season?"

 

I came up with eight, once, but I used other criteria.

 

Notice that temperature is not a factor at all in coastal California seasons.

 

(oh, and as for the storm system: we lost our power for a bit over twenty four hours, which makes us kind of lucky, I guess)

B1ue

Posted

Didn't read the previous blog entry, or missed the comment, but I have always know California's seasons (and I was born, raised and lived there for 38 years) as fire, flood, mud and drought. Not too different from yours, but much less commercial :P ... guess that is the way of all things.

 

:king: Dr. Mr. Snow Dog

 

Hmm. I was born and raised here too, albiet for only about 24 years. From my experience, Fires continue well into droughts, as do floods with mudslides. I term mine based on that season's set of natural disasters, which is about the only way to tell the months apart, some years.

 

@ Lucy. Power. Oy. Twice, the power failed on me while I was trying to log off and get away from work on Saturday. Luckilly, I learned form the first time and had been saving about once every other minute, so I didn't actually lose anything the second time, but I still had to wait for my computer to reboot so I could turn over my logs. If power had stayed out in a more prolonged fashion, I would have had to stay there until it came back on. Which was why I cursed a blue streak the entire thirty seconds we were "interupted" but before the generators kicked in. I think I shocked my coworkers with my vocabulary, to be honest. I don't quite remember what exactly I said, but I'm sure much of it was anatomically impossible.

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