no rain, no gain.

a few weeks ago, the city was experiencing some high winds accompanied by heavy showers. for the desert rat in me, it was like a hurricane. stumbling off the subway, i was inclined to open up my umbrella immediately. this would prove to be a huge mistake. my umbrella flipped inside out as soon as it opened. i was able to handle the crisis, but my umbrella was forever weakened. stumbling down the street nursing my broken umbrella and wiping water off my face, i passed a a surplus of broken umbrellas poking out of the trash can. bummer. i maintained my frustrated urge to toss my umbrella inside, for it was the only thing between me and a completely soaked cranium, regardless of it's obvious disability, silver prongs poking out. 

so tonight, i decided to meet the girls for a celebratory drink; amy just got engaged! i stood in the subway for 25 minutes (no joke) waiting for the RW train. finally, a garbled message comes on the speaker: "blah blah blah, no service, blah, blah, blah, RW 4th st, blah..." cool, i'll just walk. as i made my way up the stairs towards the street,  i passed half a dozen people come down the stairs with soaking wet umbrellas in tow. did it start to rain in the 25 minutes i was below ground?? (for the record, channel 4 predicted clear skies for the night.) crap. i had no umbrella; i was wearing flip flops; and, i had enough hairspray in my hair to rip a a new hole through the ozone (hairspray + rain = trouble). 

as i approached the street, i looked out the glass doors from the 42nd street entrance to see the rain had stopped. great! i began walking down the street at a fast pace. i was supposed to meet the girls nearly 30 minutes prior. while maneuvering through a large crowd, i suddenly stumbled - a flat tire, indeed. no, she didn't apologize for nearly causing my head-on collision with the concrete, but that didn't matter. she broke my shoe...

ok, fine. i can handle this. i kept walking. as i passed 40th street, it began to pour. as you can guess, i decided it was time to call it a night. walking around the city is great, but increased exposure to the elements can be quite problematic. plus, desert rats don't do rain. plain and simple.

note to self: buy a new umbrella.