Rock you like a hurricane

Hurricanes freak me out. Not a fan of the big spectacles, with the high winds, and the torrential downpour, and the whole "Look at me, I'm a hurricane, I own you and there's not a bloody thing you can do about it" attitude. I don't like bossy attitudes, and hurricanes have 'em.

One of the things I really don't like is the lead-up to the actual storm itself. After learning their lessons the hard way five years ago, people now overdo the pre-storm panic, and rush out to the stores to stock up on everything they need to survive for several days, in case this storm is the big one that will lead to a nuclear meltdown. We're not in Springfield, kids. Monty Burns' power plant can't hurt you here.

I was in a grocery store on Friday, and I kept running into this particular four-person family doing their pre-storm shopping.

(You know how that is? You run into the same people over and over in each aisle as you make your way to the end of the store, while criticizing them the whole time for the route they are taking, because it deviates from yours and is therefore wrong? You all know what I'm talking about. Don't even try to deny it.)

Well, I happened to come across this family in the junk-food aisle (an aisle I never frequent, so it was rare enough that I was there in the first place...heh heh), and the responsible mother says to the husband/kids, "Should we get a bag of chips in case we get rained in?".

Now, there were a couple of things that amused me about that simple question. First of all, not a good promotion of healthy nutrition choices (which I really can't comment further on without being totally hypocritical), but seriously, "rained in"??? It's not like the rain is going to compile outside enough to develop a "raindrift" six feet high against the side of your house. It ain't snow, Einstein. It's water. In September. It will disappear. And if enough of it falls, your house is going to get flooded, so in essence you will be rained out.

Storms really do bring out the worst in people. I met another couple of people in a separate aisle during this same grocery store run. A mother was snapping at her teenage daughter to hurry up because she wanted to put something in the girl's cart (even though the mom was pushing a cart as well, and it wasn't full, but I digress).

The girl replied that she was coming and told her mom to calm down. The mom snarked something back at her about being ready to get out of there. Just as the girl was passing me, she said to her mom, "I know, because you're getting cranky." I couldn't help but break out into a huge grin at her, which she willingly returned (behind her mom's back, of course). The girl had the right idea (please note that I don't condone talking back to parents...unless they really need to hear it). Really, there's no point in getting cranky about stupid stuff.

As long as you're safe, dry and get yourself a bag of chips in case you get rained in/out, you'll weather the weather just nicely.