i don't learn

i didn't bring an umbrella today. again. i never bring an umbrella, because it never looks like rain to me. then, of course, i get outside and it IS raining. how can it not look like rain when it is raining? i thought about this for a while (too long, really, given that i was in class) and then i decided, once again, to blame it on the tropics. and, as always, in my blaming, i have a logical reason. here it is: we all learned in, what, fifth grade that warm air holds more moisture than cold. that's why there is dew in the morning, because the cold air at night has to let go of the moisture that the day's warm air could hold.

i have a point. it is cold here in new york, which means that it is raining with only a little bit of moisture in the air while in the tropics much more moisture would be required to build up to the point of rain. the warm air can hold more water before it starts dropping it. and there you have it: a good excuse for the fantastic cloud formations over liberia and for my failure to bring an umbrella this morning when the sky just didn't look dark enough for rain.