The Criss-Crossing Of Sara’s Hair

Plum Rain season hit the city yesterday with a torrential downpour of 80mm (over 3 inches) that flooded roads and inundated metro stations and The Bund steps became waterfalls. More than 200 flights were delayed at the city’s two airports with the sudden onset of bad weather. The rain was heavy enough to flood a carriage on a Metro train on Line 3. At about 4:20pm water poured into the train on the overground section of the line through its air-conditioning system.

Shanghai Reader

Today I wrote the start of a new song,
sketched an idea for a video,
wondered about the weather in Shanghai
and noticed that the street lights around here
have been on all day though the Sun’s been bright.

We had a blackout a few days ago
so I guess the grid that controls street lights
is still in recovery, not timed right.

The most interesting grid is the grid
where ideas for songs and videos
travel and criss-cross and intertwingle
and I suspect this is a bigger grid
than the electrical grid or the grid
ocean and atmosphere currents travel
and criss-cross and intertwingle to bring
the rains called the Plum rains back to Shanghai.

The grid called a web called the internet
carries news about Sara’s bad hair days:

For some reason, I insist on living in countries with rainy seasons. I'm all for season - I'm from Illinois where we have all four: 3 days of spring, 50 days of summer, 15 days of autumn and 5000 days of winter. But rain? No. We didn't have rainy season.

Here in East Asia we have what's blithely called the "Plum Rains" (meiyu | 梅雨) which gives rise to images of happy peasants picking ripe fruit. What it really means is day after day of soggy shoes and hair that doesn't quite ever dry. For 2-4 weeks, it's impossible not to look unkempt. Office workers arrive soaked to their knees and everyone's head has a halo of humidity-cultivated frizz. And whatever you do, stay away from the curb when hailing a taxi or you'll be doused by water from passing vehicles. Actually, when it's pouring, don't bother hailing a taxi as you won't get one. Find the nearest subway stop.

I'll try to get in a better mood but I have to admit, when it comes to rainy season, I'm not a big fan. But would I exchange it for a Midwest winter? I'll have to ponder that one...

Sara Naumann
About.com Guide

I’m glad Sara wrote about her bad hair.

I don’t know what my song or video
will be about or when I’ll finish them
but since Sara did the Plum rains’ impact
on her hair, in this great intertwingling
I can focus on something like monsters,
telescopes, or monsters and telescopes.

I love when the Plum rains fall in Shanghai.

The umbrellas opening over there
make everything different over here.

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“Now I Dream Of The Plum Rains”



No Lights In My Kitchen (Or Anywhere Else)


Grinning, Shivering, At The Intertwingling



I Can’t Sleep In My Kitchen


Shanghai In The Epipelagic Layer


Robot In The Rain


Robot Above The Clouds Of Saturn