I Live Here Monday - Matrix Rain Talking

Well, winter has arrived.  Rain, rain, rain, flooding, muddy floors, etc.  In everywhere except the Pacific Northwest, rain does not require an entirely different wardrobe.  You can wear a nice warm jacket, and use an umbrella to stay dry.  Here, though, rain doesn't fall-it hovers.  You walk into it, so if you're not wearing something waterproof, you're going to end up soaked.  Umbrellas are just a fun way of shouting "tourist!"

Good rain jackets have hoods.  Hoods which do weird, weird things to us:

Summer!  Two friends are walking and chatting, enjoying the day.  They can observe each other's body language and reactions using their peripheral vision or, when necessary, a head turn.  They understand each other perfectly, and they end the day happy.

But then... the rains come.  Plants die, clouds flip you the bird, and they start living off just coffee and beer.  Of course, they still go for walks with friends, because it's Eugene and outdoor activities are required.  But!  They keep getting into fights because they can't see each other.  They are pretty much invisible to the other one.  Maybe one of them even got hit by a bus ten minutes ago; the other one won't know because his hood is in the way.  They can turn their heads as much as they want, but those hoods obey the jackets, so it will not turn with them.

After a couple days, they learn that they need to turn their whole shoulders in order to see each other.  But a simple turn makes them FACE TO FACE, which is considered a confrontation.  People here don't do well with direct confrontation.  Feelings of fear and anger and sadness are aroused, leading to processing.  Lots and lots of processing.

To avoid all this, they have to twist their bodies both to face the person they're walking with and away from that person, so as to avoid confrontation.  This means that during conversation, their bodies are twisted like Neo's in the Matrix when he's dodging bullets.  I don't even want to think about what it does to their backs, but it sure is a great core work-out.