90% Rain, 10% Existential Dread

I’ve never been a fan of rainy days—even as a kid—because my school was within walking distance from our home, and it sucked to be blown away by strong winds. What made it worse was when there was no storm signal from the weather forecast, meaning there would be no class suspension.

As an adult, I still hate the gloomy, depressing feeling brought on by the constant rain. The sticky sensation of rain-soaked clothes or wet feet is something I just can’t explain—it’s icky. The smell of damp things is especially unpleasant, more so when I used to work in an office where the air conditioning was freezing cold, supposedly to "match" the outside temperature or something like that.

Unfortunately, the rainy season up north is frequent and feels eternal, usually starting around June and lasting until October. As of now, there’s no typhoon, but the rain and thunderstorms are said to be caused by the influence of Tropical Storm Chantal, according to the weather report. Rainy days just give off this dystopian vibe—if you know what I mean.

Anyway, just a few days ago, Japan went into panic mode after Ryo Tatsuki, a Japanese clairvoyant known for predicting the devastating 2011 tsunami, allegedly foresaw another tsunami hitting Japan this month—one that’s three times stronger. Although Tatsuki never gave a specific date, the rumor spread across social media that it would happen on July 5th, which led to people leaving Japan in haste and others going on a panic-buying spree.

I’m not skeptical about predictions, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with being cautious—it’s better to be safe than sorry—but I do strongly believe in the power of prayer. Personally, I avoid reading predictions because they can be really daunting. I once skimmed through Nostradamus’ prophecies, and my chest tightened—they were terrifying. He even predicted the 9/11 attacks.

I enjoy scary stuff, but anything involving the extinction of the human race hits differently—especially when the details are disturbingly specific. Horror films don’t make me anxious, but predictions? Not for the faint of heart.

I don’t even know how I ended up going from ranting about rainy days to talking about Nostradamus and apocalyptic predictions.    ಠ‸ಠ