Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head

My fiance and I were running errands, which took us through the mall area in the Alladin Resort and Casino - the Alladin has an Arabian desert theme, and the mall is called the Desert Passage. Inside is a maze of stores and vendor stands - all of it complete eye candy. I found the walk actually comforting because it brought back a flavor of NY - albeit the completely overpriced and gaudy flavor - but I'll take what I can get.

So, in the middle of this maze of shopping euphoria stands a pond - typical tourist fare with coins in the bottom. But I see that not only are people taking pictures, but they are also just standing around waiting. "For what?" I wonder to myself. I notice that there is a schedule - it is a Rainstorm Schedule, and the rainstorm happens every hour on the hour. Well wouldn't you know, it is 8:00 on the dot. I look up and notice that we have been sheltered all along by a nebulous, sky-blue landscape painted on the ceiling, to give that "outdoorsy" look (and Michelangelo a sharp cringe), and the ceiling is dotted by tiny vents. When in Vegas... So we wait, and sure enough, the mall becomes flooded with the sound of ominous thunder, the lights dim, the fake sky is shot through with bolts of lightning, and...is it raining? I can't even tell. We get closer to the pond, and sure enough, the previously placid surface is now riddled with wrinkles and rings from the "rain" falling from the vents in the "sky".

I don't know what I found most amusing about it all - the fact that we waited for this is funny in itself. Maybe it was the collective awe at seeing a normal, outdoor occurence become an indoor phenomenon. "Ooh, look, it's raining inside!" Meanwhile, had we been outdoors, I would have grabbed my hair and run for the nearest awning. Maybe it was the fact that the rainstorm takes place in the "DESERT Passage" - if we were playing word association, I would not think "rain" if you said "desert" (just for future reference, should we ever play word association. Store that in the ol' memory rolodex, thank you). I did think to myself that perhaps I was being ignorant, and it rains a-plenty in the desert, so I had to look it up, and NO it doesn't rain that often at all (as I thought). Which made me think that it is probably fitting, then, that the indoor rainstorm is a tourist event - if we were really in an Arabian desert, and it was supposed to rain every hour on the hour for two minutes or so, that would definitely be an attraction I'd want to see. Shoot, I'd ride my camel out for that, with or without my umbrella!