Because you're all such great readers (seriously, I was looking over the stats, you guys are awesome!), and because a phenomenal event happened on Monday, I decided to write this short blog post as a bonus. Ready, go!
I first learned about solar eclipses the way I'm sure everyone else in my generation did: Kindergarden class. I, along with my fellow wide-eyed small humans in my classroom, listened intently as Mrs. Johnson told us about how every several years, the moon can actually come out in the daytime and cover the sun! This sounded awesome, and the pictures and books she probably brought deepened our interest even more! The day getting dark in the daytime??? For a Kindergardener: Mind explosion!
Years passed, and school and life eventually pushed away the awe and wonder of the moon blocking out the sun. Maybe in my freshman year of college, I witnessed a part of a lunar eclipse.... until I got too sleepy and had to go to class the next day. I dunno, something.
Fast forward until about two months ago. A friend of mine was feeling a little bummed that he might not be able to witness the solar eclipse that was going to happen. I was stunned! I didn't even know there was going to be a solar eclipse happening! Then every newspaper, website, and news channel was talking about it... and wouldn't shut up. (Nice change from the constant barrage of White House talk, I gotta say.) I grew more and more excited, except I learned maybe a week before the event that I needed special glasses. So I partially gave up on the thought of spending upwards of $2 (I'M THRIFTY, OKAY??!!!) for some special glasses that I'd only use once.
Thankfully, my job was prepared, and had enough one-use solar glasses for every employee to use. I grabbed some (even for my Mom!), and kept them in a safe place.
Finally... it came. I didn't know how everyone in my office would handle the scenario. Thankfully, they were pretty much all as crazy as I was, so I ended up officially shutting down the office.
I was informed afterward that it would
actually probably be in another 50 years,
but I think my point was made, anyway.
Here's me outside with the glasses on:
And here's the crowd:
There was even a woman out there with a nifty little cereal box contraption for seeing a (very tiny) very cool way of looking at the eclipse!
I don't have the actual photo, so here's an example:
WHAT AN ANTICLIMACTIC MOMENT. You know those pictures I took outdoors... that was almost a full "eclipse." It did get darker, and the temperature dropped, but it looked like someone just slid the saturation down to about 75%. Still, I feel like I enjoyed myself.
What do you guys think? Did you see the eclipse? How dark did it get? Did you see the cool new video I put on my YouTube Page? lol. Peace!
What's your favorite natural phenomenon?
No comments:
Post a Comment