Tuesday 19 November 2002

Pic of the day: Guest starring in tonight's entry. How to make an ass of yourself while watching meteors, or freeze your butt off trying.

(Oh, and the link in the picture is for my faithful fanservice collectors.)

Stellar performance?

This was the Leonids. Every year our planet moves through a few old paths used by comets on their way through the solar system, and these old paths are littered with dust and sand from those big snowballs. Comets come in from different angles, most of which don’t intersect with the orbits of the planets at all. This is largely considered a good thing. But each year we pass a few of the old trails, and get a meteor shower.

Next time, I’ll take a hot shower instead, if you ask me. This was supposed to be the meteor shower of the century - we may not see one like it for another 100 years. Well, 100 years from now I am not likely to get up at 4:20 AM. (Which is a shame, really, since 100 years from now I am likely to be dead.) Being awake in the dog hours is better than being dead, but is beaten again by a lot of other things. Sleeping, napping, slumbering ... lots of things.

Still, lured by the hope of a sky sizzling with meteors, I staggered to my feet and got ready for the struggle. I put on clean boxers and a T- shirt, then a set of jogging clothes (sweaters? I am not sure of the English name) and then another set of even fluffier sweaters. It was a frosty night, but not windy, so two layers of fluff seemed ideal. Shoes and a helmet-like piece of knitted wool for the body part that loses 20% of the body’s heat. I was ready to watch meteors. It was 04:45 AM. (Do you know where your sanity is?)

***

The moon was full. This is probably why the sky was clear - it tends to be clear during the full moon for some obscure reason - but it also meant it was hard to see tiny burning dust motes. I found a place where a hill blocked out the moon, but then I got the light of the street lamps. No matter where I went within the area, there was light enough to read a book. Well, at least a book with large type. Not that I had brought one, but it certainly was no problem reading the clock.

I was not the only one who was up at that unseemly hour. A whole flock of young people seem to have come from the People’s College nearby (which is not much of a college, but does teach film and photography among other hobbies). I stayed a bit apart from them. I only caught a couple meteors before 5, but just afterwards it picked up. Well, comparatively. Like four meteors a minute instead of a meteor every four minutes. I guess there might be a host of smaller ones that were not visible because of the background light. At least the sky was about as clear as could be.

After a quarter of an hour, the activity faded again. It sure wasn’t New Year’s Eve. (Or 4th of July for you Americans out there.) I went home. Wackiness ensues. (I have forgotten who said that.)

***

The pale and fluffy jogging suit has a total of two pockets, none of which contained a key. Now it is not an obvious thing to have keys in such clothes, especially when you are very tired, but I was of the impression that I had one when I left. It wasn’t there now, and the door was locked. There is as usual the bathroom window. I got it open, but tentative testing made me hesitate to enter that way. I have neither gained agility nor lost weight since the first time I realized this was not a good thing to do on your own. (Well, I have lost weight, but that was after putting on a bit more than I later lost. Anyway.)

The area is not exactly crowded at 5:30, but I briefly considered the possibility of catching a straggling student or two and beg them to assist me in breaking and entering. "Uhm, like, could someone please help me get in through my bathroom window? It is like kinda a bit on the small side." Yeah, that sounds dignified.

In my mind’s eye I vaguely saw the scenario where a couple students struggle with both hands to try to squeeze a too large backside through a too small opening, similar to the scenes in some children’s movies. It was supposedly funny in the movies. I guess it’s all a matter of perspective. Speaking of which, did I mention that this college is known mainly for its media / film / photo studies? I assumed this was what had lured the students to stay up for a meteor shower in the first place. Meaning they probably had cameras and light-sensitive film with them. Uh oh.

I retraced my steps, keeping my eyes on the ground. And you know what? To the great loss of the art of photography, I picked up no students but the key, near the place where I had watched the meteors. It had no doubt been in the same pocket as my handkerchief. I kept it in the other pocket home. And later I changed clothes and went to work. And that was that. There went my chance at fame as a supermodel / movie star. ^_^