14 August 2004

Nerdier Than Thou

Rowena figures she's a nerd for making plans with her sister to go out and watch the Perseid meteor shower Wednesday night. So how much nerdier am I for getting up at 2 am both Wednesday and Thursday to catch the shower at it's peak? (Actually, on Thursday night it was wake up at 2am, immediately fall back to sleep, and get up an hour and a quarter later and then forget my glasses so the stars are all slightly fuzzy.) Even without the meteors, it was glorious star watching from where I live out in the almost-boonies. The moon didn't come up until later in the morning, and even then it was a skinny little crescent. There were no clouds. It was daaark and the sky looked huge, even though we're surrounded by trees on the side of our mountain. I didn't used to be able to see the Milky Way when we lived in the suburbs. Now I see it every clear night. Yes, Rowena, meteors are cool (and so are stars, and planets, and satelites, and skinny little crescent moons cupping the dimly earth-lit dark moon next to an absurdly bright Venus at 5 in the morning when the dog really, really needs to poop).

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