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peppermintesseSaturday was a pretty laid back day. I spent it with my housemate for the most part, doing a quick grocery trip to Fred Meyer, then we cleaned the storage room, putting in a new 6 foot shelving unit (industrial strength black plastic -- this thing can hold cases of bottled Pepsi (at the cafe) so I knew it would hold my useless crap). An and Marian stayed in the office most of the afternoon playing "Emperor", another one of those Caesar 3 type games where you build houses, buy food, appease gods and control lives (which, IMHO, is a little too much like real life for my enjoyment).
I saw no TV.
I saw no internet.
(This was due to the fact that my ISP seems to have changed something (like, the DNS IP numbers, this has happened before) so I could not dial in and An's computer was occupied. No 'net, no mail, nothing.)
Flash forward to Saturday night. I've got the end of "Law and Order: SVU" on and suddenly I see a blurb for the news and I see candles and flowers of remembrance, explosions and NASA, and I think, Wasn't the Challenger anniversary a few days ago? And then I realize with a sickening horror that this is a brand new and awful catastrophe, and as the newswoman says the Columbia has exploded, the only word I could manage was
WHAT?!
It brought 1986 back all over again... sophomore year in high school, the shocking explosion live on TV, especially shocking to the drama advisor / physics teacher, Mr. Packman, who had been in the running to be on that mission... the wash of relief amidst the horror that he was still there with us, and we had that to console us. We took what we could.
This time... I don't know what consoles me.
...
I suppose I find great comfort in the fact that there are still men and women of all cultures and creeds willing to venture beyond the relatively safe bubble of this planet Earth. Many people dream of going to the stars -- I have never been one of those, but respect those that do. (Deep water scares me, let alone deep space.) So, bless them all for keeping the spirit of discovery and knowledge alive.
I saw no TV.
I saw no internet.
(This was due to the fact that my ISP seems to have changed something (like, the DNS IP numbers, this has happened before) so I could not dial in and An's computer was occupied. No 'net, no mail, nothing.)
Flash forward to Saturday night. I've got the end of "Law and Order: SVU" on and suddenly I see a blurb for the news and I see candles and flowers of remembrance, explosions and NASA, and I think, Wasn't the Challenger anniversary a few days ago? And then I realize with a sickening horror that this is a brand new and awful catastrophe, and as the newswoman says the Columbia has exploded, the only word I could manage was
WHAT?!
It brought 1986 back all over again... sophomore year in high school, the shocking explosion live on TV, especially shocking to the drama advisor / physics teacher, Mr. Packman, who had been in the running to be on that mission... the wash of relief amidst the horror that he was still there with us, and we had that to console us. We took what we could.
This time... I don't know what consoles me.
...
I suppose I find great comfort in the fact that there are still men and women of all cultures and creeds willing to venture beyond the relatively safe bubble of this planet Earth. Many people dream of going to the stars -- I have never been one of those, but respect those that do. (Deep water scares me, let alone deep space.) So, bless them all for keeping the spirit of discovery and knowledge alive.