Complex Numbers

Dark Side of the Moon

Made it back home. Amusingly, the weather did clouds and rain the entire 8-hour drive back—which, fortunately, didn't happen yesterday.

If you're hoping for a description of the eclipse, look elsewhere; it's been covered by better writers, and better photographers, than me, so I won't even bother. Just know that, whatever you've read, it's insufficient to describe the experience; and whatever pictures you've seen cannot do it justice.

I've seen some scoffs on the internet to the effect of "why bother with the hassle of traveling when you can watch it on video online?"

Leaving aside how sad their lives must be, or how it might feel to have one's sense of wonder surgically excised, I have to wonder if they ask that about everyone's experiences:

"Why go see a band in concert when you already have all their albums and can listen to them anytime?"

"Why bother going to a football game when you can watch it on TV?"

"What are you doing going to Disney World when you can watch internet videos of the lines and rides?"

"Why go camping when you can just look at pictures of trees and rocks?"

Now, granted, you won't catch me doing the last three, and my days of doing the first one are probably behind me, but I try not to yuck other peoples' yum.

Maybe some of them are just trolling. Maybe some honestly don't see the point in viewing celestial phenomena, and would rather go to concerts, sports games, amusement parks, or the (shudder) outdoors. Maybe an eclipse is "nerd stuff," but the fact is, everyone's a nerd about something. If it's not astronomy, maybe it's music, sports, theme parks, or hiking. Or beer or wine. If you really like something and seek its experiences and knowledge, you're a nerd about it.

As for me, I ended up seeing it from the grounds of a winery in Indiana, which may sound odd, but I'd been to that particular one before, and I knew they had good product. My friend and I got lucky that, when we got there, they still had viewing spots available, and we even got bling bags out of the deal. And they played Pink Floyd as the eclipse progressed, so everything came up Waltz. No, I didn't have detailed plans beforehand; I didn't see the point when, had it been cloudy, all that planning would have been mostly wasted.

Sick of hearing about the eclipse? Don't worry; that was very likely my last one, so no more from me on the subject... probably. Tomorrow, back to my regularly (and randomly) scheduled nerdery.