Catch a Falling Star

A couple of nights ago, there was a meteor shower. Perhaps you heard about it on the news?

No, it wasn't a simulated meteor shower at the Clark (or any other) Planetarium; it was a real one. You know, above us - in the sky. In space.

Okay, so I don't know what all of the scientific terms for it are. Science has never been my forte, and I have never been scientifically inclined in any way, shape, or form.

(My eighth-grade science project, for crying out loud, was a cookie taste test. Really. Somehow, I passed Earth Science.)

What I do know is that on this past Thursday night, Mother Nature put on a heckuva great show in the nighttime sky - my first meteor shower. She did not disappoint one bit. It was well worth any of the sleep that I may have lost. (In fact, this may have been of the rare moments in which insomnia has been on my side.)

I saw enough shooting stars and/or meteors that, after a while, I lost track of the count. And I got to enjoy it all with some good company, to boot.

Good things are worth waiting for.

Dinosaurs, Shooting Stars, and Superstars

Summer must definitely be here, or on the verge of arriving, because last night I watched my first outdoor movie of the season. The mosquitoes were biting, but it wasn't all that bad.

I joined with several friends in watching an old favorite, Jurassic Park, under the stars in Adria and Julia Jensen's backyard, the site of a handful of outdoor movies from the previous year. It was the setting for our infamous UHF party, among other events, and it's really a great location for this sort of event.

In the middle of the movie, a few members of our group and I spotted a shooting star in the sky. It lasted for only a couple of seconds, but I definitely saw it. It's only the second time I've ever seen a shooting star - the first was seven or eight years ago while I sat in a hot tub with my (at the time) "soul mate," Uncle Rico style - and I had to check around to make sure I wasn't the only one who saw it.


For those who know, is a shooting star an omen of good things to come? or bad things? Can you wish upon it, Gepetto style? Do we need to send Bruce Willis up into space to blow it to smithereens? I'm honestly not sure.

Lastly, as someone pointed out to me at church, today marks 66 years since 6/6/44, or the 66th anniversary of the Allied troops landing on the beaches of Normandy, France, during World War II - aka D-Day. So, make sure to thank a veteran should you see one in your travels.

That's just a helpful reminder from your friendly, neighborhood me.