It’s 3:47am and I ran out of the Green Mountain for my Keurig and resorted to the shitty WB Mason brand that tastes like shit. I’m currently listening to The Nylon Curtain by Billy Joel and want to leave some brief Billy thoughts. He’s probably not as well revered as you may think as most music critics think he’s a bit of a hack. He self admits (modestly) that his piano playing is enough to get by but his body of work speaks for itself. I find myself changing virtually everyone of his overplayed songs but I enjoy, oddly, 1980’s Billy Joel which is overlooked. Specifically Laura, All For Leyna, I Don’t Want To Be Alone Anymore, and Scandinavian Skies. Why am I awake at 3:47? Good question. I don’t have an answer.
I went to sleep at 10 after having a few pints at Moriarty’s (they have Pliny the Elder). The chalk board clearly said “happy hour all day” for 3 types of beers and the bartender told me it ended at 7. I wasn’t going to argue. I had planned to clean my house (for some reason whenever I go on a trip I like returning to a spotless place) and pack for the Nashville trip but didn’t feel like doing it. I wanted to sleep more but we plan on getting up early tomorrow and figured this will make me tired throughout the day so I can sleep tonight and be ready for tomorrow.
What am I doing you ask? Sam, Laura, and I (or myself) are heading west to Nashville to witness the Solar Eclipse. I want something to do that’s different (a solar eclipse in Totality last happened in 1918) and am hoping these 2 minutes are worth 24 hours of driving. I suspect we’ll have plenty of good stories and will hopefully come away with some cool pictures and a fun trip report.
Googling “can I go blind while looking at a solar eclipse” is an amusing exercise. It runs parallel with “can I go blind looking at a laser pointer”. The obvious answer is “yes”. I’m not making light of the situation (great f’ing pun) but there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of difference between when the eclipse occurs and looking at the sun in daytime. Like, no shit if I look at the sun for 2 minutes straight, I’m going to have eye problems. “I’m sorry to break your bubble, my friend, but the sun does not emit any extra ultraviolet radiation during a solar eclipse. It emits exactly the same amount ultraviolet radiation as it does on normal days.”
I found this little nugget too, “It is my greatest disappointment that so many have missed seeing one of natures most beautiful events – a total solar eclipse – because of misinformation. No photograph, no TV or other laboratory technique can represent or capture this unique physical phenomenon. The colors and contrast, the detail and structure of the image is beyond reproduction.”
So all in all, I’m going to be headed to Nashville with 1 million other tourists to watch day become night for 2 minutes and spend the rest of the time getting drunk and listening to Country. Anyone else going? Should be a jam packed party. I’m not sure if good pictures will be produced. I tend to think not as I did some basic research and unless your familiar with exposure settings, it sounds like they’ll turn out as duds.
