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Post by Betterout on Jul 28, 2005 15:07:53 GMT -5
Tyler, When is Nightfall to be observed this year? I think Mandy and I would be willing to offer our home as a staging area, depending on the week. But our calendar is filling up for August, so we'd need to start planning it soon. -Justin PS For those of you who don't remember this, below is the text of Tyler's original email (dated August 13, 2004) describing this new holy-day. Showering with Friends
Lo,
For years I have felt rising distain at the shoddy and haphazard
organization of our current calendar system. In the past I have spent
countless hours (usually while clocked in at the hospital) forming a new,
reasonable, and ordered calendar system. This is not about the Batdorf
calendar, which totally rocks. This is about the fruits wrought by keeping
constant vigilance for ideas for new and reasonable holidays.
As you all know, during this time of year, our planet is in constant
onslaught from increased comet detritus causing beautiful and startling
nighttime manifestations. Night-before-last I was struck by the
appropriateness of a holiday based around this celestial show.
Lo and behold, annually at this time I will be arranging and nagging in an
attempt to garner a meeting of interested parties at a location colloquially
known as Lookout Mountain for a viewing of the lights. This festival will
henceforth be known as "Nightfall". This will begin in one year's time. I
tell you this now to give you ample time to get your shit together. I'll be
thinking constantly about this for the next year or so, and will probably
notify you about it again in 10 months or so, all the while bringing it up
in conversation to try to make you remember.
And in answer to the questions I am sure you are asking yourself right now.
just because a man is insane, it doesn't mean he can't have good ideas. Or
in short form: Insanity doesn't preclude Wisdom.
Please reply with any CONSTRUCTIVE ideas.
Man, I dig saying "Lo".
Tyler |
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Post by Tyler on Jul 31, 2005 8:03:32 GMT -5
Terror. Terror like I haven't felt since first percieving internally the true intent of the writings of H.P. Lovecraft. True understanding of man's place in the universe isn't followed by nirvana. It's followed by vomiting, trembling, and unspeakable horror. This was my reaction when I was researching the timeframe for Nightfall. I've found a site manifested by people to whom the weather, behaviours, and patterns of Sol overshadow any trivial concerns of rain or wind. www.spaceweather.com/On their site is a picture of a Coronal Mass Ejection onto which they have superimposed a representation of our spheroid Terra, upon which we all cling furtively and all too temporarily. Immediate understanding of the relationships of the materials to which our very existence is dependant brings madness. Truly, man is powerless before the cosmos. Man, I gotta lay off the java. |
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Post by amanda mcbride on Jul 31, 2005 8:30:23 GMT -5
So, you're not interested in holding Nightfall, then?  |
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Post by Jeff on Aug 1, 2005 0:04:56 GMT -5
Tyler, I am with you! Imagine life lived in a hunter-gatherer society. It is a sea of blood: Every day you kill to live. At the same time there is this light that understands goodness through the innocence of children or the love of family. And somehow that has to make you participate in the bloodletting.
Our myths and explanations are about so much more than an intellectual desire to know. They must place the raft of flesh in the sea of blood. It is the meaningful location that is vital.
But terror is only one kind of placement.
I would love to be on Lookout for Nightfall. There is some small chance that I will be in Oklahoma on either the evening of the 12th or the 13th. I can't promise. But I will be trying.
Jeff
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Post by Tyler on Aug 2, 2005 7:37:19 GMT -5
NO! Nightfall happens weither we participate or not. We cannot hope to alter the will of the Spheres!
Justin, Amanda, Maya, if it's ok with you, I and my clan would like to merge with yours and gain solace and shelter in your homestead in Pawhuska beginning in the day of the 12th and continuing until the next day.
That night we shall make our way to Lookout Mountain and behold the Will and Power of the Gods!
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Post by Betterout on Aug 2, 2005 9:52:21 GMT -5
'S fine with me. Mandy?
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Post by amanda on Aug 2, 2005 10:10:58 GMT -5
Take meeee. toooo. the mountain. Yeah, sounds fine with me as well. Lookin' forward to seeing you guys!
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Post by amanda on Aug 9, 2005 15:05:56 GMT -5
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Post by Jeff on Aug 9, 2005 16:15:15 GMT -5
Alas, the Southern faction of House McBride will not be at the ancestral homeland when the stars fall this year.
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Post by Guest Justin on Aug 11, 2005 9:58:33 GMT -5
Well, Tyler, we fired up the old telescope last night to get in a little last minute practice before the big show. I say 'fired up,' like it requires a lengthy starting procedure, when it really doesn't. And I say 'the old telescope,' when we just received the package and assembled it yesterday. And I say 'last minute,' like we don't have all night tonight to get anymore practice. And I say 'the big show,' when it will relly just be hours of darkness punctuated by momentarily hard to spot flashes of light. Basically I'm just a liar.
Dang, I'm really out of practice when it comes to telescoping. Back in 1991 I was geeky enough to donate my summer to an astronomy and astrophysics camp at OSU, wherein we learned more about the telescope and its usage than a 16 year old should really be subjected to. The details of the many late nights spent on top of Wentz, out on the quad between the science and engineering buildings, in the union lawn, or out at lake mcmurtry have just completely left me. Last night Big Dave and I struggled for about 30 minutes to get a decent view of the moon before it set. And we still couldn't acheive that for longer than about 30-45 seconds. We suck.
Anyhoo, if there's anyone else out there wanting to partake in our stargazing this weekend, you're more than welcome to come and join in the fun. You can crash out our pad, too, if y'untu.
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Post by amanda on Aug 11, 2005 23:13:26 GMT -5
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Post by Betterout on Aug 15, 2005 22:50:42 GMT -5
Tyler once said, "Nightfall happens weither we participate or not. We cannot hope to alter the will of the Spheres!" This is a very apt description of the first annual Nightfall observation on Aug 12, 2005.
Jacob, Nicolas, Tammy, and Tyler arrived at our casa between 5 and 6 in the evening, amid start-and-stop heavy rains and thunderstorms. Right away, we could tell that our stargazing was going to be slim pickings. We hung out and chatted for awhile, and then Tammy and Tyler treated us to a really great dinner at the China Cafe. In the meantime, the sky did its best to clear, but alas! they didn't do a very good job of it. At ten o'clock the clouds were still pretty thick. I believe Tyler and I inadvertantly established a communion ritual while we waited--an intinction consisting of Tammy's homemade bread and a blend of ginger ale and grape juice. It really hit the spot, and it reminded us of our heady UMYF days of 1990, back when the two of us and Rev. James Edmison discussed the depiction of Essenes in "The Last Temptation of Christ" down in the church basement. Anyhoo, I guess we'll try and commune every year for Nightfall. Since it was still pretty cloudy, we all went to bed.
I was still awake at around 1 am, so I went out and checked the weather. The clouds had departed for the most part, but the stars were still pretty hard to spot. I stood out in the driveway for about 10 minutes, but never saw more than about three stars all together. But it was a really gorgeous night. The rain had knocked the temperature down to a very comfortable level, and there was a gentle breeze. I wanted to stay up, but I eventually went on to bed.
Tammy and Tyler, however, woke up at about 4 am, and went to check on things. Evidently it was a little clearer by then, so they spread a blanket and lay out on the lawn for an hour or so. In their time outside, they saw a few more stars, and even a couple of shooting stars from the Perseid stream. So, it wasn't a total loss.
We all got up pretty early, ate breakfast. We all hung out in the dining room until the early afternoon, and then we said our goodbyes.
In the few days since, it really hasn't cleared up here. It's still kinda cloudy and just blah. That said, the evening weather is great. I just wish the clouds would roll away long enough for us to bust out the telescope again. Hopefully, we'll get practiced up enough on the scope to use it with some degree of proficiency at next year's Nightfall observation. Once again we'd be happy to host it. So, just keep after Tyler to set the date.
Thanks for coming up, guys! (Ring, ring, ring, ring, ring, ring, ring, ring bananaphooooooooone...)
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