Night cont....

There is one aspect of night that I did not address, This one is quite possibly the best thing to happen to the night; The Blackout. A power outage is one of my most favorite occurences in our little lives in the suburban sqwauler that is Arvada. I can remember each and every one.

The earliest one I remember happened during Y2K. Yea I know what Irony! My dad, Joey, and I sat at our round table in the dark with a large flashlight pointing at the ceiling. We all talked about Y2K and what would happen. One of my more fond memories.

The next one was short and all I remember was getting way too excited and lighting all the candles in the house; just to let the lights come back on when I finished.

The next one was quite interesting because that was when I convinced this girl not to commit suicide. but I changed my mind its not interesting. hahaa

The one after that was the best one, It was when I was in fiveparks and it was the longest lasting one. It lasted a good 3 or 4 hours. Immediately when it happened I went straight outside and the view took my breath away. All the houses lights were out. It was like the end of the world and I loved it! I remember wanting it to stay that way forever. But anyways I went outside and Immediatley let out a yell of joy and ran around my block. When I came back I stood on my driveway and decided to run around in the street when all of the sudden my neighbor was standing under a street light 10 feet away just staring not saying a word. That scared the living shit out of me! I did not hear, see, or feel his presence at all. He didn't say anything and went back towards his house. Me and my dad then walked to the view at deadmans drop to see if the rest of the neighborhoods were out and had a good talk. I cannot remember what it was about though.

A blackout night is something primal. No matter what. I love it too. When the lights go out people immediately huddle together and flock to each other in the house. Saying things like are you ok? That instinct just kicks in right away. You cannot help but think, "wow, we really do depend on light" I wish it could be like that all the time. It is even weirder because most blackouts seem to only happen at night. Or mayby those are the only ones we remember.

The rarest thing and most joyous is a school blackout. Lighting candles at school is so much fun. So many fires....lol. I remember one blackout at school where every kid had their own candle. Everyone became a pyromaniac at that point.

I have never experienced a blackout night with a friend with me although. I hope it happens someday because that would be awesome.

I would also say that firelight or "candle light" is the coolest kind of light. It flickers and gives a warm feeling. A lightbulb feels too sterile, you could very easily feel cold under a florescent light. But with a candle. It feels warm and it exudes warmth with each sensulating flicker. and that is the best part of a blackout, lighting the candles and fireplace. I am telling you, nothing gets a family together better than a blackout. Screw that game night crap, it was unrealistic anyways. Just go out to the fusebox and pull on things until you get a result.

This is also why night in the mountains is better than anywhere else. Have you seen the stars in the mountains? phenomenal! It could captivate you for hours. How else could I describe the stars but wonder? When I look at the stars I cannot help but think," each one of these has planets next to it that could be the same as mine. Each one could be looking back at me. and talking about this also immediatly reminds me of the Lion king stargazing scene because thats what they do in it. When I look at the stars I try to see it to scale. When I do it the sky seems to widen and flucuate the more I try. It is amazing. Formations are pretty cool but the stars design themselves are amazing as is. I can see why the Mayans have spent centuries observing the stars. (and a little side note I love central and south american indigenous culture especially the mayans and aztecs.) Every time I see them in the mountains I always gasp no matter what. It looks like such a wonderfull collage of white powder and sparkling dots amongst a sea of black. And I really mean sea. If I saw it ripple or wave with dark forms swimming up in it I would not be surprised. (this makes me think of one of the best dreams I have ever had which I will mention near the end.) Another fun thing to do when there are a lot of stars out, and I used to do this when I was little, is to grab onto the grass with your hands and pretend like the earth is tilting upside down. And if you let go of the grass you will fall into space. I loved doing this and than ripping the grass one blade at a time pretending I was getting closer and closer to falling, oh no! Aaaaaahhhhhhhh.........! so fun. Why at night? It's weird, it is almost as if the black sky seems more like an abyss than when it is blue. Although it could also be fun to pretend the blue sky is water but I didn't have the awesome smarts I have now when I was a kid.