I got sad today. No, it wasn't because David Tennant is no longer Doctor Who. It's not because my tulips are starting to wilt. It's not even because I ran out of the good bread.
It's because I'm probably not ever going to go into space.
Thanks, Mr. President. Thanks a lot.
Today the space rocket (shuttle, whatever) Discovery (ironically named) shot into the sky with the passion of a last kiss. That visual doesn't work at all, does it. I will never be Nicholas Sparks. After this little intergalactic go-around, we (the US gov't) are going to turn the telescopes back toward Earth to try to save the glaciers or some such nonsense. I'd like to see how astronauts go about it. I imagine it will involve the technology behind freeze-dried ice cream. Insert indignation here.
It's not that I don't think science needs to focus on our global issues. I know they're important. I know it's, on some level, the right thing to do. But my heart bleeds (strong term, but can't think of a better one) for all those kids who grow up wanting to be an rocket man, burning up his fuse out there alone *cough*. But instead will end up going over geographical charts with geologists in a conference room labeled "The Sequoia Room" at the Hilton in Juno. You know?
I know this won't be forever. We'll go back into space. I mean, if I understand our future correctly through the genre of science fiction, we're all going to have to leave here at some point because nature will combine forces with germs and create a Day After Tomorrow meets I Am Legend trifecta (because there will also be a third thing) that can only be escaped via, well, escape pods to Mars. But I doubt it will be in my lifetime. And that's probably okay.
Still...I'm sad.
1 day ago
8 keep(s) me blogging:
Your right to be sad, Missy. Have you seen In the Shadow of the Moon yet? The Apollo astronauts were Kewl with a capital K. But I'm glad the Space Shuttle era is over - it's the only piece of American technology that the Russians sneer about. And you don't want to be sneered at by the Russkies, do you? How the hell are you watching Dr Who, which Rachel Noy watches with her bros. Patrick Troughton was the Doctor before you were born - he also played the good but doomed priest in The Omen.
Becoming an Astronaut was my second hope when I was a kid, right behind being a cowboy. Mom got me a surplus WWII gas mask which I would wear while sitting in a chair... which I would tip over backwards as part of my "flight training". I even emptied a tube of tooth paste and refilled it with mashed up bananas to make my own "space food". And I drank Tang by the gallon!!
Neil Armstrong walked on the moon on my 20th birthday. I think it was America's greatest moment.
I share your sadness - our greatest moment is now behind us and there is little likelihood there will ever be another. "Discovery" will go on display in some museum and our schools will graduate students, half of which will believe God made the earth in 6 days about 5,000 years ago.
I never really cared before, but now I haz a sad.
William Shatner is a really depressing man.
Goranas - Doctor Who plays here too, you know. We're not completely uncivilized. Also, do I get to make fun of you for that "your" situation up there?
Dad - Tang is still all the rage in Morocco.
Rach - I'm sorry I gave you a sad. Who can I give you to cheer you up?
I think it's bullshit that the only thing this country thinks is worth a damn happens to be guns and ammo. Are we still in the fucking wild west or what?!
Sorry, I'm bitter, passionate, and all that other nonsense.
Kissing a big rocket huh? Wow...I think you could do well in the romance novel genre;)
I made it as far as "...and I'm gonna be high..." and then I had to turn the Shatner off. It's like watching the British (aka "Real") Office all over again for the first time. Multiplied by 1000. And now that damn song's in my head, damn you. And I think it's gonna be there a long, long time.
Yet another reason why mine was and is the best generation. You can chalk up walking on the moon to the Boomers. We did it all, we saw it all, we rock. That's the "royal" we.
You know, Don't sell Shatner short, is really pretty funny - he has a very wry sense of humor has been plying it that last couple of decades.
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