June 4, 2008
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It has been storming all night long, and I have been loving every minute of it.
Seeing lightning bolts, especially elaborate ones that spread out over the sky, is really an exciting thing for me. It makes me wildly ebullient, which explains why I am able to stand for so long simply staring at the sky waiting for the one that I will remember for years to come.
While there were a few of those tonight, one instance clearly topped the rest, though I was not a direct witness of it. Some friends and I were under a bridge, right next to which there was a small clearing. Rain was hammering the river the bridge went over and we were watching the lightning as it attacked the city on the other side of the river. My friend Alex and I were standing next to each other a few feet into the clearing when suddenly it seems like the entire universe exploded. Alex claims he saw it—twenty feet from us, a lightning bolt struck. The light shone bright and ubiquitous for just a milisecond before the roaring thunder sent us all jumping and shouting in confused mayhem out of our fright and excitement.
I can believe it was right next to us because of the brightness of the light and the speed and volume of the sound, but Alex said he saw it, and I find that remarkable. Too bad I was turned the other way. At home I watched from my doorstep for awhile, and there was one the seemed to fill the whole sky. It was like a picture that started drawing itself from many different places all at the same time. Unfortunately it was around 2 A.M. so all I could do was jump around, since shouting would have woken the neighbors. But it was truly awesome.
If I were not so tired I would be relating to you in full terms the frisson of joy and terror I feel when I see lightning illuminate the sky. But it has been finals week and my body has made quite a succesful protest for me to leave that to another time.
Night! (Er…morning!)
Comments (12)
We had a lightening strike right outside our kitchen window many years ago. Burnt our phones up. The sound was deafening. It was so bright. I can’t say I’m a fan of lightening, but I do love storms.
Good luck with finals! I sure don’t miss them. College finals were what finally lead me to discover the powers of caffeine and those awful coffee vending machines. I practically lived on that stuff. Ugh!
The storms have been pretty awesome, and I don’t mean awesome in the “like, totally rad” way either. There was about a two hour period last night/this morning when it was like having a strobe light on becuase of continuous lightening strikes.
There’s something about storms, I don’t know what, but I just love them.
Lightening is so amazing, I remember when I was little during storms watching it out my bedroom window for hours.
several years ago my husband was up in the middle of the night and literally watched a tornado through the front window. while this was awe inspiring for him it left the rest of us wondering why he didn’t wake us up to head for safer ground.
I love storms. It’s been storming the whole time we’ve been here (in KS), and it’s amazing. My mom hates them with a passion, so she’s flippin’ out, and I’m considering becoming a storm chaser.
I concur, cats vs. dogs is a preference not an issue of right or wrong. lol
Cool!
I love the word “frisson”. And I love the lightning storms we get here in the midwest. There’s nothing like them. I agree that they are amazing to watch-scary and exhilerating at the same time. Maybe when you aren’t so sleepy you can tell us more. I hope finals are going well/have gone well. I don’t envy you that at all.
lightning storms are like concerts
the flashing lights followed by a wicked baseline
That has also been Hillary’s downfall in that she voted for the war in Iraq and now she is vehemently against it. Extremely wishy-washy. She and Obama really seem to have no concept about the utter importance of this war. Obama even said that his goal while in Presidency is to rid the world of the nuclear warfare mentality and draw out our troops from Iraq as soon as possible. His solution? Sit down with the leaders of the enemy countries and “talk it out”. Here is a YouTube video that pretty much explains why Barack Hussein Obama should never become president: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl32Y7wDVDs&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Finfidelsarecool.com%2F2008
%2F02%2F26%2Fresults-of-obamas-national-defense-plan%2F
Well, I did read the original Les Miserables book but I definitely skimmed some parts. There’s no rule that makes it absolutely necessary to read every single word. As in the case of novels such as Moby Dick, where one simply can’t sit through all of the specific details on whaling and how to tie ropes.
Have you seen Les Miserables on stage?
Storms are amazing. I love the rain, because it makes me feel calm. Lightning is just a bonus. Some of my friends were suposedly saw a telephone pole when it was split in two by a lightning bolt, and it wasn’t raining at the time.
I never saw Band of Brothers but it has been highly recommended to me by a number of people. One of the things I hope to watch someday.
Thank you for that link! “The likelihood of war decreases as deterrent and defensive capabilities increase. Nuclear weapons, responsibly used, make wars hard to start.” That makes a lot of sense. I definitely agreed with his position.