Stargazing Inside A Tent

Finally getting it together to blog about the events of Sunday past. I'm in a rather hibernatory mood right now, and have been for the last few days. It's getting very difficult to get up for work in the morning, and sometimes even to think. Although this tends to happen every year with me it's still a worrying trend, as I can't remember being this tired in winter before. So if my writing doesn't make sense, bear with me...

Anyway, it was Valentine's Day on Sunday, which also coincided with the dark moon and the Chinese New Year (of the metal Tiger). Last Chinese New Year I was in London, proudly wearing my red jeans and learning how to say "Happy New Year" in Cantonese along with London's Mayor Boris Johnson and loads of others in Trafalgar Square. As for Valentine's Day last year, Groupie and I were in London for that too, and found ourselves in the green room after a concert hanging out with a certain band she likes :) We were never going to be able to out-do that particular February 14th, but we did OK under the circumstances I think.

Groupie saw an advertisement for an event entitled "Love Under The Stars" which was an evening dedicated to the science behind love, and would also feature people from the local astronomical society who planned to put up a telescope or two so we could look up at the night sky. As an alien, I of course have a rather keen interest in space :) and the whole thing appealed to my inquiring BBC Four type mind. Groupie also fancied a go at this rather unconventional activity for Valentine's Day and so we decided to go to it. The offer of pink champagne and a chocolate fountain sealed the deal!

Unfortunately the weather that night was not exactly suited for stargazing - very cloudy and a bit damp - but the event went ahead as planned anyway. We enjoyed dipping marshmallows into the chocolate fountain, and the pink champagne - a rare example of Groupie indulging in a little "adult beverage" :) There was also a competition set up where you had to answer various questions about space which were up on the walls around the venue, we didn't win but at least we had a go.

And the stargazing still went ahead - stargazing of the virtual kind, inside a large tent! They had set up a planetarium-like device which projected an image of the night sky on the tent (which was filled with hot air to keep the "sky" from falling!) In a way, this was better, since we could move around the whole sky and even have the images of the constellations overlaid on top of the stars - you need a lot of imagination, or maybe a lot more pink champagne, to see Leo the "lion" or Pegasus the "flying horse" in the real sky!

There were a few interesting talks given as well - where we learned various interesting things. Such as the mathematical way to find the perfect partner (go out with/sleep with twelve people to start with, then settle down with the next person you meet who is better than all of those original twelve) the reason why women can't seem to make up their mind whether they want an "old macho" or a sensitive "new man" (their answer will depend on the time of the month, as it's all about the hormones, baby!) and my personal favourite - at every party, you will always find two people who personally know the same amount of guests attending it. Not necessarily the same guests, but the same amount of guests.

Quite an enjoyable and suitably different way to spend what is supposedly the most romantic night of the year (which neither of us have ever really bought into anyway) Groupie asked me at the end if we could go walking some night and see if we can see the International Space Station flying overhead - they gave us details of how to find out if it's visible, and I have the dates of the next few passes. Who needs flowers eh?

owl city

fireflies

ocean eyes 2009