Friday, January 23, 2009

Compare and contrast:

I assume that many of you watched President Obama’s Inauguration, and I thought this would be a good time to compare experiences. So think back on it, remember where you were, what you were doing, what else was going on...got it? Now, let me tell you what I was doing.
On the day before there was a huge tropical storm here. It rained all day and I was basically stuck in my house. On Inauguration Day, the storm broke in the morning, but we did not have school since it rained so hard yesterday. The morning was beautiful, and I went for a run in the cloudy late morning heat. I cooked and ate lunch with Brad, we played guitar and then tried to figure out what time the Inauguration would happen. My mom said 9:30, is that Pacific time (11 hours different) or Eastern? What time is that here? What did the radio say this morning?
By the time we had it figured out (turns out we were wrong anyway), it looked like rain again. Brad has the working radio and we have to cross town to get to his house. We left just in time to get caught in a tropical deluge. It then rained as it only can in the tropics, for the next two hours. We found a BBC station on the short-wave that promised coverage. Then the station moved. So we found its new frequency, got beers and waited.
For the speech and ceremony, it was 7:30 pm. The rain had stopped, but we were still wet, eating rice, sitting close to the radio with a dubious connection and picking fleas off of our legs as fast as we could find them. We were able to make out the speech, and it was definitely a memorable experience.

1 comment:

Obi-Wan said...

weeeeell don't i feel like a lazy spoiled American. good work buddy. i got your terrifying text the other night about the evac, i'm praying for your health and well-being. also, selfishly, i'm hoping you can return to your house so that you can get the CDs i sent you!
Love,
Ben