The eye that burns

[gfish]

I was surprised, in my inanimate object post, to see how many people listed the sun. Greeting the sun would never, ever occur to me. Partly just because, well, I can't really look at it. Beyond that, though, I guess I only really notice the sun when I resent it. Part of that is residual middle-school geek posturing, probably, but really I quite enjoy outdoors physical activity these days. Sunrise means an all-nighter is over, and people are going to start waking up soon. It means the magical time of quiet isolation and productivity is over. It means a jarring transition from cool, mysterious pre-dawn to glaring, tacky, high-contrast day. It can also mean the heat of the day is about to start, something I often dread. The Mackenzie trip didn't help any -- a full month of being constantly aware of the sun, and generally resenting how hard it was to get to sleep.

(The only circumstances I can remember being glad to see the sun rise are unlikely to be repeated. Last January at the Inauguration, after standing in the -5 degree freezing cold for 3 hours, hoping for some warmth. And after our first night on the Columbia, when I couldn't sleep and paced the beach for a couple hours waiting until I could wake the others and get going.)

So, yeah. The night holds the key.