Paranoia and Fireworks!

[elfs]

Fireworks

As if the bicycle ride, the parade, and the gardening weren't enough, we also went to state legislator Dave Upthegrove's (D-33rd District) place for an after-parade dinner and get-together. I drank beer and talked to a number of people. Is there some rule that people who get involved in politics must be necessarily kooky in some way? One of the people I talked to was from the 34th district and he had this long, drawn-out conspiracy theory about how a nebulous "they" were close to figuring out how to command the weather and he was worried about what would happen when they did.

Dave was charming. It was held at his parents' house, which is on the waterfront of a small local lake, and Kouryou-chan stood by the water's edge and moaned about wishing she had her swimsuit, ate hamburgers, and actually had a good time.

After that, we stopped at the house and then drove down to Des Moines beach. On the way, we saw seven police cars from three different jurisdictions blocking off a section of street while four officers stood in the front yard of one house and two approached the front door. We had no idea what was going on. Protip: If you're going to be a criminal, don't live in the same subdivision as the state's police academy.

The City of Des Moines is small but, with its waterfront views and large yacht club, quite wealthy, and can afford to put on a modestly large fireworks show. Nothing quite so big as Seattle or Bainbridge (holy chao, Bainbridge, which is across the Puget Sound from the rest of us, put on a show big enough it rivalled Seattle's even when viewed from Seattle!), but still good enough for the kids.

We sat on our blankets and ate cookies that Omaha had brought, and listened to Jr. Cadillac (no, really, those guys are still around), until the fireworks started. Some guy must have made a killing selling "light sabres" (little plastic toys with leds along the length of them) because there were hundreds of the damn things lighting up the night.

The lightsabers took a toll on me. I have a neurologically-based form of color blindedness (it's mild enough that it rarely interferes with my design work) that makes me sensitive to some monochrome hues, and the pure blue LEDs were giving me my least favorite flavor of headache. I spent a lot of time covering my eyes.

At least when the fireworks stared everyone put their damned lights away. There was oohing and aahing and a couple of shouts of "Lame!" from the high school kids behind us, but all in all it was a good show, pretty and noisy and just the right kind of spectacle for a summer night.

Comments

blue LEDs

[hydrolagus.livejournal.com]

Do you have any problem with the new LED streetlights Seattle is testing? There are some on Capitol Hill.

Re: blue LEDs

[elfs.livejournal.com]

Haven't seen 'em yet. The ones on the backs of busses don't seem to bother me nearly as much, the ones in the high yellow and red ranges.

I have much the same reaction to hot blue neon, too.