"Watch the Sun Come Up"

Last night after an exciting episode of "Lost", a bit of stimulating conversation, and a rousing game of "Signs", what were left of the Lost Party People (the LPPs) hung out in the front room of the ButterKnife Estates and unwrapped lots of Valentine's Day candies to see what was written on the inside of the wrappers, which were sortof like Valentine's Day fortune cookie messages. Both the first and third that I opened read "Watch the Sun Come Up", to which I exclaimed each time, "No!!" ...I mean seriously, do you REALIZE how early the sun comes up?!? If I have to leave the house at 7:45am (which I do on Fridays), I make it a point to never get up before 7:30!

Well this morning I found myself just about to enter Old Main at about 8:10 heading to my 8:30 class when I glanced at the mountains to the East and noticed that the sun was just about to come up over them. "Who am I to argue with a piece of candy?", I thought, and I stepped off the sidewalk to face the arrival of the sun. It was actually quite a relaxing thing to just stand there for 13 minutes watching and waiting. As it turns out, although the sun "officially" rose this morning at 7:24am, the sun didn't peek over the mountains until 8:23am...I know, 'cuz I was there. Standing there, I became very aware of all of the other people who were bustling to and from classes, as I had just been moments before; I hadn't really noticed them when I was among them...funny how that is.

It had been a LONG time since I'd actually witnessed the sun coming up, and I'd forgotten what it looks like at that moment the sun first appears. The edge of the mountains grew brighter and brighter, and I began to wonder if the appearance of the sun may be a let down and that it would almost unnoticably slide into view with how bright it was becoming along the cusp of the mountains. Maybe I would be standing there, watching, and suddenly think, "Oh wait a minute, it's already up!"

A few professors from my department passed me, discussing how it's a shame how so many professors in the C.S. department only want to teach the graduate level classes. I continued to watch. It was SO bright now. "Is this bad for my eyes?", I wondered, "Is it up yet?" I looks around on the ground...no shadows. I checked the blue part of the sky...no clouds. Nope, definately not up yet. I continued to watch.

A car pulled up and girl got out with an armful of books. She thanked the driver, slammed the passenger side door, and headed up to Old Main. I wondered if she wondered what I was doing, just standing there in the cold. As I had walked up Old Main Hill I'd thought about how cold it was, but now that I could just stand there with my hands in my pockets, it didn't seem so bad.

The edge of the mountain exploded. Golden light shot out in four directions where the mountain had been brightest. This definately was noticable. What started out as a tiny point source of golden light was rapidly increasing in size...it was fascinating how long it took the sun to peek over the mountains, and yet once it caught a glimpse of what was on this side, it wanted to fully clear the obstructing pile of rocks as quickly as possible. A gust of air came from the east as I looked around to make sure there were shadows now...there were. "Excellent," I thought,"what a well spent few minutes."

I climbed back onto the sidewalk, turned, and went to class.