The Desert, and I’m sick

Spending the last week in the middle of the desert did leave some interesting highlights. It was about a 30 minute drive out away from the last vestiges of civilization known as China Lake. It’s a base of some sort, and they shoot a lot of stuff out there because there is so much ‘nothing’ to hit. We actually went out into the dried out remains of China Lake proper, which put us pretty far away from anything. As such, I got pretty good at bringing all my food and a lot of water with me. Normally I’m not a fan of bottled water, but you have to drag it all the way out there somehow, and you end up going through a lot of it during the course of a 100+ degree day.

For the most part, I spent my time sitting in my car. Which was nice, because it was air conditioned. Primarily for the comfort of the equipment, but I got to tag along. We’d get out there pretty late, and stay even later, so I’m not sure which was more tricky. Setting stuff up in 100 degree weather, or taking it down in total darkness. (Bring a flashlight).

The one good thing about being that far away from civilization is that you can see the stars really well. We lit up our worksite with some work lights, a little, but on the drive up Jess got tired and we switched chairs so I could drive. We were out on some highway. No lights for miles, and I haven’t seen the stars that well in years. The milky way was clearly visible, and I really enjoyed that sense that each of those points of light was a star, and that those that weren’t were probably whole galaxies. Very, very pretty.

The reason we didn’t have more light at our work site, however, is that at night, in the desert, the land comes alive. Mostly with bugs. There were dozens of moths flying around the light, bunches of beetles on the ground, and pointing your flashlight up revealed a squadron of bats divebombing the confused moths. I saw a camel spider (see picture, that's two of them) twice, yes they’re pretty huge, and also a couple of scorpions. Yep, real big ones, too. We also caught glimpses of desert rabbits a couple of times on they way home, too. There’s a surprising amount of life out there. I heard stories about coyotes, but never saw one, luckily.

In other news, I’m sick. I started feeling not so great on friday, which was the day Jess and I came home. Nothing like being achy and sore on a plane, that’s for sure. I survived, though, with the help of the PSP to pass the time . This morning, though, I got it real bad. I woke up with a fever of 101, which hasn’t happened in approximately a really, really long time. (Mom will have to give you exact dates. ) It’s come down a lot since then, but it’ll be a while before I feel like doing any jumping jacks, and the doctors say I may never play the piano again.

Hey, my birthday is coming up. 28 soon. I still feel the same age I always have, though. I’m ‘now’ old. Seems like a good philosophy. Less time spent worrying about age.

Also, many exciting games coming out. I plan to go out and get Mercenaries 2 tomorrow when it drops. And Spore comes out the day after my birthday, which is nice.

Speaking of video games, I should tell you about hanging out with Derek. He’s my best man for the (rapidly) upcoming wedding, and I tried to convince him to let me get him his ‘guy in the wedding’ present early, which I’ll leave out for the sake of any other ‘guys in my wedding party’ that might read this. He declined for the moment, so I’ll have to pick it up for him later. Other than that, we ate some sushi, played a lot of Wii games, and petted the neighbor’s cats. Derek has a balcony that is connected via a little, tiny ledge to his neighbor’s balcony. This means that every once in a while, the neighbor kitties walk over and meow for attention. They are obviously brothers, and one is more aggressive than the other. He reminded me of Tigger, except more social. He really liked petting, and I managed to get massive clumps of hair off him using my patented, ‘butt scratch’ technique. They really seemed to like me, even if the aggressive one did get a little nippy at times. I’ve dealt with Tigger, though, so I know what’s up.

Right, so enjoy that news and I’ll let you know when I get some more.

-N

P.S. Oh, and one other thing. That final test on Thursday? It didn't happen. Whole thing got canceled. We did some other little tests, but nothing big like we were planning. And then on Friday, we flew home.