The Transit of Venus is Mocking Me

Tomorrow’s passage of Venus in front of the sun is exactly the kind of event I might tout here, but I won’t be following my own advice. No transits for me before lunch time.

"Get out and see this once in lifetime event," I might write. "This is history. Don’t miss it," I’d say. But when the transit happens in the early morning sky here in Kansas, I’ll be asleep. I won’t be witnessing anything.

I started this web log with the highest ideals. "Perhaps I can offer a fresh perspective on the mundane," I wondered to myself. "I may be a suburbanite in the middle of America, but I can live and love and learn like a French foreign legion mercenary. Viva la blog!"

Yeah right. It’s hard to be an idealist at 5:45am. I think the best time for idealism is 5:45pm, preferably after a couple of drinks. Why can’t the transit be during cocktail hour? Give me a gin and tonic and a piece of cardboard and a needle. I’d be a witness to solar history. "Don’t look directly at the sun. Poke a hole in this drink menu and make a pinhole camera." Now that’s good advice.

Ever make a pinhole camera? I found step-by-step instructions on the web and I’d like to pass them along:

4-5 tonic water Ice Cubes
3 ounces gin
4 ounces tonic water
1 tablespoon lime juice
Lime wedge for garnish
1 eight by sixteen piece of cardboard
1 sewing needle

Place ice cubes in a chilled glass. Add gin, then tonic water, then lime juice, stir. Garnish with lime wedge, poke pinhole in cardboard and view transit of Venus immediately. Throw up. Go back to bed.