Wednesday, July 06, 2005
Fire in the sky
I hadn’t been this excited about seeing fireworks for a long while.
To fill you in on some background information, my National Service vocation required me to be at the National Day Parade in 2001 and 2002. This event is the only time of the year that Singaporeans get to see a major fireworks display, and so for those 2 years I got to see them as well. The circumstances, however, were less than inspiring (those who’ve been through it will know what I mean) and the fireworks didn’t leave any lasting impression on me.
Fast forward to the evening of 4th July 2005. Down in Anaheim where I’m living and working, the Angels Stadium was having an Independence Day fireworks display after the end of the home game. I didn’t have anything to do that evening after dinner, so I headed down to the office, which was near to the stadium, in the hopes of catching a good view.
As luck would have it, the loading/unloading bay behind the office building afforded an unobstructed view of the stadium, and I wasn’t the only one there. 2 families had already pulled up in an SUV and a truck and were busy setting up lawn chairs to lounge in while taking in the display. They had the car radio on, blaring out the commentary of the game as it drew to a close. Kids ran around, making merry as I would have if I were them.
In the car park area stood an old RV trailer. I climbed the short ladder and sat down on the ceiling, which was covered with a thick layer of dust. Dust never deters me. A fence and some short trees separated me from the highway about 20m away, but didn’t block my view. I had my perfect vantage point.
Soon enough, the game ended and the first salvo was fired off. Bright streaks shot up simultaneously into the sky, each one bursting into a sphere of coloured streaks and combining to create a giant kaleidoscope. The intersecting circles of different hues were mesmerizing in a psychedelic way, almost as though I could reach out and grab them. Others exploded into a cloud of gold dust which sparkled against the night sky. Some of them overwhelmed with huge bursts of golden showers (no, not those kind) to fill up the whole sky at once, while some created a gentle pouring of golden streams which left lingering traces, almost like a shimmering willow tree in the sky. Throughout all this, smaller streaks continued shooting out from the rim of the stadium like drops of liquid rainbow from a boiling cauldron.
Some of them exploded with a resounding boom, while others crackled loudly like an angry sizzle. The resultant effect was like being under a zinc roof in a thunderstorm, the incessant, infinite pounding of raindrops interspersed with bursts of thunder. The familiar smell of smouldering gunpowder brought back many memories, both good and bad. Even though a cold chill was blowing strong, I sat enraptured on top of the RV wearing a T-shirt, bermudas and a silly grin on my face, occasionally muttering “Oh man…” whenever a particularly beautiful sequence occurred. It’d been a long while since a man-made visual spectacle managed to take my breath away like that, and getting to see it in such a relaxed setting made the experience even more enjoyable.
The choreography of the display was excellent, alternating between filling up the sky with colour and filling it with gold, ensuring that it never got monotonous and culminating in an explosive climax (puns intended) at the end. I lost track of time in my rapture and couldn’t remember how long it was, but what I did know was that I could have sat there and watched even longer. Even as the wind blew the smoke away, I continued to ponder the magnificent display that I had just seen and hopefully will get to see again.
I drove home with the same silly grin plastered on my face.
Current beer in my fridge : Bear Republic Hop Rod Rye, Lost Coast 8 Ball Stout, Stone Levitation Ale.
To fill you in on some background information, my National Service vocation required me to be at the National Day Parade in 2001 and 2002. This event is the only time of the year that Singaporeans get to see a major fireworks display, and so for those 2 years I got to see them as well. The circumstances, however, were less than inspiring (those who’ve been through it will know what I mean) and the fireworks didn’t leave any lasting impression on me.
Fast forward to the evening of 4th July 2005. Down in Anaheim where I’m living and working, the Angels Stadium was having an Independence Day fireworks display after the end of the home game. I didn’t have anything to do that evening after dinner, so I headed down to the office, which was near to the stadium, in the hopes of catching a good view.
As luck would have it, the loading/unloading bay behind the office building afforded an unobstructed view of the stadium, and I wasn’t the only one there. 2 families had already pulled up in an SUV and a truck and were busy setting up lawn chairs to lounge in while taking in the display. They had the car radio on, blaring out the commentary of the game as it drew to a close. Kids ran around, making merry as I would have if I were them.
In the car park area stood an old RV trailer. I climbed the short ladder and sat down on the ceiling, which was covered with a thick layer of dust. Dust never deters me. A fence and some short trees separated me from the highway about 20m away, but didn’t block my view. I had my perfect vantage point.
Soon enough, the game ended and the first salvo was fired off. Bright streaks shot up simultaneously into the sky, each one bursting into a sphere of coloured streaks and combining to create a giant kaleidoscope. The intersecting circles of different hues were mesmerizing in a psychedelic way, almost as though I could reach out and grab them. Others exploded into a cloud of gold dust which sparkled against the night sky. Some of them overwhelmed with huge bursts of golden showers (no, not those kind) to fill up the whole sky at once, while some created a gentle pouring of golden streams which left lingering traces, almost like a shimmering willow tree in the sky. Throughout all this, smaller streaks continued shooting out from the rim of the stadium like drops of liquid rainbow from a boiling cauldron.
Some of them exploded with a resounding boom, while others crackled loudly like an angry sizzle. The resultant effect was like being under a zinc roof in a thunderstorm, the incessant, infinite pounding of raindrops interspersed with bursts of thunder. The familiar smell of smouldering gunpowder brought back many memories, both good and bad. Even though a cold chill was blowing strong, I sat enraptured on top of the RV wearing a T-shirt, bermudas and a silly grin on my face, occasionally muttering “Oh man…” whenever a particularly beautiful sequence occurred. It’d been a long while since a man-made visual spectacle managed to take my breath away like that, and getting to see it in such a relaxed setting made the experience even more enjoyable.
The choreography of the display was excellent, alternating between filling up the sky with colour and filling it with gold, ensuring that it never got monotonous and culminating in an explosive climax (puns intended) at the end. I lost track of time in my rapture and couldn’t remember how long it was, but what I did know was that I could have sat there and watched even longer. Even as the wind blew the smoke away, I continued to ponder the magnificent display that I had just seen and hopefully will get to see again.
I drove home with the same silly grin plastered on my face.
Current beer in my fridge : Bear Republic Hop Rod Rye, Lost Coast 8 Ball Stout, Stone Levitation Ale.
# posted by BloozeGit @ 11:31 am 
