Tales from a Team Lead

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Last Wednesday, I witnessed the solar eclipse just in front of my house. What my neighbors thought was bizarre is not the eclipse, but a girl who almost never goes out of her house. Who, they sometimes only see walk on the street past their bed time or early morning to either go somewhere or go home. And now right there, standing on the sidewalk taking photos of the sun.

But I didn't care what they thought, even if I sometimes whisper or smile or giggle to myself. I went out and stood on the street exactly at 8:33am, and went in and out my house every 5 minutes to take a photo.

Sadly, my digital cam failed me coz I am having problems with it for the past months. When I took a couple of shots, the previews were either all black or too bright. It was practically impossible to use anymore. So what I used was my Nokia mobile phone.

I took 90 shots. Yes, you read it right, Ninety! Once almost every 5 minutes until the peak at 9:45 am. A few shots after that and last one was a few minutes before 11:00 am.

But unlike the photo above, the results were not as clear. I so envy the cameras of those who were able to take a good clear shot of it! I basically did not see the whole process with my naked eyes, and I did not have the materials to make a pinhole camera thingy (whatever that gadget to use to see an eclipse is called). I just wore my darkest shades, didn't look up when I took shots and only looked up when it is cloudy.

To my surprise, I would prefer the times when a heavy cloud passes by! Coz soon as the clouds roll over and gradually reveal the sun, a glimpse of the eclipse is seen! And I can see it without any gadget! It was so AMAZING!

I know I know, I shouldn't have done it. But here I am, I can still see and not blind! My eyes didn't feel hurt even, just maybe a little tired but not because of looking at the short glimpses but because I was up all night at work and been awake for more than 20 hours!

My mom asked about this "weird things that I fancy" and added if I "gained anything from doing it". I said, it was a beautiful natural phenomenon that I would only see a few times in my life and is something worth waiting for. Besides, the last eclipse that I vaguely remember seeing was when I was a little girl and we used to live in a very small house and it was only me and my mom who were sitting by the backyard looking up one windy night. I asked her if it was during sunset or night. She can't remember.

Now, that's why I wanna take a photo of it, so I won't forget. Besides, I am a person who is very patient in waiting for something worth waiting for.

photo credits:
above: "Partial solar eclipse of July 22, 2009 -- Manila" by: landscapist
lower right: "Partial solar eclipse 2009 july 22, 45km north of manila" by: gud0