Outside assignment: Admire something around you

[Erana]

Seriously. Go away from your computer and go admire the simple neuances of something.
The sky, a can of soda, your cat, a family member, anything. Even boot up a game and admire a tree, or the images that constitute your favorite casual game. Then come back, and share what it is you noticed. Just call this an exercise in fighting hedonism.

I just went to my bedroom window and looked outside at the beautiful moonlight. It is soo bright, I can read a novel out there. Somehow, the moonlight just bleaches everything of any color, despite being such a pale light. Does anyone know why?
A neighbor's tree is gone, and so is one of the kiddie swings that belonged to a now teenage child.The trees are bigger, but have seemed to grow with me, only making the once vast back yard seem so insignificant.

 

[meatloaf231]

Done. I just finished admiring the intricacies of the emotional shift Dante undergoes in The Inferno as he descends into the lower circles of Hell.

EDIT:

Somehow, the moonlight just bleaches everything of any color, despite being such a pale light. Does anyone know why?

Moonlight is light from the sun reflecting off moon-dust (I don't know what it's called), which is a luminescent grey. This reflected light, not only being 30% of the sun's brightness, makes shadows approximately 50% darker and reduces all colour reflected off of objects it hits by about 50% as well.

Now you know.

 

[Erana]

EDIT:

Somehow, the moonlight just bleaches everything of any color, despite being such a pale light. Does anyone know why?

Moonlight is light from the sun reflecting off moon-dust (I don't know what it's called), which is a luminescent grey. This reflected light, not only being 30% of the sun's brightness, makes shadows approximately 50% darker and reduces all colour reflected off of objects it hits by about 50% as well.

Now you know.

Yay! =D
Could you explain how moondust does this?

 

[Jursa]

Damn... judging from what you saw, you haven't been outside for a while

Well I actually took your advice, a morning stroll around the backyard is a good idea. Yesterday the temperature was 3 degrees celcius thus a lot of the snow melted, today it's -4 meaning the melted snow has now encased the entire back yard in ice. There's also a mist outside that doesn't let you see 5 yards ahead of you and around 3 dozen birds chirping around the place, it's nice actually

Thx for the idea

 

[Pigeon_Grenade]

my dogs Asleep under the sheets, the only 3 things to tell that the dog Is there
a nose poking out from under it
the lump of the rest of it
and Breathing Sheets

 

[meatloaf231]

Yay! =D
Could you explain how moondust does this?

Everything that exists reflects light. That's just a law of physics. Something's reflective quality is called it's albedo. Mirrors are completely reflective, thus they have an albedo of 1. The moon has an albedo of .06. Only six percent of light is reflected, and the moon is made up of dark basaltic rock. Even so, the fact that the moon is relatively close compared to other stellar objects makes it clearly visible at night, particularly against a black background.

 

[Erana]

Damn... judging from what you saw, you haven't been outside for a while

Naw, its just that the neighbors have very tall fences, and its a very different perspective from a second story. And in such beautiful moonlight.

 

[TaborMallory]

I'm suffering from a bout of spontaneous cynicism, and this classical music isn't helping. Surprisingly, because I love classical. I think this thread will help me. I'll be back in a few.

edit: I'm back with news from the outside world!

Though I was hoping for snow this year, I can't help but feel good about summer coming back. I took a step outside, and oh, how much warmer it's becoming! In the summer, I shall visit my very good friends who live too far away to visit on any old weekend.

The moon is beautiful. Looking into it always makes me think and wonder. Something so close, but so far. Makes me think of the universe, the stars, the planets...

 

[meatloaf231]

Heh.

I just took a walk on a beach at sunrise, and enjoyed watching birds flock around, shellfish scuttle by, and the trees slowly swaying in the morning breeze...

In Crysis.

 

[Reaperman Wompa]

*Looks in mirror* Time well spent, indeed...

Nuh, outside is nice, got a pretty good view of surrounding area, it's nice.

 

[Ultrajoe]

I was fishing the other day, when dusk hit and before me the entire river turned pure amber as i watched, as if it was blossoming over few seconds to try and hold onto the disappearing sun, sparkling like a sea of gold.

I live for moments like that.

So no, i won't go outside. I've had my wonder-quotient for the week.

 

[Erana]

Heh.

I just took a walk on a beach at sunrise, and enjoyed watching birds flock around, shellfish scuttle by, and the trees slowly swaying in the morning breeze...

In Crysis.

Yeah, that's what I often find myself using games for. Considering my pathetic computer, I usually wind up hanging out in MMOs, watching the sunrise or sunset. I need to make some money so I can travel.

 

[insectoid]

I read in a friends' Taikwando club book that you should "look for something great each morning, something that will make you smile". There were many other 'life tips' in the book, but that one really touched me.

Since then, every day, I have taken pleasure, and smiled at something around me, even if it's something small like the bright purple colour of some flowers in a garden I walk past to get to work.

Anyway, great thread.

 

[Erana]

Is melancholy (the Renaissance interpretation) but an intellectual's emo?

 

[Isaac Dodgson]

I did something similar to this the morning after a long, sleepless and miserable night:

It's funny really; seeing the sun set and rise and not catching a bit of sleep between.

Funny, that is to say, how one perceives things that next day. Why it's not even the next day at all! But rather the same, just longer. And in my case at the very least, it's misery grows with each hour added until I relinquish myself to sleep.

It's snowing now and decently so, but they would be damned to cancel a class. No, not this week, not at the end of this long and gray semester. I say gray, because... Well frankly that's how it made me feel. I take no solace in the white that blankets the earth as I write, the sky is still ashy, dreary, and this snow only helps muddle everything into one cold and horrid mess.

I watch those who pass me by, those I know, those I ignore, those who wouldn't give a damn if they were given the chance. I can't blame them because I wouldn't either. It's just how we are these days, cold and indifferent, numb to all like this cold, and this snow.

A magenta bag, the first real shade of color i've seen that hasn't been bled from my eyes and to my hands. And though she sits there, oblivious to the small amount of joy it brought me, I know she's content with things. That much radiates from her.

Instrumentals have been my fancy as of late, I've grown tired of words and what feelings they are prescribed to convey, but would rather listen, hear and then feel what I wish to on my own.

ugh i can be such a miserable clot

 

[Danglybits]

Since you mentioned it, and he's nearby I'm choosing my cat.
His name is Bagheera, at 17 years his face and neck have a few white hairs on them, so very noticeable on his inky black coat. His left ear is notched and split, I'm not sure from what because it happened on one of his excursions outside at night. His body is becoming more gaunt by the day, his spine and ribs easily palpable. When I pet him he rolls on his back and side and purrs louder than he used to. The abscess on his right wrist from so long ago has left a lump that has never gone away. I could go one but he wants to go back to sleep.

 

[theklng]

the semi panoramic view outside my window: a low skyline of a part of a city. with the weather today, it looks like a ghost town. at other times it looks as if there were wars fought there or like if a bomb exploded. at times it's pretty mesmerizing, and at night it makes you infinitely small. it's one of those things that bring me pain and comfort at the same time. that's why i usually use my curtains at all times of the day.

 

[Duck Sandwich]

I rather enjoy the feeling of getting outside during the early hours of morning in the summer. Everything just seems so full of colour. The orange glow of the sun, casting its light over everything, the grass... hell, even the sidewalks. This feeling is shortly followed by the feeling of walking home, covered in sweat after a good run - the feeling of having finished accomplishing something while most people were still asleep.

Another thing I admire is the gigantic sweat stain on my shirt after a good session of kickboxing. Of course, it's not the sweat itself that I admire, but the indication behind it - the indication of a job damn well done.

 

[sequio]

I look outside and i see corporate buildings D=

pigeons are pooping on them.

I am happy.

 

[darthzew]

My cat's sleeping behind me. Wait.

Now he's not. I just pet him and told him I love him. He's adorable.