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October 15, 2003
Mass Mayhem
Well, that was insane. Yesterday afternoon, a friend of mine called and asked if I wanted to go out into the desert and blow stuff up. He gave me 5 minutes to decide and pack. As part of my idealistic credo, I couldn't let the opportunity pass. 8 of us, most of whom I knew beforehand, drove out to the Nevada desert to a special place that had been scoped out before hand. The destruction started from the moment we got there. First, the guns came out, mostly hunting rifles. We took various containers filled with gasoline and placed them on a hill a good distance away. We then took turns sniping them and cheering at the resulting enormous explosion.Then the guns went away and the fireworks came out. I'd never seen so many fireworks in my life. These weren't small fireworks either (though we did have those). These were large fireworks that required large mortar tubes. There were roman candles, saturn rockets, mortars of all sizes, spinning things, flaring things, giant multi-stage fireworks, in fact, I couldn't be expected to remember half the fireworks we had. Our spot was in a little valley surrounded by small hills on all sides. At various times, a few of us would hike off into the darkness with a selection of fireworks and light them off of the surrounding hills, lighting up the whole valley. We were lighting off fireworks pretty continuously for over 5 hours. We also had a 25' single strand of 4,000 blackcats. At some point it was unanimously decided that the best course of action for them was to just toss them into the fire en mass. The resulting cacophony was incredible. As a result of this move, blackcats would spontaneously go off in the fire hours after having initially thrown them in. Plus, a huge number of the blackcats were blown clear of the fire without igniting. This was the backdrop for a mad game that started. In the darkness near the fire we would creep near the fire's edge looking for blackcats. Sometimes, one would suddenly go off in the fire causing us all to jump back. More frequently, someone would find some and quickly throw them in before the rest of us had a chance to run. We'd all wait a safe distance away, then slowly start creeping up again, hoping to be the first to find a few and throw them in. By morning, there were still blackcats to be found 25' away from the fire.
Some may think such mess destruction is childish. The thing is, we start playing with fire and blowing small things up when we're young, but we never get to cause real havoc until we're older. Its just as fun, maybe more so. I never wanted to join the military, still don't, but it sure is fun to blow things up.
We went to bed sometime after midnight. Unfortunately, after the craziness of the prior weekend, I was feeling a little sick even before going on this venture. When I got home on Tuesday I felt completely wrecked and ended up sleeping for 19hrs. I'm not 100%, but feeling better. I've got lots of prep to do before I leave on Thursday (tomorrow), for LA, Phx, and Joshua Tree.
Posted by wonko at October 15, 2003 10:47 AM
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Comments
Hell, that was just playing with some "Caps" and Girl Scout Water. You did not create havoc, you just played! In the military we don't blow things up, we terminated human life! That is the difference... keep playing with "Caps" and have some fun. Don't pretend or even suggest that what you did resembled a well trained "Operation" that utilizes millions of your tax dollars to terminate fellow human beings. Have fun on your trip... you will be in my prayers.
Posted by: Rick "PDHMAN" at October 15, 2003 05:55 PM
Eek! I would never suggest that what we did was anything resembling anything military. The reference was more in reference to boyhood visions of the military. When I was young, my friends and I all played with fire and loved to blow things up. But it was obviously small potatoes. This last excursion into mayhem was itself small potatoes compared to anything in the military, but it was big for me. For some, they join the military because of an over romantasized notion of the military and the fun they'll have. Of course, most, but not all, of the people who joined the military in the last 20 years have seen no action. Personally, I don't think I could have handled the overbearing authority. Thats why I never romanticized about joining.
Posted by: Wonko at October 16, 2003 10:59 AM
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