Somewhere Over the Sun

For the third year in a row, I’m making it my mission to watch the sun rise and set every day during the extended Labor Day weekend. I don’t think we take the time to bask enough. Just simply sit within sight of something pretty and bask. I have a theory that beauty works like a marinade and sinks into your pores.

Do you realize that the sun rises and sets every day? Of course you do. But you don’t really. Otherwise, you would wake up at 5:45 a.m or take a break from indoors at 7 p.m and just watch the sky for a while. When was the last time you dedicated yourself to such a silly, beautifully recurring event? 

Sleep is often lost in the name of gaining knowledge (or at least rote memorization), of making money, of fun. Is it really that silly to lose sleep in the name of beauty? I don’t think so, and if it is, it’s the right kind of silly. Exactly the kind of example I want to set for my newborn nephew. 

Sunset

A very pleasant sunset out behind my brother’s house. My parents, sister and I had four chairs facing the mountains, some music going and a beer or two. Still no clouds or extravagance, just the Earth rotating the sun out of view in pretty fashion. Sunsets like these are why I take at least a weekend out of the year to focus only on watching the sky light up.

I’m almost constantly exhausted now. But there’s only one more sunrise, and then it’s back to a regular sleeping schedule. I hope you’ve been enjoying these posts, dear readers. When this little mission is over with, I’ll get back to writing about my book and what’s going on with that. I’ll leave you with this paragraph which I cut from the book during the first round of edits. Enjoy.

My leg muscles flexed and twitched and generally did whatever it is fast-moving legs are supposed to do; they responded to neural impulses and clicked on nerves and pushed me forward through the cool September night air. Dear reader, with your mouth itching to smile and your eyes needing to see, do you ever do something just to do it, just because something inside you tells you it needs to be done?

Sunrise, Forgot to check official time

Edgar makes his appearance right before the sun pokes out again. We listen to music, which is always a crucial companion in any sunrise/sunset viewing experience. We follow it with breakfast. Listen: these are the days books are thought of.

Sunset, Ditto

My dad, Chris and I go up to the 16th floor of the M Hotel and Casino. A great, sprawling view of the city, with a hair-swirling breeze and a pint of beer. Pictures soon to come. I’m at 24 hours awake right now, with sunrise number three coming up in a couple of hours.

Sunrise, September 3rd (6:11 a.m)

After a housewarming party and a sleepless night, I drove down the slightly-less-than-abandoned 5 a.m. Vegas streets headed northbound, the sky lighting up to my right. Music sounds louder, more unrestrained at five in the morning, I think.

Loaded with coffee and a battery-less camera, I directed my car up the six floors of UNLV’s parking garage. My friend Edgar showed up a few moments before the sun poked out from behind the aptly named Sunrise Mountain. Sunrises are never anything short of incendiary, although the cloudless Vegas sky kept the spectacle modest, if such a word can be applied.

Sunset, September 3rd (7:05 p.m)

Unaccompanied and basic, but sunsets aren’t the worst time for solitude. It’s funny that it isn’t customary to stop everything you’re doing during these daily occurrences and just watch the sky. I, for one, refuse to pretend that there is nothing special about the sky’s chromatic transformation, just because it happens all the time.

Barring unforeseen complications, the sun will rise again tomorrow, and I’ll be there to say good morning. I recommend you give it a shot too. You’ll be surprised how beautiful the city you’re used to living in is when painted in dawn’s unfamiliar light.

Is not just a pretty great song by Flogging Molly.

It is also the theme of my weekend. For the second year in a row, I’m making it my mission to watch the sun rise and set every day during the extended Labor Day weekend. I don’t think we take the time to bask enough. Just simply sit within sight of something pretty and bask. I have a theory that beauty works like a marinade and sinks into your pores.

Do you realize that the sun rises and sets every day? Of course you do. But you don’t really. Otherwise, you would wake up at 5:45 a.m or take a break from indoors at 7 p.m and just watch the sky for a while. When was the last time you dedicated yourself to such a silly, beautifully recurring event?

It’s been way too long for me, so I’m going to knock my sleeping schedule out of its already off-beat rhythm and not only take the time to greet the sun in the morning and kiss it farewell in the evening, but write about it for your reading pleasure.

Aside from those posts to come, I will also show you the pictures my sister’s boyfriend took of me this afternoon for my official author headshot. I’ll give you a more detailed, narrative version of the publishing process I’ve undergone with Dog Ear. And soon, I’ll be turning in my guest post at Crazy-for-Books.com, so keep an eye out for that.

Still only one winner in my musical mystery playlist post! Email me what you think the playlist’s theme is and win a hand-written letter and personalized mix cd from someone who will eventually be a published author with a headshot to prove it.