Day 123: May 3, 2009

Question 18:
If you were offered a seat on the next space shuttle, would you take it? Why or why not?

Responses:

• Probably, yes. Ok. Yes. I was almost about to say No, because I am deathly afraid of heights and the ocean. But, mainly being out of control. And I guess, logically we are totally not in control. We are already in space. I am also a huge fan of travel and seeing new things. That would be really new and quite a travel. I wonder if that sense of longing and sadness to go back to the place you just came from would linger on the return home, or if the effects of being in outer space would leave you high for the rest of your life. That question would be worth all the hyperventilation!
• If I was offered a seat on the next space shuttle, I would not go. I would be too afraid to leave my son.
• No, and for a couple of reasons. 1) I have issues with claustrophobia and can’t think of anything worse than being strapped into a scary capsule wearing a bubble helmet and a spacesuit. It’s a pity, really. In one of my favorite songs, Radiohead’s Paranoid Android, Thom York sings (apparently about aliens): I wish they would swoop down, in a county lane; Late at night while I’m driving; Take me onboard their beautiful ship; Show me the world as I’d love to see it.—I’d love to see the world from space with my own eyes, but that will so never happen; 2) Although I wouldn’t stop space exploration (I’m no philistine), aren’t there more pressing uses for the money invested?
• Absolutely

For background on this project, go here: http://christopherheath.blogspot.com/2008/11/over-table-and-under-bar.html

Song:
The Monitor, by Bishop Allen

Lyrics:
Once a great ironworks
Stood at the end of my street
And they hauled in The Monitor
Fit her with armor
For to save the union fleet

The River James was on fire
As The Merrimack thundered and raged
And she seemed so colossal and so unstoppable
Until the two engaged
And inside the sound
A deafening din, round after round, again and again
Shattering down, shattering down, shattering down

The neighborhood’s quiet at night
But sometimes my ears still ring
And you think I’d understand
That a rock-n-roll band
Doesn’t mean a blessed thing
But I picture the poor crew stunned
When the cannons did finally subside
How they stand on the deck
With the sun at their neck
And they wonder if they’re still alive
And I try to shout
But none of them hear
They’re moving their mouths
But the blood in their ears
Is running down, running down, running down

And we’re singing la da da da da da
And we’re singing la da da da da da
And we’re singing la da da da da da
But what then?

It’s stunning to know I’ve survived
But I’m not sure what I’m fighting for anymore
And when I break another string
And continue to sing
Is that courage? I’m not sure.
When the ironclads drifted apart
Still blue and still gray
The men shoveled in the coal
And worked the pumps in the hull
Just like every other day
And none of them knew
Oh, none of them cared
How much it just changed right then and right there
They just carried on, carried on, carried on

And we’re singing la da da da da da
And we’re singing la da da da da da
And we’re singing la da da da da da
But what then?

And we’re singing la da da da da da
And we’re singing la da da da da da
And we’re singing la da da da da da
But what then?