griffith observatory

i went to the Griffith Observatory today with two of my best friends from high school. my first time there was with the same two gurls, we were still in high school back then. hard to believe that it has been nearly ten years. the Saturn we saw through the telescope last time probably hasn’t changed much, but time has transformed us from the naive teenagers that we were then into the independent mature young adults we are now. seventeen to twenty seven, those are the most precious and most dramatic years of most people’s lives. the gang of friends we came with last time somehow drifted apart over the years, it’s kinda sad but at least the three of us stayed together!

the observatory is much more “techie” and modern after the renovation and became an even bigger attraction for many tourists. we were in huge lines for the shuttle to take us from the zoo to the site. then we were accompanied by a lot of people at the main hall for the space-related displays. then we were in line again to get tickets for the show at the planetarium. 15 minutes after that line we got in yet another line waiting to get into the actual planetarium. but, the show turned out to be worth all the waiting. with visuals of the stars and the space projected onto the dome shaped screen, the audio program briefly explained the history of Astronomy and the physical structure of our solar system, the galaxy and the universe. the dramatic lighting and the dynamic visuals all made it seem so real. Imagine yourself being in this huge darkness of the space emptyness of the universe being surrounded by planets floating in distance and just thin air, miles and miles years and years of it, you realized how small how irrelevant how vulnerable you are, you wonder if anything matters or if anything you’ve ever known is even real, you hear your own heart beat you feel your veins popping, you know you are alive but what’s the difference? it’s merely a breath. you find yourself being once again impressed by how out-of-imagination-ly huge this universe is and examining your life in different perspective and realize.. we are probably not as important as we think we are. it’s good to be reminded of that once in a while so you won’t take small matters too seriously and enjoy life more.