the stars at night

I've noticed that it's never truly dark anymore, even at night. It seems that every place is pretty much lit up. Marquees and big neon signs offering pizza and tacos, burgers and shoes, beer and pancakes, discount prices at Walmart and Target, high tech steals from Best Buy and CompUSA, tanning and nail and hair salons...all these bright signs making night very bright. It's almost to the point where it's hard to tell day from night.

And the result? It's virtually impossible to star gaze anymore. You look up and all the light from the flashy neon and halogen make seeing the stars very tough. But I've found an excellent way to overcome this. I find that if I lie down in a grassy area and close my eyes real tight that it gets very dark. Then I simply start smacking myself about the head until I see little flashes of light. It's just like star gazing but without the need to turn off all the lights that seem to be coming from everywhere. Then I'll try to find the constellations in the little pin-pricks of light that flash before me. Sometimes I'll even make up my own constellations. And as I lie there, in varying states of consciousness, I'll marvel at the wonders and expanse of the universe.