Recent events have made me think of an experience I had in my youth.

When I was about 10 or 11 years old, a man found me sprawled across the curb along a street in a neighborhood close to my house, crying. He could tell I had taken a painful fall. He asked if I was okay and offered me a ride home.

I went with him and he took me to my house where I explained to my mother what had happened. I told her I was at my friend Mike’s house and his older sister pushed me out the door and threw me down the driveway where I fell down on the pavement.

My mom was furious. Later, she called Mike’s parents to tell them what had happened. Talking to my friend’s parents, my mother learned a similar version of the events with some significant differences. The differences in the story infuriated her even more, but the new fury was directed at me.

She found out the reason Mike’s sister was so mean to me. As a prank, I had been running behind their house and had been shutting their power off using the main power switch that was located inside a box affixed to the side of their house. I had done this a of couple times, after which Mike or his sister went out and flipped the switch back on. Then, I went home and got a padlock, went back, turned off the power, locked the box shut, and ran and hid.

At some point, Mike’s sister caught up with me and demanded I take the padlock off. I don’t remember if I did or not, but in any case, she took her frustrations out on me by pushing me and throwing me down.

When my mother learned these new details, she felt angry and humiliated. She had called up Mike’s parents to discuss the unfair and downright mean treatment I had received at the hands of their daughter, and learned the treatment probably was not enough considering what I had done.

Not only that, but she also discovered I had withheld information — and essentially lied to her.

She would later say that was the first time she remembers ever catching me in a lie and it really hurt her.

Of course, I remember it too. I remember how ashamed I felt when I knew I had stolen my mothers compassion and sympathy when I didn’t deserve it. And, of course, once the truth came out, I felt a world of guilt for what I had done and what I had concealed.

I’ve just been thinking a lot about that experience the last couple of days.

Space!

President Bush is shooting for the stars.

It’s exciting news for me. It’s been depressing to watch NASA become just another bureaucracy going through the motions the last 10, 15 years. I’m hopeful the goals set by Bush actually result in... well, results.

I know some people feel we’ve got more serious issues right now than space exploration and there’s some truth to that. But, we’ve got to maintain our leadership in this area or else someone like China, India, or the EU will just race past us. Leadership in the space race is important.

Watch Out Harry O!

Sons Of Nothing are set to return to Park City on Friday, 30 January to play a full set of Floyd tribute heaven. I’m stoked and I hope to have some awesome imagery to show off that night.

Well, that’s all for now, it’s late.