Viewing the Partial Eclipse

Hey everyone. Boy do I have a story today. A lot of people have been talking about the solar eclipse today on social media, and some time before to let everyone know about it. I checked the map, and I thought I was going to miss it. Turns out I was looking at a full eclipse map, and the partial was visible. Thankfully, I didn't miss it.

Before I get to the main event, here's my history with eclipses. I've seen a couple lunar eclipses in my time. I vividly remember one when I was like 9, because I had my best friend over, and we were going pretty crazy. The second lunar eclipse was not to long ago in college, but it was pretty overcast so I didn't get to see much. This however, was my first solar eclipse, even if it was only a partial.

So I was a little, unprepared. I didn't have any glasses, or pin hole camera, or any of that. I figured, "I'll just glance up, real quick, and no damage." I mean, it's not a horrible idea. Definitely bad, and my eye doctor would be a tad upset, but it's not like a "stand and stare" sort of bad. There was a bit of a hiccup though. It was kind of cloudy today, so any coverage was diffused by the clouds and I only think I saw something. Oh well.

What was a saving grace though, was welders masks. One of the welders passed around his mask for everyone to try out. The logic being "I look at super bright things with this, so it's probably safe." It probably wasn't perfectly safe, but it worked. Through the dark green tint of the mask, I was able to see the sun partially covered by the moon. It was still pretty bright, but like looking at a light bulb without a diffuser bright, not staring directly at the sun bright. I didn't look very long though. Another thing that happened was there was a point with just the right amount of could density to see the eclipse without it being too bright. It was just like looking through the welder's mask. Also, it got noticeably darker. Not "night" dark, but "early evening" dark in the middle of the day.

As for at work. As stated, the welders brought out their masks, but it wasn't just that. Everyone who didn't have something that needed getting done right now was looking outside. There was a large group of people just hanging out by one of the doors, another group in the courtyard, and I'm sure there were people out on the smoking docks. It was pretty interesting, and it wasn't like management was getting angry, they were out there too, lol. Everyone understood that this is a 10 in a lifetime opportunity.

So this was my eclipse fun. Hopefully I can see a total eclipse one day, and next time I'll be better prepared. Well, this has been Pokematic, signing off, and bu-bye.