Fireballs of Texas

So, as I was scrounging the house for a bit o' coffee this morning, Texans from Dallas down to Austin caught sight of something very unusual this morning.

The story is HERE.

Fireballs streaked out of the Sunday morning sky, making a beeline towards Earth. Could it be fragments from two satellites that collided last week? The Black Man Next Door thinks it was an omen from God -- stop screwing around with homosexuals and make gay marriage legal in Texas... only then will the rain of fire cease!

Where Were You Then?

1986

Tonight is my last graveyard shift, and I'm happy to report that the next 11 days will be MINE to have off from work! In the meantime, tonight is one of my "nostalgic" moments... a time to reflect back on better times. Perhaps in looking back, I can make a feeble attempt at tucking a slice of good memories into my pocket -- and dragging them into my future.

The year in mind is 1986. That means every blogger and reader can instantly deduct a whopping 23 years off of their age. I was a young tyke... caught in between peace and turmoil. A handful of my own co-workers weren't even alive yet, and history tells of a year chocked full of not-so-good events around the world.

I remember sitting in class when I heard about the Challenger disaster. My mother was thrilled about an African-American crew member going into space again. I had moved out of urban Dallas into a much smaller, majority Caucasian town to the southwest just two years earlier. Therefore, I was still adjusting to a new environment, new friends, and a new stepfather. It was the beginning of two years of abuse by a man only 9 years older than me... a man who knew who I was before I did.

It was the first time that I hated someone. It was the first time that I prayed to God that someone would be deleted out of my life... however the Almighty saw fit. It was a feeling that I swore not to embrace ever again -- for life is too short for such dark emotions to consume one's soul. It's a lesson in the value of life... a lesson that I still remember and adhere to to this day.

Tell the "Black Man Next Door" what you were up to in 1986? Where were you in the world? Did 1986 teach you any lessons, or provide any memories?

1986 TIDBITS

• FOX Network was born.
• The Oprah Winfrey Show hit U.S. national airwaves.
• U.S. Supreme Court bars racial bias in trial jury selection.
• U.S.S.R. (Soviet Union) suffers a major nuclear incident at Chernobyl.
• The constitutionality of Bowers v. Hardwick, a Georgia sodomy law, was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.
• Austin, TX, USA passes an ordinance prohibiting discrimination against people with HIV or AIDS.