I had an interesting night catching a couple of fireworks displays — one virtual and one real. I’d have to say I had a better time at the virtual one.
The real life fireworks show was put on by Macy’s for July 4th on the East River, like they do every year. I walked over to the South Street Seaport, which is near my apartment, to hang with the thousands of tourists and locals who cram into the glorified mall by the East River. The experience was interesting but sub-optimal, with crowds of people pressing against me, rain drizzling down, and an obstructed view giving me a narrow window to see the show. Still, it was great being among the hoi polloi, enjoying the public spectacle of it.
Coming home, I caught a virtual fireworks show in the Kenora sim put on by Biscuit Carroll and the other fine folks at Inside This World. It’s actually a lot of fun to watch a virtual fireworks show, I have to say. There is a the same sense of fun and wonder that is shared by all the people gathered around the area. They even had voicechat enabled, so you actually could hear people saying "ooo" and "ahhh" instead of just typing it.
And I loved the stuff that you couldn’t do in a real fireworks show, like fly up into the clouds into the midst of the explosions of color and light. I felt like a little kid, thrilled by each new wave of explosions lighting up my monitor. And instead of the usual boring patriotic anthems, Biscuit was playing electronica and alt rock, which went quite nicely with the mood I thought.
All in all, a fine Independence Day evening. More of my pics here.