I wouldn't disagree that it would sound completely ludicrous if someone said fireworks and clapping were somehow connected with each other, and I guess it would be wise for an explanation to be told. Firstly, the story:

(I feel like Paul Harvey in "The Rest of the Story". Anecdote: I listened to Eagle 810, an Armed Forces Network (AFN-US Army) base radio while I was in Tokyo, and every day there'd be Paul Harvey funneled through the airwaves from the States into my radio, talking about the most remote stories about the famous and the not-so-famous. You'd hear about some humble soul doing shoe-shining on the corner of 5th avenue, and when you'd hear "and now... you know... the rest of the story", you'd finally realise that it was Elvis when he was 18 or something. But that's a bit besides the point now.)

Anyhow, yesterday I went to see the fireworks down near Trocadero for the 14 Juillet fanfare at 10:30. There was (yet again) a lot of people, many of them sitting down right in the middle of the street so that they'd get a good view of the sky. The display was great, and everytime a grand one flew up into the sky and spread a colourful combination of fire and "kabooms", people would "ooh" and "aah". Every so often when the fireworks died down a bit people would start clapping. Undoubtedly the best fireworks were the ones that were the biggest, although the most colourful ones didn't get an applause, but rather the ones that looked like God had let a bucket full of glitter tumble from the skies.

Clapping should become an art. It's wholly unappreciated as it is, even though its our most used (and quite frankly, our only) medium for expressing our appreciation for something, besides whistleing, which isn't exactly upper class. And come to think of it, it reveals a lot about our personality too. After all, how many of us could truthfully claim that you've been always the first to clap? Clap at the right time and you've got a whole crowd agreeing with you. Clap at the wrong time and you'd feel like a lonely fool. (And I don't mean in the classical music concert: there, you have a time to clap and a time not to) The process repeated itself over the half an hour I was there watching the fireworks, and it was quite cool to see. (No, I don't want to become a shrink) Anyways, that was an unique thought that drifted through my brain... should it ever occur to you.

As an addendum, I realised that there are four types of bloggers out there (in my humble opinion): the thinkers, the writers, the observers, and the reporters. I guess I'm more of the observer. Obviously there are some people that are all of the four, but most people are inclined to be just one of them. The difference between a reporter and an observer would be that the reporter would write "I did this and I saw that and I felt so", whereas the observer would add a bit of the everyday that's usually not seen (somewhat paradoxically).

Written on Thursday, July 15 at 8:35 PM