Maybe I shouldn't have started this blog now, not with everything that's been going on.

Had my first stargazing of the term tonight, five weeks into the classes. It was scheduled last week, and had the possibility of being cancelled because of the sudden shower at around lunchtime. Surprisingly though, it had cleared up somewhat by late afternoon.

It was supposed to start at 530pm, the time scheduled by my co-teacher so that we could end early. After all, night is falling earlier and earlier since the Autumnal Equinox late last month. But my friends in the department "surprised" me with a cake half an hour before it was supposed to begin.

My co-teacher whose class was going was also amenable to postponing it because of our "celebration" but I said we'd just start a little later than expected.

An hour later, to be exact, as I had gone to the observatory expecting her students not to arrive (it was forty minutes after they were told to show up after all, and she said her students weren't in the classroom when she passed by at around 5pm). I stayed there though because I had also invited my friends to join us, as only two of them had gone stargazing before.

Then my co-teacher texted me and said her students were on their way. Luckily, I only had to wait for around 15 of them to arrive.

The lecture was swift. I just gave the names of the constellations visible tonight and their brightest stars. I only touched on the rivalry of the Archers and the Eagles as being written in the stars after showing the relative positions of Sagittarius, Aquila and Sagitta. That is, I emphasized, IF they believed in astrology.

Unfortunately, we were only able to see Mars among the heavenly bodies. I showed them the requisite mall across the metropolis to demonstrate the magnification of the telescope, but even then it was a little hazy from all the moisture in the air.

They were satisfied, and I told them to wait for announcements from the Physics Society of any future stargazing session that would be open to the public.