A merry sober and completely flamable new years day

For the past several New Years I've been exposed to a relatively new class of human being, the kind that takes part in rigorous attempts to increase their average blood alcohol content. I guess it's not so much a bad thing as I thought it was when I was a kid. But when I was in Korea I heard a preacher talking about the people in the bar districts of the city who said that they simply "don't quite get the picture yet". This year, somewhat surprisingly, I did not hang out with that crowd. I was with my best friend from childhood and a few new friends from the county. One of them has made a solid commitment to continue their life without a drink for the past two years. How cool is that? To take that huge step at self-improvement leave nothing but respect to be had. Together, we made our way to a little lake in the backwoods of southern Maryland. But we didn't go it alone.


Here we have a number of fireworks; all of them illegal in a number of states. Including bottle rockets...really I have no idea what is in that pile, but most of it made enough of a boom to shake up the neighborhood.

Here are a few interactive results from the morning. Interactive because they're videos! Also interactive because you can turn your computer on it's side to watch them in their prime.

Event #1, The Preliminary
This was the first mortar blast of the night, done by Sean. As you can see it is perfectly executed with no delay. It's SO good that it brings out my previously dormant Santa laugh.


In contrast, this was my struggle to light off the cannon.


Event #2, The Corn Crusades
Also with us there were a number of cans of corn. Sean and Ryan were talking about a fantastic new way to cook a can of corn that involves placing it in a piping hot barrel. If I brought my fork this would have been even more fantastic. Here were the drawn out results!


Event #3, The Time Lydia Almost Killed Everyone
It was Lydia's turn to launch a mortar, unfortunately she almost killed every single person at the lake in the process.


Event #4, The Grand Finale
And lastly, Ryan came upon us with a really really really old jug of gasoline; the kind that you don't want to put in your car in fear that it might corrode your gas tank.


All in all, it was one of the best New Year's ever! Completely legal, alcohol free, and with adult supervision!