Last Updated on January 23, 2023 by sensation-experience
The Independence of Lighting Fireworks without Sight or Hearing
First of all, I hope y’all have had an awesome holiday season, whether that was Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or Yule! And, I hope that 2023 will bring us even more prosperity than what we have accomplished in 2022! Indeed, I have been able to accomplish so much last year, as those of you in my closely knit circle will know, or even if you just perused a few articles I’ve posted earlier this year. One of those things I unfortunately could not find time to write, but since I have nothing else to write about, so I thought I’d briefly cover this now!
While I am not too crazy about being near any kind of fire, as previously stated in earlier articles, and how I’d always stiffen at the mere idea of someone putting my hand very close to a hot source, whether it’d be for cooking, lighting a candle, or anything like that, I was still pretty ecstatic at learning how to strike matches when I officially became a teenager! Consequently, I never felt comfortable using those lighters that had a thumb wheel on them, and a flick switch right below it. However, it wasn’t until a year later, after my obsession had worn off, that I went to an outdoor camp where I learnt how to use self-ignition propane stoves that only required you to turn the valve, turn the knob, and press on the spring-loaded button, and click/roar! You have an instant flame going! Those used a piezoelectric ignitor. I also got to use natural gas stoves in cooking class that required you to listen to the tick-tick-tic as you turn the knob to ignite it. But that wasn’t my first experience using natural gas. When we first moved into our own house in 2004 after getting tired of apartments, I knew then that our house was going to be different, for it came equipped with a natural gas furnace and hot water heater, and it had a free-standing fireplace!
But let’s back up a bit, shall we? For as long as I can remember, like any inquisitive kid, I asked my mum every fourth of July, ‘What’s that pop-pop-pop I keep hearing?’ She told me based on her understanding what Independence Day was, for she was from Mexico, where they celebrate it on 5 May. Likewise, I sometimes heard fireworks being launched on New Year’s Day, usually around midnight when my mother, her sister, and her children went to midnight mass. ‘I wanna feel the fireworks they’re using!’ I had told my mum.
‘Those aren’t fireworks,’ she replied. ‘They’re bullets, and you can get hurt by them.’ I didn’t know what bullets were, since I was just six years old, but I knew that whatever they were, they were probably more dangerous. It wasn’t until a few years later that I made the association between the Spanish word my mum had used, and the English translation that bullets came from guns. It was around third grade that a school resource officer paid our elementary school a visit and taught us the distinction between real gangs, and socially approved gangs called clubs. They taught us about gun safety and how you should never mess with one. Our family never kept any guns, and I seldom ever played with water guns, so it was something I didn’t have to worry about too much. My mother told me that one of my uncles often used a shotgun to hunt wild game. But anyhow, I had some knowledge on how explosives worked, and I gradually got an understanding on how fireworks functioned. However, the first fireworks we got, or at least the first one I remember witnessing, never made any sound. I was extremely disappointed. I was hoping they would make a noise, like the ones I frequently heard around me. Of course, my mother always lit them, and she continued to do so every year after that, using a very long match. But, as the years went by, our state started setting stricter regulations on consumer fireworks, unless you passed a licencing exam to use real fireworks for the commercialisation of pyrotechnics. No longer were we allowed to light roman candles nor shoot sky rockets, mortar shells, etc, but now we were stuck with things that hardly moved off the ground. They felt that popping fireworks were no longer a patriotic act, and therefore, many fires were started this way. And, since my mum never knew how to properly communicate things to me that were in English, I never got to learn the name and type of fireworks until many, many years later!
In my sixth grade year, though, I remember helping build a model rocket made out of some kind of plastic or cardboard. The disposable parts felt as if it were made of very cheap material, whereas the reusable parts felt more durable. The rocket stood on three fin-like legs, which made up its tail. The bottom two were slanted to create more lift, and the top one stood out straight to provide horizontal stability. Underneath that was a round metal piece that was coarse and rough to the touch. This was the engine, which was connected to a primer via a storage battery, and there was also a guiderail to keep it from veering as it was being launched. After we spent some time crafting our individual rockets and eating supper, we went out to the beach to launch them. We formed a pretty long line as each person went up, and the grown-up holding the battery instructed them to gently tap the metal piece of the device to a round port on top of the battery, and, after counting down, I heard a hissing sound that lasted approximately one second. There was also a faint smell of gunpowder each time a rocket was launched. I later found out that they used solid propellants inside the engine nozzle that was ignited by the current from the clips. When I held the two-pound battery in my left hand, shaped like a hexagon, I felt the wire connected by something that felt like a fuse. The gentleman running it gave me the clip, and when I had led everybody to count down, I made contact and listened attentively as it was launched!
Then, about three years later, one of my teachers of the visually impaired told me that amateur rocket launchers used computers to set them off! How neat was that? I didn’t know such a thing was possible! How did they do it? Interestingly, at around the same time, I was learning about something which would revolutionise the way I used music forever. MIDI, or the language of combining musical instruments with a digital interface, was what helped me gain a better understanding of how two different components could work with each other. Sure, I’ve used connections that used the Baud rate, hand-shaking, parody, and stop bits to communicate with X or Y modems. But when USB cables were introduced, I didn’t have to worry about those things anymore! So, what exactly did computers do to communicate with rocket launchers? I learnt that many professional fireworks displays and other light shows used MIDI files to programme the synchronisation between the music and the visual effects. It was no surprise, therefore, to learn that a lot of blind people were big on using MIDI and other forms of music productions. Why couldn’t I do the same? There were lots of people dedicated to making mainstream digital audio workstations more accessible or inventing a whole new kind of sequencer. But this guy made the news a few years ago for making a version of The Star-Spangled Banner on several floppy disc drives!
Then came Space Camp, a camp which I really, really wanted to go to since I was nine or ten years old. I first heard about it when my mother received a brochure from them in the mail. Unfortunately, it was pretty expensive, and we were never able to get a scholarship for me to attend. When I heard that a few of my other blind friends had gone, I was obviously extremely envious. It’s still something I long to do up to this day, so as to finally get closure. But I did get to do something that might’ve been equally just as fun, for I went to a camp where I got to meet a real live astronaut! They walked us through what sensations we could’ve expected to feel onboard the space shuttle or space capsule, how they were kept in orbit without falling back to the ground, etc. When they said that people couldn’t feel themselves going upside down in microgravity, I was excited to learn that, for that was what finally helped me overcome my fear of looping roller coasters!
Anyhow, once I finally got out of high school and was more knowledgeable about the world around me, I made my mum spell out any name she was unable to pronounce. I got to learn about fireworks stands like TNT Fireworks, Celebrate, among others. I was able to go on-line and read much more about these fireworks than what I had previously been able to do! And, thanks to my new direct support service provider, also known as a skills builder, helped me explore and acquire various kinds of long-reaching lighters that I could use independently! Still, I wasn’t quite sure where to start. I knew, based on reading books about Tom Swift’s giant cannon or tunnel-blasting, how they had used remote firing systems to set off an explosive charge, but to make sure I wasn’t actually missing out on anything that had already been covered by other blind people, I decided to ask on this forum for any potential solutions. I had already thought of using some kind of remote firing device that would use a pair of allegator clips that you’d simply clamp onto the fuse, and then you’d push a button, and voila! You’ve successfully ignited a firework all on your own!
Well, wouldn’t you know, but that is exactly what I found last year! There really was such a device, which works with an iOS app, and you can remotely set them off from up to a hundred feet in distance! But even professional fireworks displays don’t come without problems, as what had occurred in the 2012 San Francisco Big Bay Boom!
Now, thanks to my wonderful team, I look forward to the day when I can finally learn how to safely work with explosives, as long as I don’t have to be near them when they make a sharp report! I’ve always been easily startled by loud sudden explosions, like when balloons popped. Let’s keep the independence and interdependence going!