December 2004 Archives

Christmas and two boys
So many gifts. But rarely
The gift of silence.

I went to see David Ben the magician in his new show, Tricks, last night. David is really into "classic" magic -- mostly sleight of hand and mindreading etc -- rather than the stunt stuff, and it was really entertaining. He has a way or wrapping his tricks into stories -- real or fictional -- which give them some context beyond just being wonderous. One thing I love about the convention of magic shows is they start a trick and let you think you have figured out how it works, then at the very end they do some to totally confound your expectations.

Funnily enough, I know David from many years ago, when he was still a practicing lawyer. He knew my friend Mark (drummer in the Porktrashers) and I remember sitting with him and him talking about the classic tricks and showing me some coin stuff etc. He talked about how he really wanted to do magic full time, and I remember thinking (as an actor at that time), "It sure ain't going to pay a lawyer's salary." And it may not, but he's done a show at Shaw (he writes the shows with Patrick Watson of CBC fame), and has made a great name for himself. Very cool.

Isn't a vaccine supposed to prevent you from catching the disease? The answer is yes of course, but it doesn't always work that way. Campbell and Leighton went for their chicken pox shots this week, and a day later Leighton broke out in bright red spots... Guess what? In about 2-5% of cases, the vaccine can actually trigger the disease, although in a very mild form. By coincidence, when Carol went back to the doctor there was also a well know immunologist there. He was naturally pretty interested to see this, as I gather it's fairly rare.

Leighton doesn't seem that bothered by it, buy he really looks a mess. He's so fair skinned, and the red blotches make him look distinctly polka-dotted. A celebratory look for the season I guess.

As I come out of the gym in the Eglinton Mall, I pass the Toys R Us. The other day, I heard this weird monkey like shreiking coming out of the store and reverberating down the mall. It was like someone had plugged in a crazy kids' game to an amplifier. I figured it was some sort of promo, and that music or something was about to start. But this weird rhythmic screeching continued, and as I looked in the store I could see nothing that looked like a promotion. Other people were looking there as well, with puzzled or bemused looks on their faces.

Then I noticed the source: a little girl lying on the ground in the cash aisle between her mother's legs. She was kicking her feet and screaming blue murder, taking huge gulps of air and then letting loose for all she was worth. Her mother was calmly siging a VISA receipt for what was clearly a boy's toy. You'd never have known anything was going on to look at her face. The cashier had also clearly seen this all before and was standing patiently.

This is the Tao of Toys that all parents must learn practice.

Campbell was in full tantrum mode this morning, as we appear to be back in the dark place with him again and his moods. Carol says he is completely unmanageable coming out of school in the afternoons, and seems to be doing everything he can to test her limits.

In the mornings, of course anything you want him to do he says "NO!" to, because that's what been four and having tantrums is about. When I went to put gloves on him, the response was predictable, so I said "Fine" even though it was minus five and blowing outside (I drew the line at coat and boots though and strongarmed him into those), and bundled him into the stroller. . About halfway there I noticed him trying to pull his hands up into his sleeves and into his pockets. He looked quite sorry about this decision. I said nothing, and thought how good it was to live in a climate where nature can make the point much more clearly than you ever could.

If there's anyone from social services reading, yes, I had put his gloves in his backpack for later.

The One of a Kind Show wrapped up on Sunday, and although it was a great success, it just about killed us all. This "giant 11 day craft show" is not a good business model for a family of four with two small children. Lucky she has lots of family and friends who want to help out, but that won't last forever. The good news is that she got strong interest from a couple of downtown stores who want to carry her stuff, I figure if we get that going then it could be a more steady source of income -- maybe less overall, but also less of a burden on everyone.

I went down on Sunday night to do the break down with our friend Rupert. The booth comes apart pretty easily, but as we were wheeling it out of the parking lot (to try and get it to somewhere we could surreptitiously load it onto the truck as there was no room in the officially sanctioned spots), the flats slid off the centre of the dolly and partially broke, trapping us in the entrance to the lot. Rupert said, "You know, folks can get by, let's just load it here." So I ran and got the car, pulled it up onto the curb, and that's what we did. Guerilla Luckily with the bustle of some many coming and going, no one gave us a hard time. I guess this is just the reality of doing the show -- you just make do with what you can.

Let me say it again: Thank God it's over.