All told it was a lot of fun, although a bit surreal. It’ll be interesting to compare it to when we take Sammie. I’m not sure how much I’ll like the rides when I have to wait an hour and a half to get on one.

20

Update: Looks like the survey results are now broken. Damn marketing campaigns…

In California, sledding is an event. Last weekend we went to Pinecrest, on the way to Yosemite, to go sledding. We spent Friday night at my brother-in-law’s place in Tracy, about 45 minutes a way, and then in the morning we all piled into his SUV and drove 2+ hours. We brought Sammie and his 2 older girls. The night before we had to make a Target run to buy some snow boots – back in Ohio, people just had that sort of stuff. It was kind of expected.

Anyway, we played in the snow for a few hours on this big slope with a couple dozen other families (it was crowded, in typical California fashion), and we all had a pretty good time. The weather was nice too – a balmy 45 degrees. Sammie was pretty freaked out when we went sledding, but she loved throwing snowballs. Apparently kids nowadays don’t make snowballs the old fashioned way, they use snowball makers. I wish they had those 20 years ago. Aside from nearly knocking myself out trying to take a small jump on the sled, I had a blast.

All in all, it was fun but somewhat of an ordeal. Not that I’m complaining – I don’t like playing in the snow enough to have to live with it.

Friendship None of that Sissy Crap

Are you getting tired of those sissy "friendship" poems that

always sound good, but never actually come close to reality?

Well, here is a series of promises that actually speak of true friendship.

You will see no cutesy little smiley faces on this card-

Just the stone cold truth of our friendship.

1. When you are sad -- I will help you get drunk and plot revenge against

the sorry bastard who made you sad.

2. When you are blue -- I will try to dislodge whatever is choking you.

3. When you smile -- I will know you are plotting something that

I must be involved in.

4. When you are scared -- I will rag on you about it every chance I get.

5. When you are worried -- I will tell you horrible stories about how

much worse it could be until you quit whining.

6. When you are confused -- I will use little words.

7. When you are sick -- Stay the hell away from me until you are well.

Again, I don't want whatever you have.

8. When you fall ---- I will point and laugh at your clumsy ass.

9. This is my oath.... I pledge it to the end. "Why?" you may ask;
" because you are my friend ".

Friendship is like peeing your pants, everyone can see it,
But only you can feel the true warmth.

Sure, she was scared at first (she didn’t like the skeletons at the very entrance), but the exhibit really emphasizes life and is really tastefully done, so there are lost of giant pictures of people of all ages including young kids, and those helped make her comfortable. We did get some disapproving looks from other people, but we ignored them. Children are surprisingly resilient, emotionally as well as physically, and when we got to the section on fetal development Sammie was really into it. She kept wanting to the see “mommy” and the “baby” even after we’d already gone to the end of the exhibit. And later on in the exhibit, she didn’t give the cadavers on display as much as a 2nd glance but instead seemed more bored than anything else.

As for myself, it was interesting but not nearly as moving as I’d expected. The exhibit was rather short, shorter than the other versions I’d heard about elsewhere in the country, and the plastinates seemed almost fake, which took away the emotional impact. Intellectually it was interesting, but it was more like touring Madame Tussaud’s and not as visceral as I would have hoped. I thought I would have left with a much stronger sense of my own mortality, but instead I thought I’d simply learned a few things and seen some ‘neat stuff’. On top of that, there were a few of the displays that seemed to be almost a bit gratuitous where they seemed to have used the body more as a material for a piece of art as opposed to a work of art in and of itself. Nonetheless, it was fascinating and worth a trip — even with kids.

However, I’d already gotten some passes for Huong and myself for her birthday which we’d never redeemed, so I took her a couple of days later to try it out. Plus there’s nothing sexier than a lady in a jumpsuit. I have to say the 2nd time around it’s a lot more fun since the instructor let me pretty much fly around inside the tunnel without any assistance. I wasn’t doing barrel rolls or anything, but it got me thinking I might try it out again…Huong thought it was fun to try, but wasn’t really all that excited about going again – once was enough. But if anybody else out there’s interested in giving it a go, I might be convinced to take another trip…