My Halloween Posse

Costumes donned. Pumpkins eviscerated. Blood sugar levels within acceptable limits. Here is part one of our weekend Halloween fun for 2010. Max is Bumblebee, and Miles is... well, a bumblebee. Max is starting to get the hang of this trick-or-treating business, but I still suspect he prefers to hand out candy rather than beg for it. He is such a selfless little robot.

Droids on the Loose

Max in Steveston just before trick-or-treating in the village shops. These pics instantly gave me a chuckle because they remind me of a series of photos by Cedric Delsaux that depict Star Wars characters and icons inconspicuously set in seemingly derelict landscapes of developing Dubai. Check out UFunk for a peek.

Halloween Tales from the Public Pool

Hahaha! No joke! I was bringing Max into the change room after swimming lessons today, and as Max was lining up to get into the shower, I peeked in and saw this kid standing under a nozzle, completely oblivious, with blood gushing out of his nose. The HORROR!!!!

Saturday Night (Dinner) Fever

Six years of writing on this blog and I am only now realizing that I have never properly documented my wife's talents. Saturday night dinner consisted of homemade sweet and sour pork (suubuta in Japanese). The massive spider on the left is a sticker that Max slapped on to the coffee table. Five days and I have still to peel it off.

A Parent's Weekend Dilemma

For the last few weekends, I have been faced with an early morning dilemma. Option One has me waking up at the same ungodly hour as my two sons. I would slowly resurface to consciousness with older Max while younger Miles barks, hoots, and moans a mere five feet away. The downside is that I am up from anywhere between 6 and 7 am... on a Saturday, but at least the boys and I can ease our way into the day together, vegetating in front of The Animal Mechanicals.

Should I do the noble thing and wake up with my children, or opt for Option Two and count on my fantastic wife to wake in my stead and assume parental duties? It would seem that letting Kotomi take one for the team would be a no brainer, but let's just say that I do take another hour and a half to myself in bed. What I eventually wake up to is a frenetic maelstrom of juvenile activity. Both boys are charged up and ready to go and expect me to jump into life without so much as a morning pee and a cup of coffee. Max demands a playmate before I can rub my eyes, and Miles demands my attention by the way he is licking his lips and eyeing the garbage can. The sudden jolt from restive to active is enough to simulate the very worst of hangovers, and I often wonder, every single time I choose Option Two, if I shouldn't just man up, wake up (early), and let my wife sleep in for once.

Difference #945

In certain quiet moments, I am reminded of how much Vancouver is NOT like Japan. Take, for example, public bath houses and pools. I doubt if anyone in Japan could find a man standing naked on a change room bench, afraid to get his drying feet dirty, yet not afraid to "hang out" (at eye level) all over his fellow patrons. Nor could anyone possibly spot a similarly elusive creature in the Land of the Rising Sun: a 300+ pound elderly gentleman drying his manhood underneath the lower blow dryer I had just previously placed my son under. I can see now how the fear of public communal bathing could be burned into the subconscious of so many of my Western friends. Can't wait to take Max to his next swimming lesson (last sentence written in 42 point Sarcastica font).