Perpetual Stroll

Selling Magic Jumping Beans at the Royal Medieval Faire

I arrived in Waterloo Park early in the morning with a backpack and a large beach umbrella. As the other vendors busily set up their booths, I simply stuck the umbrella into the ground and sat down. I was ready to go. After all, the only thing that I would be selling that day would be Magic Jumping Beans.

I looked around for familiar faces. None. Jenny wouldn't be arriving for another hour. And then, I saw A, a young girl no older than 5 or 6 years old who had kept me company at last year's Faire. "Hey! Remember me?” She eyed me suspiciously and kept on walking. “I’m the jumping bean guy!” Now she started veering away from me. I looked around and sighed. Hopefully nobody would think there was a child predator dressed up in a medieval monk's costume wandering around the park.

So I sat down at my booth and began the day selling my Magic Jumping Beans. A couple of hours later, A. hopped up to the table and looked at me carefully. Then she broke out into a smile. “Hey! I remember you! You’re the jumping bean man! You gave me jumping beans! But I lost them somewhere." Children are funny that way.

Her sticky fingers held a plastic cup full of pink lemonade. She plopped it down on the table as she played with the jumping beans. After a while, she announced, “I’ll be right back!” and ran off. Her lemonade sat forgotten on the table, as condensation and wasps gathered around it.

Half an hour later, she came back clutching a toonie in her hand. "I’d like some beans please!" And I gave her a small container. She examined the beans carefully and excitedly ran off. I turned to Jenny and laughed. She had forgotten to pay, but I had been planning on giving her some beans anyway, just for keeping me company. She returned a few minutes later. "Oops, I forgot to pay you!" and she pressed a toonie into my hand before scampering off again. A few minutes later she was back. "I forgot my lemonade!"

It was these kinds of exchanges that made the day so much fun and reminded me why I love working with youth-- even the forgetful ones. Throughout the day, children would come to the booth and stare at the Magic Jumping Beans with wonder and are absolutely captivated by the little tremors and hops that come and go randomly. And even a teenage boy, after initially scoffing at the beans, reluctantly came to the table and soon found himself fascinated by the strange beans and asked all sorts of questions.

At the end of the day, we folded up the umbrella and walked home. I suppose little weekend activities like these little experiments in combining money with... well, fun. Hopefully, these opportunities will become larger and more frequent. And perhaps one day I'll find myself making a career out of having fun.

Click here to see more pictures from the Faire.

Lori and Shawn's wedding ceremony

While I pride myself on my multi-tasking abilities, trying to talk on my cell phone while putting on my shoes and eating a peach proved to be too much. "Hello?" It was Jackson. "Yo, what are you doing between the ceremony and the reception?" I finally got my shoes on and proceeded to tie my tie. "Listen, I'm really busy right now. Can we talk about this after the ceremony?"

It was 2:30 pm and the ceremony would be starting at 3 pm. By the time 2:35 pm rolled around, Jenny was outside honking her horn. I flew out the door.

Earlier in the day, we had turned the house upside down looking for the wedding card we had carefully picked out the week before. It even had a little slot for a gift card! It was that good! After 2 hours of searching, it remained missing and we had to concede that I had either accidently thrown it out by accident or mistakenly sent it to someone for their birthday. Who knows?

It was time to find another card. I called Jenny from the local convenience store while looking at racks of cards. "Hi hon, why do all wedding cards suck?" "Aw, I'm sure there's a good one somewhere." "No, they all suck. It's a universal truth. Remember the thing where Gandhi wrote all religions are true? He also wrote all wedding cards suck." "He didn't write that!"

On the way to the ceremony, we somehow managed to hit every single red light along the way. The minutes ticked by. 2:53 pm. As Jenny drove, she looked over and asked me what time it was. "We have tons of time. Just keep on driving." 2 red lights later, 2:57 pm rolled around. I called Jackson. No answer.

"Um, he's not answering his phone, I think they may have already started." We pulled into the parking lot at 3:02 pm. We ran up to the doors and peeked inside. Everyone was standing. We went in through the side door and slowly tiptoed into the sanctuary just in time for the community vow to support their marriage. "We do."

Princess Leia and Han Solo on the wedding cake

The ceremony was one of the best I've ever seen. When we got there, it was 3:02. We were out by 3:16. Short, sweet, and to the point. I like it. A lot. As a child, I remember being bored silly with marathon wedding ceremonies. I would play with the Bibles and song books in the pews, wondering why there were no colouring books or ... something fun. There should be a new rule for wedding ceremonies: If it's going to be over an hour, it better be fun for everyone. For instance, at my wedding, the ceremony would be an hour long, but everyone would be wearing costumes. And holding lightsabres.

After the ceremony, there were a couple of hours left until the reception. It was time to find a gift. It's not that I had forgotten, but I knew what I was going to get weeks ahead of time-- a home depot gift card -- but kept on putting it off for one reason or another. You know. Life gets busy.

So we made our way to Home Depot, but the only gift cards that were around were ones that said "Dad, you rule!" I sighed. We were running out of time. I purchased the card, loaded it up with money, crossed out "Dad", and wrote "Lori and Shawn". I could only laugh at the absurdity of it all. I really wanted to be able to get them the kind of gift that they could look at after 15 years of marriage and think, "isn't that such a great gift?" I'll have to make sure I'm the first one to hit the baby registry.

Fast forward. New dress. Picked up Jackson and Ryan. The reception. Play.

You don't really appreciate how much planning goes into weddings until you hear the behind-the-scenes stories of people who are getting married. There are so many details that have to be taken care of that I'm surprised more people don't get married at city hall and have their reception at Chuck E' Cheese. However, Lori, being the goddess of organization that she is, had everything taken care of weeks ahead of time.

The reception was fantastic. The food was delicious. And if there was any disappointment, it is only because I don't think I will ever get another opportunity to see so many people from my academic life in such a different context. Imagine seeing all of your professors dancing it up, forming a giant conga line, and doing the funky chicken. And to literally top it all off, the wedding cake had figurines of Princess Leia and Han Solo, frozen in perpetual awesomeness, knee-deep in icing.

Absolutely beautiful.

Lori and Shawn dancing

One element of Western weddings that I have only recently discovered are speeches. At Lori and Shawn's wedding, they were all heartfelt, well-written and well-delivered. I found the speeches from the fathers to be particularly poignant. I suppose I had never really thought about what it would be like for a father to see his daughter or son get married. My own parents tend to be pretty private people and I don't think they enjoy the spotlight. I imagine my father's speech would go something along the lines of, "Congratulations! All the best! Don't do anything stupid." Cliff, my best friend, tells me that he already has had his Best Man speech written for quite a while. I'm can't even begin to imagine what he might say, and I suspect he may chime in on that subject in the comments below.

On Saturday, the spotlight was on Lori and Shawn and they certainly deserved every moment of it. I first met Lori a few years ago, simply because I was something of a fixture around the department office. Over the years, I got to know her through our frequent conversations. She was always there to listen to the drama that would find its way into my life and there were countless moments when she saved my ass during those days when everything seemed like everything was breaking down. In the time I've known her, she's transformed the department office into a model of efficiency and organization. I remember how excited she was when she first met Shawn and before long, Jackson and I were helping them move into their new house. Before all this, I never really appreciated the community aspect of a wedding. Inasmuch as a wedding is for the happy couple, it's also very much an opportunity for other people to take part.

As we all crowded around to watch them dance at the end of the night, I found myself thinking a lot. In about a month, Jenny and I will be taking off for a destination wedding. In the last year, it seems like there have been a ton of people who have gotten engaged and/or married. Even one of the students who I taught 3 years ago recently got engaged and I couldn't be happier for her. I've been surrounded by commitment and marriage and inevitably reflecting on it. How do you know for sure? When's the right time? Questions like that.

I try to keep my thoughts focused on the present and I'm reminded of Yoda chastising Luke for always thinking ahead to the future and craving adventure and excitement. All his life has he looked away... to the future, to the horizon. Never his mind on where he was. Hmm? What he was doing. I think a sobering moment for me was when Lori sat down next to me later in the evening and I asked her if anything felt different and she happily answered with a simple, "nope". It didn't quite hit me until a few days later, but I realized that I've built up marriage in my head to be an event that somehow fundamentally changes a relationship, when perhaps it's more of a ritual of affirmation.

I'm slowly turning it over in my head as the days go by.

Click here to see all the photos from the wedding.

Cooking up a storm in my kitchen

I never really appreciated how much work goes into preparing a Thanksgiving meal until I took it upon myself to do so for my household; it's a culinary gong show. I think it is the first time I have ever simultaneously used all four burners on the stove, the oven, and the microwave. I managed to multitask pretty well, with the exception of the dinner rolls, which I completely forgot in the microwave and found hours after we had finished eating. Surprisingly, even though it was my first time, the turkey came out moist and nicely browned; it was the first Thanksgiving for my Swedish roommates, so I supposed if I burned the whole thing I could have said, "well, it's what we do in Canada. Have some more wine."

Jenny and I spent the weekend visiting family and stuffing ourselves with food. My younger cousins recently found those Mentos and coke videos on YouTube and decided that this would be a good opportunity to try it out.

The results were pretty impressive and I have to admit that it's been something that I've wanted to try for a while. After the sun set, my cousins wanted to try making a coke rocket which involves inserting the Mentos, sealing up the bottle, and hurling it at the ground. This usually results in the cap popping off, the bottle shooting up in the air, and coke being sprayed everywhere-- in this case, it would be all the cars belonging to my family members, which lined the street. This plan was vetoed. But I did offer my vote in support of this rocket if my cousin licked an entire floor tile. He declined.

At Jenny's parents' place, I was introduced to her grandmother's coconut cream pie, which I quite enjoyed and secretly hoped that it would help me gain weight. After dinner, I weighed myself on the bathroom scale and found that I have barely gained back any of the weight I lost this summer. I'm at 146 pounds. Is this normal?

I still haven't figured out how to slow down my metabolism which is still under the impression that I'm biking across Canada. Even though I had just stuffed myself with a Thanksgiving meal, a few hours later, I found myself on the phone ordering wings to satiate my sudden onset of hunger. It doesn't help that chips have been on sale at the local grocery stories; in the past 24 hours, I've eaten two large bags by myself. Anyone have any healthy snack suggestions?

1st place - Animal

This year, I wasn't able to enter the photographic print category of the Markham Fair, but I managed to send in some submissions via email for the digital exhibition. Though the prizes are small (a few dollars if you place first), I nonetheless enjoyed the anticipation of waiting for the results and well, it's always nice to be appreciated.

1st place - Sunset or Sunrise

3rd place - Rural Landscape

2nd place - Human Portrait

2nd place - Footprints

Jack Layton speaking at the Paul Martin Centre (he noted the irony)

A couple of weeks ago, Jack Layton came to Laurier as part of a university tour that included several universities in the Ontario. Half an hour before it began, I lay in bed thinking about how tired I was and whether or not there would be free food. In the end, I decided to go because political underdogs have always held a certain fascination for me; the ones who strive in the background in the face of all opposition in hopes that they can effect some real change. Or at least, that's what I'd like to think. Half an hour later, I found myself staring at a packed room with all the seats either filled or being held for others. Damn. However, Laura spotted me and waved me over to graciously offer me a seat in the front row.

While the topics were interesting, such as environmental issues, post-secondary education, and the war in Afghanistan, I found myself more interested in how Jack Layton spoke. There is something about listening to political leaders speak, after all, part of their survival depends on charm and charisma. When I was in high school, I had an opportunity to hear Brian Mulroney speak. I don't remember much from his speech, aside from an anecdote about a brief exchange he had with a woman in an elevator, "You look a lot like Brian Mulroney." He smiled and figured he wouldn't say anything about being former Prime Minister, "I know". And the woman leaned over and whispered, "I'm sorry".

When he finished, there was a standing ovation. And it wasn't one of those half-assed standing ovations, the ones where everyone stands up because a handful of people in the front are clapping wildly and then you feel bad because you're still sitting down. No, it was one of those standing ovations in which everyone immediately rose. You couldn't help but like him. No matter how much people may despise him for NAFTA, the GST, or his patronage appointments to the Senate, the fact remains is that he is probably one of the best public speakers to ever hold the office of the Prime Minister.

Who's the best public speaker you've ever heard?

When I moved into my first house in my second year of university, I remember that my limited cooking skills dictated that I ate mostly canned and microwavable food. My typical shopping cart would contain a loaf of bread, processed cheese slices, a box of chicken nuggets, pizza pockets, hot dogs, and hamburgers. There would also be a couple of bottles of pop for good measure. When I couldn't even be bothered to fry a hamburger, I would simply cook some rice and unceremoniously dump a can of sardines on top of it.

My roommate Marcos could often be found making coffee in a French press while I munched on my sloth-induced concoctions. In that house, it was the perfect convergence of class and ass.

4 years later, while I still do enjoy the foods of my 20-year-old self on occasion, I can't imagine reverting back to eating hamburgers every day for weeks on end. Today, my typical shopping cart usually contains an assortment of pasta, fruits, vegetables and items from all four food groups. Chips are a rarity and pop has been replaced with soda water and fruit juices. Never in my life did I anticipate the moment when I found myself standing at the fish counter at the New City Supermarket in Kitchener asking for fresh tilapia.

An aside: to all of you who dislike fish, try tilapia. It's crisp, clean, and doesn't taste like most other fish. I've heard halibut described in similar terms, but it is ridiculously expensive at $15-20 a pound, whereas tilapia is only about $3 a pound. If you're interested in trying it sometime and live around Waterloo, let me know and I'll invite you over for dinner so you can try some.

So, what has brought about these changes in my shopping cart? Well, this past summer I had to avoid filling myself with junk, because I could not reasonably expect my body to cycle 150+ km a day after eating an entire bag of chips for dinner the night before. I became much more conscious of my health and at one point, I was actually counting calories to ensure that I was getting the nutrients I needed. But besides that, many of the changes have also been motivated by my relationship with Jenny, but more on that in the next post.

What's in your shopping cart?