Ty’s Weblog

I took Xander to his first circus tonight.

Every year, AOL has a night at Big Apple Circus when they come to town. Tonight was the night, and I took Xander to it. Kate and I decided that Mira was a bit too little to enjoy the whole thing.

Xander loved it. His first joy was that they had the AOL Running Man there, and Xander got his picture taken with him.

It’s a small circus. One ring, I guess you’d call it. That’s not to say it’s not great, it’s just not the size I remember going when I was a kid. I think this might be better though. You are much closer to everything that is going on.

They had dogs and horses as the animal acts, and they were amazing.

There were trapeze artsits, solo and group, jugglers, acrobats, clowns (of course), one horse, two dog acts, a ventriloquist, and a guy going Peter Pan on aerial straps who was just amazing.

It was a lot of fun and Xander just loved it. He had a wonderful time, and I did too.

Oh, I forgot to mention the other reason we were at Target. We were buying stuff to make some personal care kits to take to Xander’s school. They are going to be sending them off to another school where there are people in the area that were hit by Katrina.

We’re also making little fun care packs to be handed out to the kids there. I was once again very proud of Xander. He pays attention to what is going on around him, and he’s heard us talk about Rita heading to Texas and just the general hurricane stuff in general.

So Saturday afternoon I was in his room and remembered I’d not given him his allowance for the week yet. I had two dollars in my pocket, so I reach in and handed it to him. He took it and put it in his money basket. He turned to me and said, “I’m going to save that and buy something for the hurricane people with it.” I very nearly cried.

So while we were at Target today, he picked out some cars (which were much more than two dollars, but he doesn’t need to know that) to send to the kids who lost their toys in the hurricanes.

I’m so proud of him it almost makes me cry now, too. If he’s already leaning, at the age of 5, about helping others, I think he’ll turn out to be a good person indeed.

We Love Katamari came out last week and I didn’t even notice! I know, I’m shocked too! Last I’d looked, it was going to come out in October or November. In any case, it’s out now and we went out to Target this morning to pick it up.

Xander, Mira, and I had a great time playing it. Not much has changed from the previous game, but it has a lot of new levels, and that’s what I wanted the most anyway. It also has an expanded vs. mode, so Xander and I can play against each other, and it has a co-op mode, so we can work together.

It’s a lot of fun. The music and the story are as unique as ever also. I’m thrilled that such a low key game but original game has become such a success.

I had one of the best pizzas I’ve even eaten today.

We went to San Francisco Oven, which is a new pizza place that opened up in Ashburn a month or so ago, I guess. We’ve been once before, but I didn’t get pizza that time.

Anyway, I got a pizza with pepperoni and roasted garlic. It was wondeful. The roasted garlic just make the whole thing great. They do take and bake pizzas also, where they make it up and you bring it home and cook it yourself, which sounds wondeful also.

So on the way to school today, I was teasing with Xander about something I don’t even remember any more. He responsed, “Have you lost your mind?” Which is something he’s started saying when you say something silly, I’m not sure where he picked it up.

I told him, “Maybe, no wait, there it is, in my head.”

“With your brain?” Xander responded.

“Yes, with my brain.”

A few seconds of silence pass.

“Daddy, what’s the difference between your brain and your mind.”

*blink, blink* I thought to myself, “Well, there are full masters programs on that question.” I thought about it for a few seconds.

“Well, you brain is the actual physical object that is in your head,” I responded.

“You mean the grey thing?” Xander asked.

*blink, blink again*

“Yes, the grey thing in your head. And your mind is more what makes you you. It’s all the thinking that you do in your head.”

“So if I lost my mind, I’d lose myself?”

“Yeah, I guess you would. If you lost if for real, not just when we’re being silly and you say we’ve lost our mind.”

“O.K.”

I was amazed that he even asked that line of questions, much less that he seemed to understand some of the answers I managed to give him. I’m constantly impressed by this little boy of mine.

Right after Katrina hit, Kate and I decided to give some money to the Red Cross. We decided this would be a good chance to help teach Xander about helping others. We took some time and talked to him about what had happened and what the people there were going through, and he decided to give them his allowance for the week. We were very proud of him for that.

So this evening Dad calls to let us know everything in going fine in Clinton as far as Ophelia goes, it’s not really been more than a bad storm for them. When I get off the phone with them, I’m telling the kids that they called and that the hurricane wasn’t too bad for them. Xander immediately asked, “Do I need to send them some money?” I told him no, but that I was very proud of him for asking. I was, too. I certainly didn’t expect him to offer up his own money again. I guess the talk that we had with him before stuck or something. In any case, I’m very proud of him being able to think of the needs of others.

I’m registered as player 142 in this year’s World rec.gambling.poker Tournament.

It’s an online, play by email, not real money Texas Hold’em tournament that is held every year. I’ve played the last three years and I’ve really enjoyed it.

Last year I finished 819 out of 1159 players (went out on a pair of Jacks, no less).

I was 462 out of 1094 the year before that (with an unsuited K and Q)

And the year before that I was 307 out of 1086 (with a pair of 3s).

So I looks like I get worse every year.
We’ll see how things go this year.

Xander had a wondeful day at school today. He was very excited about his day. As usual, getting actual details out of him is a bit of work. He loved getting to stay till 3pm though. He learned to do some cloth folding today as one of his solo lessons. There appear to have been a lot of group lessons today that revolved around the rules of the class room, not a big shock for the first day.

In any case, Xander had a great time and is looking forward to heading back again tomorrow.

We dropped Xander off this morning for his first day of Kindergarten. He, of course, did great. The question, is how the rest of us will do. I’m going to deal with it the best, since I’m at work all day anyway. Kate and Mira will have some adjusting to do, since they are used to seeing Xander all day. I think it’ll take Mira the longest to adjust, she gets upset when she can’t find any of us when she expects us to be there.

More info on how Xander’s day went later.