Kids

The other day, Bianca told me I should vote for McCain. Why? Because Obama made a promise to raise taxes. Bianca said we don't want more taxes because it's extra money that we have to pay. That sounds logical to me. But should I really cast my vote in the stead of an 8 year old?

Camille's birthday party was today. Her birthday was on September 23rd, she turned 6. I got her a stuffed animal. A big one. It's a horse. I think it's funny to give kids gifts that are bigger than they are. It was a prize from Dave & Buster's, and it took a long time to earn enough tickets for the stuffed animals I had in mind. Mostly won tickets playing the Jumpin Jackpot. Very tiring. I finally got the jackpot in the end. I rule. Then when I asked about the horses, I asked if there were any in the back of a different color, as I didn't think black or gray would go over well with Camille. And the lady tells me there's a slightly smaller one, 2000 tickets cheaper than the ones on display. So I got a nice brown horse which is still very large, and wasted about two hours in Dave & Buster's. Oh well. Gave her the horse a week or two early. She really liked it. Said she slept with it and took it with her in the bathroom. Now I can't touch that horse. Germs.

Her birthday party was at Bounce U. It's an indoor place with large inflatable.. things. The same stuff that they make moonwalks from. There was a large slide, an obstacle course, a boxing ring with oversized boxing gloves, and an arena for throwing foam balls at each other. I tried several times to run up the large slide, but couldn't make it to the top before the slippery surface caused me to fall. The adults had a relay race that I participated in. Through the obstacle course, climb up the stairs of the slide, slide down, and run back to tag the next person. For the first set, I was paired with my cousin Edward. He went first, and gave us a lead in the beginning. But my opponent gained the lead at the beginning of the slide. There's only enough room for one person to go up the stairs of the slide at a time; it's a narrow opening beside the slide part, with inflatable steps and a strap along the side to go up. I was pretty sure it wouldn't be legal to drag his leg to pull him down and climb over him, so we lost. Next relay race was of two teams of three, but all the kids were playing in the obstacle course. It was declared by one of their parents, that the kids would simply act as more obstacles of the course. A little crazy? Maybe Filipinos just have a strong belief in the toughness of their kids. Nobody got injured, and my team won the race. Hooray.

So later on the adults were teasing me. They were all talking in Tagalog, and I said to Edward, "They're all talking in code." So one of them translates the previous story into English. And Mau tells me, "I'll teach you something. Say 'maganda ka'." I happen to know 'maganda', so I guess the other part and reply "very beautiful"? (It actually translates to "you are beautiful.") She says "Ooh thank you!" and one of the guys asks if I think she's pretty. Which is not something I thought would be good to answer either way. Then they start telling me she's single, BUT has a kid, and that I'm "looking for a girlfriend, right?" For some reason, Edward chimes in and says that I take really good pictures. Which leads to them talking about how Mau should pose for some nude pictures, and that her photos would need some digital rendering. They're a fun, silly bunch. Definitely didn't expect that line of dialogue at my 6 year old niece's birthday party.