sticky cotton tightly fits in cheesy chuck’s ear
As you can imagine, we, eh, I relived the Q-Tip debacle this week. But this time…“… it was your fault, Nazy. You bought the cheap knock-offs.” I claimed.
“You, Dan, twisted the Q-Tip in your wet ear.” Nazy replied.
“Are you claiming that I don’t know how to use a Q-Tip?” I asked.
“I just saying..”
“ …. ‘operator error’. That’s what you’re saying.”
“If the shoe fits..”
“ … I’m not Cinderella.” I replied.
“The Q-Tip fit too tightly,” Nazy continued. “I can’t see anything in your ear. It’s too deep. We’ll have to call a doctor.”
“Good idea. Let’s find an urgent care facility.” I replied. “Don’t call my doctor,” I thought. “He’ll find the records from five years ago and make some juvenile joke.”
The (new) doctor was surprisingly non-judgmental.
“This is not at all unusual; you wouldn’t believe the things that people stuff in their ears.” He said. “Usually children do the stuffing, not retirees,” he thought, after a successful extraction.
Later that day, we were watching Tiger and Arrow at Melika’s house. Tiger was running around in his socks when he slipped on a short set of stairs. He fell and banged his lip. Arrow was instantly on the case.
“You’ll be all right, Tigah,” Arrow said comfortingly. “Tigah needs a ice pack!” he called to Nazy.
Arrow, who does most of the racing around, has a lot of experience with ice packs.
Nazy and I, meanwhile, are beginning to begin to wrap-up preparations for our Australia holiday. I’ve booked the hotels and internal flights. I’ve arranged an electronic visa for our visit — a new capability that replaces fond memories.
Flashback
I was visiting Australia for only my second time — and on my first trip to Sydney. The excursion had been booked as a business visit involving ING and HP. A colleague had told me that Australia had a policy to require visas for every visitor even though most countries allowed visa-free entry to visiting Australians. The visas were not, by the way, free. Accordingly, I had use help and money from HP’s travel group. I approached the immigration kiosk:
“Purpose of your trip?” The officer asked.
“Business.” I replied.
“Do you have any friends in Australia?”
“Not yet.” I replied.
“That’s the spirit, mate!”
End Flashback
Now Nazy and I have an electronic visa. One thing hasn’t changed, however. We still had to pay to get into the country.
This weekend, Nazy and I took Tiger and Arrow to dinner. We wanted a new location: some place child friendly, but different. We thought about local eating establishments and then Nazy remembered..
“….. and there is a Chuck E. Cheese place in Ventura, Dan. Children love Chuck E. Cheese.”
“It is a child-friendly and different place,” I replied, recalling fun we’d had there with our children in Houston. “Fun times in Houston,” I thought. “I think that’s the first time I’ve ever used the words ‘fun’ and ‘Houston’ in the same sentence.”
The visit began inauspiciously: Tiger fell asleep on the drive and I had to carry him into the restaurant.
“Maybe we shouldn’t have come on a weekend,” I thought, as merriment — in the form of happy, loud children bellowed through the huge facility. Nazy spotted a table where the boys and I set up shop while she braved the queues to place our order. The boys, overwhelmed by the surrounding commotion and pandemonium, waited for the salad and pizza. (I was more enthusiastic about the pizza.) While we waited, they were intrigued by ‘real, live upright mouse.’
After the meal, we hit the games and rides. Tiger and Arrow had the most fun on a non-non-mechanical construct that included a spiral slide, lots of climbing spaces and tunnels. It was impossible to keep track of them once they got inside, but luckily, there were only two exits and it was possible to watch them both from a single vantage point. The climb was a little difficult for Arrow, but Tiger lifted him up when Arrow got stuck. And, when Arrow was afraid to go down the spiral slide, Tiger held his hand and helped him climb down the alternative route. Arrow would not have been able to do it himself. Tiger even shared his lollipop with Arrow. And, they both enjoyed several of the mechanical rides.
Nazy and I are getting really excited about our trip to Australia — via Japan and New Zealand. We’re making lists and completing plans. There are a couple of challenges. Darius and Christiane have planned the birth of a second baby girl to …
“… almost coincide with our trip, Dar.” I noted. “We’ll be back on the 27th, but you’ve booked a due date is the 30th. That’s cutting it a bit..”
“Dad..”
“Ask Christiane to hold off.”
“Dad.”
“On second thought — let’s just hope. And don’t take Christiane to any trampoline parks until we’re back.”
“Dad…”
“Speechless, eh?” I replied… using my Canadian language skills to flummox him.
The other problem involves telephones. My carrier has several international plans, all of which are designed to extract maximum payment cannily combined with minimal service. It is, of course, important to be in touch during the trip, so we found an old smartphone, a Nokia Lumina which I had acquired several years ago during an assignment in Geneva. The plan is to get a local SIM card when we land. Nazy and I also used the Nokia the last time we went to Lebanon. Amazingly, we found the charging cord and even more astonishingly, the device still works. The operating system, designed by Microsoft is cool, non-standard. And at 3:44 AM..
“ …. what is that, Dan?” Nazy jostled me awake. “It sounds like a baby is crying.”
“Eh,” I replied.
“It’s your computer.”
I stumbled into my office and silenced the alarm on the Nokia phone. It took me a long while to find a way to turn off the alarm the next morning. It is non-standard software.
For last week's letter, please click here
The Boys at Chuck E. Cheese