Magic planet-wielding street dancing stroller-filled parade
Times have changed and pulling a red wagon up State Street won’t do anymore. A complex and expansive plan is required. A plan that meets the theme of the parade. (This year’s theme was outer space.) Melika, Tom and Ali recruited 100 close friends (and family) to participate. At the same time, Matt began recreating the solar system.
Technical Note: For the purposes of this parade, Pluto was deemed to be a Planet. (A Dwarf Planet, but a planet none-less.)
Matt hand painted the planets and the Sun - all represented by giant balloons. (Several of the balloons were filled with helium.) The 100 marchers wore space-themed costumes. Mitra, up from Los Angeles, was a bit bemused as Tom described the loud soundtrack and associated dance instructions.
“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” Mitra thought. “It is so…”
I shared Mitra’s trepidation. “This sounds more like a street festival than a parade,” I thought. “It’s not like when I marched with the Boy Scouts down Washington Avenue in Carteret New Jersey.”
Tom continued. “We will play a six song loop. Now I’ll describe the steps and themes for each song. 100,000 people have come out just to see us. Pay attention people.”
Nazy was taking notes. I was holding the grand(est)son. Mitra was meditating.
“… We have three lunar rovers playing loud music. (Ear plugs are available at the door). Now, when ‘Around the World’ by Daft Punk begins to play, our entire procession will stop and the fleet of strollers should circle the Earth.”
“Daft Punk?” I thought.
“You have to push the stroller, Dan.” Nazy interjected. “I won’t be able to see over the attached space shuttle balloon and if I’m pushing the stroller I won’t be able to dance to Fireball by Pit Bull.”
“Pit Bull?” I thought.
We high-fived our way to the assembly point whereTom reminded me that he wanted Tiger to “have as much fun on his first solstice parade as I had on mine”.
The Assembly Point
“I understand, Tom,” I replied - aware of the awesome responsibility that now rested on my shoulders. I also knew that few people remembered anything that happened when they were one year old.
Tiger’s stroller was positioned right next to the 1000 MegaWatt Lunar Lander - which began blasting out the Theme from 2001 as the parade got underway. Tiger responded by falling asleep.
“I’ve already failed in my mission,” I thought as I tried to find my spot in the complex plan that Melika had prepared:
The Parade Team Plan
When the music started, Mitra, who was supposed to flank Venus and toss a beach ball representation of the planet Earth into the crowd, underwent spontaneous transformation. She accelerated - sprinting to the head of our procession. She engaged with the crowd (now estimated at 200,000). She danced. She cheered. She won the most valuable participant trophy.
Nazy also got into the mood. So excited to be performing to the Beastie Boys’ Intergalactic,she didn’t see friends cheering from the sidelines. (Beastie Boys? I thought.)
Meanwhile, I was taking my responsibility (“Make sure he remembers this parade&rdquo
very seriously.
After the parade, we all assembled at Mark and Andreana’s for a pool party. In fact, as I later found out, more than all of us assembled. Some guy who was costumed as an X-Wing Fighter just joined our group and followed everyone to the party.
This week, Nazy and I also attended the Santa Barbara Newcomers Club Birthday Party celebration. It was an elegant party featuring a close-up magician - a magician that made the unfortunate decision.…
“He chose Nazy from the audience,” I thought. “I can’t believe it. He won’t believe it either.”
The magician, named Steve, is appearing at The Magic Castle. Nazy and I went to Los Angeles’ Magic Castle a few years ago. (Mitra had arranged a party to celebrate our anniversary.) For Nazy, Steve planned a trick that didn’t rely on sleight of hand. He thought that nothing could go wrong as he handed a large stack of old magazine pages to Nazy…
“I want you to pick any big word that you see on any of these pages,” the Magician explained.
The Magician failed to keep a few important things in mind: (i) The room was dimly lit; (ii) Nazy, with her contact lens, could not see small type; and (iii) ‘Big word’ is ambiguous. Nazy chose the word ‘drop’ - displayed on page 63a (an advertisement) in a 56 point font.”
“Did you choose a big word?” The Magician asked.
“Yes!” Nazy replied.
“It’s not a big word,” I whispered.
The magician, unable to guess Nazy’s word, clarified the instructions. “You can’t choose a word like ‘it’ or ‘and’ that won’t impress anyone. Pick a word with at least 8 letters.”
“You mean a long word,” Nazy replied. Then she chose ‘Britian’ - which has 7 letters.The Magician calmly adjusted by moving to a sleight of hand card trick - which went very well. (I celebrated by having a piece of Birthday Cake.)
Mitra and The Planets