Bending Coins

Bending Coins

My Pen Mates,

I love Craig Ferguson; his antics and delivery crack me up. I can tell he's an old soul, callused yet sensitive, with that rare, unique, smart delivery belying an almost childlike innocence. His ability to laugh at himself and the world gives me that chuckle I need to close out the day.
And yet seeing him the other night did not seem so special. Perhaps I was picking up on his true vibe (as like with everyone, he could have an off night too), or perhaps my mind-set was not as accommodating as usual to enjoy his show. Such is the wisdom one learns from living through life's unpredictable twists and turns. At some point, a trick can become so familiar that we seek to see something new, something that piques our interest and gives us reason to be curious all over again.

I have a customer who does magic tricks for my kids whenever he visits the shop. Rope tricks, card tricks, puzzles, coins, hankies __ he's got the tools of the trade to keep the kids amused and amazed. I would have been as fascinated at that age, but less impressed at mine now. It's not truly familiarity (because I have yet to figure out how he pulls off some of the tricks), but rather a disinterest borne of discerning reality from illusion. I share their joy at getting tricked and I derive pleasure from seeing them being entertained. But in this case, it's not the act that gives me pleasure but the experience of seeing my kids in trance-like rapture.

Craig is my adult equivalent of the bending coins trick. I'm sure he can entertain me on many more occasions, and I'm not ready to submit that I have outgrown his humor; but the time has come when I'm no longer a passive audience looking for a laugh. I've started mentally dissecting the source of the material. Knowing that a roomful of writers put it together, I still give full attribution to the comic for effective delivery. That's why I admire Ferguson to begin with; knowing more about his life and background, I have an idea of where the scars lie that can bring about his mental state. In the theater of his shtick, I may have changed as an audience. But I remain a seeker of humor and strain to look at its source as does a child following a magic trick, that I will myself to be entertained. Sometimes, not wanting to know the trick can extend the interest; just gotta keep on watching for the next one.

Mon

Spring Break

Spring Break

My Pen Mates,

An unknown period before I immigrated to the Unite States, I'm still surprised at this seemingly unnecessary break in the school calendar. Of course now that I have school age children, I find it a welcome respite from the weekday routine of school drop-offs and pick-ups. Funny that a country as diverse as this one adapts a lull in its school system to coincide with a Christian Holy period; while it's widely known as a Spring holiday, it does fall within the Lent period ending in Easter, lending it a spiritual bend not much different from Christmas.

Perhaps this holidays are a good counterbalance to the commercialized atmosphere of the latter holiday. With the days leading up to Easter encouraging devotion purified through sacrifice, repentance, and the process and miracles of salvation, it is an apt end to the dark and somber days of Winter and a fitting beginning to the renewal of Spring and the brightness of Summer. Are the forefathers truly accomplished at integrating these similes and topical metaphors into the calendar that they seem to always be seasonally appropriate?

Not until recently have I been made aware that Easter as a celebration of Christ rising from the dead is actually gestationally distant from Christmas as the human birth of Jesus. The circularity of these two pillars of the Catholic faith and the calendar periods in which they are celebrated accounts for one of those affirmations that underlie the power of the church, beginning with the universal adaptation of the Gregorian calendar.

To most of us, this time of the year is perfect for roaming the yard and grass fields in search of the eggs laid by the Easter Bunny. The sun is bright without being too hot, the trees and flowers are all starting to blossom, Winter clothes are replaced by bright colored, lighter weight materials, and the doldrums of cold weather are blown away by the prospect of renewal and growth. Just as this endless cycle is carried out by nature and been scheduled by man, all things seem to follow the same path. The cobwebs in my head should be clearing up anytime soon; it's not always according to the calendar, but my faith tells me that it always cycles through...

Mon