consumerism
made of colorful plastic
and deranged children
Every now and then I pretend that I’m a hippy. Well, maybe not a hippy, but crunchy at least. I’ve always enjoyed going bra-less and barefoot. I like hummus and soft natural fibers. I might even start up a rainwater collection system for my yard when I have enough money. But today any sense of crunchy was abandoned.
Today was Disney’s Incredibles on Ice.
That’s right. $75 for mid-section seats (that’s 75 total, not for each seat!). Plus popcorn and a Coke – so that’s almost a hundred dollars we paid to sit through a two-hour long commercial for Disney World.
Oh, but the Wee One loved it. He got a free "incrediband" (a little plastic armband with a laser pointer type light on it) that he is currently wearing while he sleeps. He shouted and clapped and audience-participated and hid his eyes at the scary parts. He didn’t notice that his mouth was hanging open at the exciting parts. He covered his ears when the fireworks went off (inside!) and when Syndrome shot his fireball shooting weapon thing (real fireballs! Inside!). It was a great afternoon. And because it was Mother’s Day I got a pretty carnation at the door. Score.
Yes, we got totally sucked in. But we didn’t get sucked in enough to buy a $10 Dash head filled with a sno cone. And we didn’t buy any of the billions of light up toys or Incredibles dolls or t-shirts or coloring books. It was hard for the Wee One to understand that just because you’re excited and there’s tons of crap and everyone else is freaking out to buy it – that doesn’t mean you have to freak out, too. But happily he was content with his free incrediband and the indoor pyrotechnics, and we managed to escape the place without a) investing in a five-day, four-night Disney World trip (which will do one day, just not yet) or b) buying a disturbing Jack-Jack half-head mask thing.
It was so fun to watch the Wee One watch the show. It’s the first spectacle like that that he’s been to. It made me remember going to the circus when I was around his age and just being completely overwhelmed by everything there was to see. I actually got weepy at Disney’s Incredibles on Ice, can you believe that? I guess I am still a little bit crunchy.
Oh – and for mother’s day I not only got my traditional Krispy Kremes – I got a showerhead that doesn’t jump out of the wall and try to attack me!
‘Twas a fun day. Now I just have to get this albuterol out of my system so I can sleep. (Too much excitement from Disney, I’m afraid… 3 hours of contractions every 6 minutes followed our fun afternoon. They seemed to have stopped thanks to the drugs, but dang. The albuterol jitters are craaaaaazy.)
Anyway, happy Mother’s Day to all, and to all a good night. I’m going to go smell my free Disney carnation and have a donut and maybe, possibly, even go to sleep.