slightly wonky

So, I recently brought my son to a dinosaur exhibit at the Boston World Trade Center.

Total.  Parental.  Hell.

I imagined that there would be oh…50 or so of these large scale dinosaurs to look at.    Great.

There were actually more like 15, which only filled 1/5 of the expo hall space.  What was in the rest of the space, you may ask?  Well…the rest of the space was devoted to:

1. A store where your children could obsess over dinosaur paraphernalia,

2. A dino bouncy house, for which you had to stand in ANOTHER a mile long line to BUY tickets for (because the tickets that you bought to get into it didn’t count), and

3. A dino mini-golf area, where you also needed to stand in the four hour line to BUY more tickets.

It was a total dino-scam.  Do NOT go.  Luckily, my son didn’t want to do the bouncy house or mini golf.  He did want a mini paleontologist kit, though.  I thought it sounded harmless enough…you dig out bones from a block of something.  Cool, right?

Oh…SO unbelievably NOT cool.  SO MUCH FILTH.  There was dust EVERYWHERE… thick, reddish plaster dust EVERYWHERE.  There was so much dust that I thought my son and  I would develop black lung and/or a nasty rash.  I am the worst housekeeper ever, but even I was in a filth panic.  Me!  Parents…do NOT buy this gift in the winter.  This is an OUTDOOR gift.  Actually, you may want to just forget it altogether.

DO NOT BUY THIS, EVER.

Yes, my son did work on it from 11:30 am – 3:30pm , with a brief break for lunch…but still.  It was NOT worth it.  I suggest that you be the slacker parent and neither take your kid to the dino-scam exhibit, nor buy this educational toy.

Consider yourself warned.  So there.

I had high hopes of going to see some art this week, but it didn’t happen.  I did install a cabinet door myself, though! Only 17 more to go!  Woo hoo!

Here is a recent concern of mine that I’d like your feedback on:

My son can sometimes be a happy normal kid, and draw stuff like this:

These are aliens, I think.

Or, he can be kind of high strung, and draw things like this (on the other side):

(I erased the background scribbles from the other side for clarity)

Do you think that I should be concerned?  Who was this for???  Me?  What was I not supposed to touch?  Wha?  Thoughts?

This drawing, and other instances, sometimes make me feel unwanted.  Example:

This lego ship is apparently using the couch.  I guess I’ll just go sit on the floor with the red plaster dust and be sure not to touch anything. Is he trying to tell me something?

Don’t mind me…I just work here…

Just so that you don’t feel totally gypped from seeing any art, I’ve found this cool artist online:

Sagati Keita

Original Drawing of [Expedia City Breaks:Paris], 2012, pen on kentboard, h.42×w.29.7cm., Ogilvy & Mather collection

Kind of crazy, right?  Look at this detail:

Sagati Keita

Detail of Original Drawing of [Expedia City Breaks:Paris], 2012, pen on kentboard, h.42×w.29.7cm., Ogilvy & Mather collection

ISN”T THAT SO COOL????  He/she draws these incredible images with tons of doodle-esque characters!  AMAZING!!!  Isn’t that incredible??? Talk about skill.  I would like it more if he/she would not choose these famous images, but instead drew images from his own life.  What do you think?  Comments?  Isn’t he/she SUPER TALENTED?????  Check out the website here.  Also, if anyone can clarify if Sagati is male or female, I’d appreciate it.  (ありがとう)

Wish me luck avoiding the flu epidemic here!!!  I’m going to go now and order a haz-mat suit online.  I hope that I can wear it on top of my snuggie!!!