The Greatest Show on Earth

Yesterday I went to the circus. Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey - The Greatest Show on Earth. It was, as you can imagine quite a production. But my main problem with the circus is that there is too much going on. When they have horses doing tricks in one ring, and zebras doing tricks in another ring on the other side of the stadium, I cannot devote my full attention to both. The viewer is forced to either pick one to watch, or develop "tennis neck" trying to watch both at the same time. The colors and music can be all too much. I did, however, quite enjoy the showstopping musical dance hit, "Do not try this at home" which seemed to involve the entire cast. And I think it was effective. Here is a list of things I will now not do at home:

-Shoot myself and a friend out of a 60 foot double barrel cannon across at least 150 feet landing on massive inflatable pillows.
-Place myself in a cage with 10 tigers and get them to lie down and roll over in front of me.
-Launch myself off of a swing 30 feet into the air and through a ring of fire.
-Play badminton with a friend while I am hanging upside down with my shoes magnetized to the 200-foot high ceiling with no padding or spotters below.
-Direct 10 elephants to step onto comically small stools and spin around.
-Put my archenemy into a thin wire cage with no conceivable compartments, cover the cage for less than 4 seconds, and then uncover the cage to reveal only a live tiger.*

Talk about a damper on my to-do list. Loophole: Maybe I could try them at someone else's home. In a related story, I still have no idea how Mr. Gravity turned into a tiger.

While somewhat grown out of my childhood, I was able to enjoy the wonderment of the circus. I was certainly enjoying the show more than the 2 year old girl sitting next to me, who had the same puzzled look on her face for the whole show. I was however appalled at the prices for food. Who has $15 to drop on a sno-cone?!?! And they have these glowing swords, spinning lights wands, and of course the essential cotton candy, popcorn, and stuffed animals. I saw one family who had three kids with all kinds of stuff. I hope Mom's bringing in the dough, cause she looked like Aaron Burr the way she was droppin' Hamiltons. I guess one thing it did was allow me to appreciate my parents buying food for me at sporting events/circuses (or is it circi?) growing up. So thanks Mom and Dad. Although I'm gonna say this right now. My children will never have a $15 sno cone.


*This would be impossible anyway, because I don't think I could put SpiderBytes into a cage.