shark-killing & mean kids: ji's life

It has been incredibly lovely weather-wise here for about a week now.  The icy chill that is creeping upon Canada manifests itself here as a drastic dip in temperature from the usual 33 degrees down to - gasp! - about 30 degrees during the day, and on occasion as low as 27 degrees at night.  The clouds here also get colder looking.  We've actually had wispy cirrus clouds for a few days and not just immense thunder clouds or those massive puffy white bellows that are usually above us. 

In other sky-related news, Ji and I went swimming at sunset tonight and were treated to warm water AND four consecutive flocks of black birds flying above us as we floated.  Nice.

From the 'best of Ji' today:

- Upon waking up and asking me some inane question and hearing my not-appreciated response:  "Dear Lord, how could you say that to me?"

- Asks me what I dreamt about.  I say I forget.  He reminds me that yesterday when I forgot and he prodded me that I finally (made up that I) dreamt I was a raisin in a bowl of yogurt.  Ji then riffs on this idea, and the idea of the-butterfly-who-dreamt-he-was-human, and also on the fact that he is pretending to be his grandfather and he says, "I dreamt that I (Randy) was a raisin in a bowl of yogurt.  But what if I was really a raisin only dreaming that I was Randy?"

- from Ji's self-created vocab:  the word "blasso".  It is both a noun and a verb.  A blasso (n) is a type of super-powered rope that can be flung out to attach to things with great speed and an accompanying blast.  To blasso (v) something is to shoot out one's blasso at an object or person and attach the blasso to it.  Often used in discussions about a) how to enter the house without keys or b) how to adventure as the characters in Futurama do.

- Today we were sitting out on the porch after naptime, watching the world go by.  Ji told me that he planned to swim to India from Malaysia.  I told him it was a really long way to go.  He said he was very strong and demonstrated with great gusto how fast his arms can paddle.  I then told him there would be many dangers in the ocean; large waves, bad weather, and sharks might threaten his progress.  He told me ok, he would carry a spear to fight off the sharks.  I said, well how will you be able to swim when you have to carry your spear in your hands?  He said, well, I will have a motor to speed me in the water.  And it will have a wheel on the side with a knife so that I have a double way of killing sharks.  I then tried to get him to think of ways to perhaps outwit the sharks without outright KILLING them (uh, say, a boat, Ji?) but he figures he'll test his luck with the spear and the death motor.

- We passed a cement thing by the side of the road, about 3 feet high, half a foot wide, half a foot deep.  Some kind of construction thingy that was veering erratically to one side, with a letter "H" painted on it.  Ji says "That looks like the leaning tower of Pisa.  And you know, the letter H looks like a rhinocerous, with two horns."  Cool.

- And a comment that he made that I am looking for feedback from you about (sorry for bad grammar in that there sentence)...  We were at the play area at mega mall, one of those indoor climbing and playing places like an overgrown McDonalds play land, and he went into a big plastic truck / RV thing that had two little girls, maybe 5 years old in it.  They didn't look very nice.  One elbowed Ji a bit as he went in.  I just sat outside and watched (not like I could've gone in, it being, like 3 feet high and all).  Ji came out a few minutes later, came over to me and said, "Some of dose kids said I'm dumb." So, what should you say?  Like, "Go give them a smack in the face!"  Or, "Bitches!  I'm gonna slap the snotty looks off their faces!"  Or, "Well, Ji, only f-----g idiots would say something like that."  Or what?  My best was, "Well Ji, are you dumb?"  Ji thinks for a minute.  Clearly knows he's not dumb.  Says, "No" with a smile.  Goes off to play with other kids. But should he have kicked them in the shins? [Ji Hong-14-December-2004]