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It's Magic

2006-12-18 - 10:19 a.m.

Well, it's been pretty cold and rainy this weekend. When it rains on Saturdays, most of the birthday parties switch to laser tag, which can overcrowd the arena. We only have a finite number of vests (usually between 30-35, depending on how many are under repair) and an arena of a specific size. Our miniature golf courses can hold a couple hundred people, easily. But laser tag can only run so many, even at 20 minutes per session.

Now, I usually run laser tag for the parties on Saturdays, because I enjoy it and I'm damned good at it. I can run the groups through pretty efficiently, schedule well, and everyone usually has a good time.

Well, on Saturday I ran continuous sessions from 11:20am to 5:00pm. That's seventeen games. Almost every game had between 23-32 players, with two birthday parties playing together.

Mind you, all the parents who set up their times were very understanding about how busy we were, and had no problems with their party playing with another party...and believe me, I thanked those parents for their patience. My Saturday mantra is this: Any day where no one wants to kill me is a Good Day.

Saturday was a very Good Day.

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Our own Bindyree comments here about a parent who wants to ban Harry Potter books, claiming they "instruct children in witchcraft".

You know, I've read those books, numerous times. There is absolutely no how-to section that I've seen. The spells and the ingredients are outright fictitious or difficult to obtain (armadillo bile, anyone?).

And people don't read Stephen King's "The Stand" and figure out how to wipe out 99.7% of the population of the world. Or "The Tommyknockers" to learn how to unearth an alien spaceship.

Here's another quote:

Rev. Gabriele Amorth said the series doesn't make a distinction between good and bad magic.

Notwithstanding the Unforgivable Curses, this is true. In the book, magic can be used for good or evil...depending on the person's character. Isn't that a better message - that we CHOOSE how to use our gifts? That being good or evil is a choice?

The parent is quoted:

"The kind of stuff in these books � murder and greed and violence."

This woman most likely has a book - or, if you prefer, a Book - that contains all those things. Well, gosh - if she doesn't want her children to read about such awful stuff...

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From the Aha! Caught You! Dept.:

Ever wonder what your cat does when you're not around? Well...

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It's a week before Christmas. I'm sure that anticipation in your house is running high. Get your shopping done whilst you still can.

Be seeing you.



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1 comments so far

Brin - 2006-12-18 13:42:22 -
Dave, it's a successful human being who has a job that a twelve-year-old would think is neato. I've seen you at work, and you are patient with people who don't deserve it, and efficient with people across the board. :-)

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