Binky, the Clown Who Saved Christmas

Have you ever watched "A Garfield Christmas Special"?  In that show, the dad reads Jon and his brother a book, about Binky The Clown.  He starts reading and then it transitions to the end.  But we never get to hear the middle.  

This Christmas break, I gave my kid a project.  He had to write the rest of the story.  Here it is:

Binky, The Clown Who Saved Christmas

By (*my kid)

Once upon a time, there was a clown named Binky. Binky loved children. Everytime Binky saw children he would say, “HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEY KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIDS!”

One day, Binky was out Christmas shopping. He saw a little boy and his sister looking at toys in the window of Timothy’s Toy Town, which was the most popular toy store in the city. So, he yelled out, “HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEY KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIDS!” The boy and girl jumped. “Hiya kiddies! I’m Binky the clown.” Binky said cheerfully. The boy replied, “H-hi. M-m-my name’s Omar. A-and this is my si-si-sister, Jayla.” Binky asked them, “Why are ya standing outside the store? Just go inside and buy some toys!” Jayla told him sadly, “We’re poor sir, so we can’t buy the toys.”

Binky felt sorry for them, so he handed them each 20 bucks and said, “Go ahead. Knock yourselves out.” The kids stared at the money, and then ran into the store so fast, Binky thought they had disappeared.

Chuckling, Binky started to walk home with his groceries and toys. Before he could, people screamed. Binky turned around, and he saw a man wearing black and white striped clothes, and a black mask. The man had a big sack, and a black beard. He also had a gun pointing at Omar and Jayla! Binky ran over to help, but had to stop, because the man yelled out, “Now nobody move, or the little childers get it.” Everyone did as he said. “Good. Now, I want you to put all your toys, money, and jewelry into this sack.” Everyone did. Quick as a flash, the man ran away.

Binky asked the children, “Are you ok?” “Yes,” they said. “We’re fine.” One man said to his friend, “Well, looks like I have to go to Farmer Fred’s Toy Shed.” His friend shook his head sadly and told him, “No, you can’t because the man also robbed that store too. In fact, he robbed every toy store in the city.” Everyone gasped. “Now no one will have any presents this year!” a woman cried. “And what’s worse, we don’t even have any money because he robbed the bank!” A banker sobbed.

“HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEY!” Binky yelled. There was instant quiet. “Let’s all calm down here. I think I know where to find this person so we can get the money and toys back.” “And don’t forget the jewelry!” chimed in a rich lady. “How can you find the robber?” asked her husband, giving her a glare. “Because he’s zapping himself with a grow-i-nator gadget and is now the size of the empire state building.” Binky responded grimly.

Everyone whips around and stares at the laughing robber. “HAHA!” he yelled. “NOW I AM AS BIG AS PAUL BUNYAN! TIME FOR ME TO MAKE MY ESCAPE! SO LONG, SUCKERS!” He starts to walk towards the sea. “If he reaches the sea, we’ll never catch him!” whined the rich woman. Binky thought fast, and thought of a plan.

Binky raced to the gadget. Zapping himself, he grew to the same size as the robber. “HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEY KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIDS!” he yelled. The robber turned around. He growled, and pulled out his gun. But before he could shoot, Binky threw a pie right in his face! The robber raised his hands to wipe off the pie, and that's when Binky pulled out a circus cannon and blasted a pie in his stomach. When the robber bent over, Binky blasted another pie into his face. Then, Binky tackled him into the shallow part of the sea. Putting one of his huge shoes onto the robber’s face, Binky picked up the sack, and said, “Now, you can rob your cellmates in jail, instead.” Suddenly, Binky, the sack, and the robber all shrunk down. The cops came and arrested the robber as Binky handed out the money, toys, and jewelry. “Congrats Binky!” said a cop. “This robber had been robbing toy stores and banks from all over the world. Now he can’t do that anymore!” So Binky saved Christmas for children from all over the world.

The End

After he finished it, I read the story to them.  And they would say, "Dad, say it the way Binky says it."  And I would.  And they would laugh hysterically.  Well, we have a new Christmas tradition.

Hockey At Home

Here is another attempt at keeping up with this blog.  Over three years later since my last post.  I usually struggle with organizing my thoughts.  Maybe this time around I'll just keep typing.  Also, I really like having a good title.  Even though now that I look back at my old posts, I can't tell what the entries were about anyway based on the title.

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So my kid has gotten very much into hockey recently.  Last season, his team made it all the way to the Finals.  They lost, which sucked, but they took it well and quickly moved on.  In the locker room, the head coach allowed the parents to say something to the kids.  I was busy taking videos as usual, and when I am in that mode, I tend to be quiet behind the camera.  After the moment had passed, that's when I realized there was something I did want to say.

This is what I would have said to that group of 9 to 11 year olds:

"I never played hockey before.  I didn't get a chance to play this sport growing up, and you guys are all lucky to have all these people organize everything so you could play.  You are lucky to have parents who pay your tuition, buy your gear, drive you to games and practices.  You are lucky to have great coaches who expect the best out of you.  You get to do this.  You get to play this game.  I never got to do that.

What I would say to you is that when you get on that ice, when you are chasing after pucks, battling for position, taking your shot, give it all you've got.  Because you get to do that.  You get to try.  You get to put on your equipment, and your skates, and your uniform, and you get to play.  I don't get to do that.  Your parents don't get to do that.  Your coaches don't, and there are a lot of kids out there who don't get to have that chance.

Don't ever doubt yourself.  Don't let anything stop you.  And always do your best."

The Playoffs were on a Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  On Monday, I came in to work, and then we promptly prepared to get everybody working out of the office.  Spring hockey was cancelled, and the rinks were closed.

What I would add to that speech now is: "You never know when it can all be taken away from you, so make every second on ice count."

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We are usually always out going to rinks or ballparks or playgrounds or something, so we were hardly ever home.  When quarantine started, we quickly realized how lucky we were with our house.  Location, location, location.  We are at a dead end street with no traffic (except for lost drivers who don't understand what "No Outlet" means).  

At first, we would just go out with sticks and a green biscuit, using a cone or a bottle as target.  Eventually I got a net.  And then a Better Hockey shooting pad.  I resisted getting these things for a long time because we were always able to find stick time or public skate sessions (and because hockey costs do add up).  However, it actually turned out to be a good thing, and my kid's shooting did improve.  It was good to be able to just calmly coach and correct him without the noise of pucks hitting post and boards and glass and skaters whizzing past you every second.

Later in the spring, when we were ready to progress to skating, I decided to get him in-line skates.  Again, I had avoided these because I wanted to make sure his skating technique was best for ice.  It was actually his head coach who encouraged it on a team Zoom meeting, as in-line takes more effort and strengthens the skating muscles.  But when I looked online, they were either very expensive, back ordered or both.  I decided to check out eBay and was able to find a pair and get it by the next week.

The only issue was that when my kid put the skates on, the buckles immediately broke.  Fortunately, we still had hockey tape, and so I just used that to secure his feet.  This turned out to be a good purchase, too, as he was able to practice stick handling with speed.

And I got a pair for myself.  I hadn't skated in years so I had to readjust.  Now I'm pretty comfortable on them again.  I even took the brake out.  I'm hoping to be a better skater and hockey player overall so hopefully I can be an on-ice coach for my younger one in a few years.  Right now, my older kid's team is good with coaches.  They're a great staff, and we're lucky to have them and I'll write more about that later.

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So anyway.  It's January 1, 2021.  We've been out playing hockey on our street almost everyday since mid-March.  Over 9 months now.

The neighbors know us.  We have lost pucks in their driveways, on other streets and down the drains.  Regular pucks, biscuits, ball pucks.  And some tennis balls.  We have recovered some pucks.  We have come outside to find pucks placed on a chair in our driveway.  We have ripped holes in the net.  We have broken sticks, worn down blades and wore out equipment.  We have hit a passerby (only one time, not on purpose as the puck took a weird bounce off the grass).  We have hit cars (so far no dents or scratches).  We have tripped and fallen and gotten bruises and cuts.  We have been out on nice days, hot and sunny, windy, rainy and even snow.  We have woken up sore many, many days, and then we just went out and did it again.

And well, I was just out there with my kid.  And being there was something that I never got from my own dad when I was a kid.  And tomorrow we will be out there again.

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Here is my kid's goal in the Finals game, off a great pass from the defenseman:

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Memory Gland: My First Memory

My earliest memory that I can remember is when I was preschool age.  I was maybe five years old or younger.  I remember standing by a field with tall grasses and flowers.  It was a bright sunny day, with orange and yellow colors.  The field was actually an empty lot in front of my grandmother’s house at our compound in the Philippines.

For some reason, I was there alone with no one else around.  I was just like walking around wandering in the afternoon in front of their little terrace.  Except sometimes when I think about that field in front of me it feels like morning.  So I’m not sure if it’s two memories I’m mixing up.  Or a dream is mixing with them.  Or if the whole thing was a dream.

As I remember it, I am looking at myself from a high angle.  I can’t remember it from my own point of view where I was standing.  So maybe I imagined all of it somehow from pictures of myself as a kid.

Later on in real life, that empty lot is where we built our little store called Sunrise Bakery.  When I first entered preschool at Antique Christian Center, I remember changing and getting ready in that little building still under construction.

Speaking of ACC, there are three batches there for the little kids.  First, there is Nursery, then Kindergarten and lastly, Preparatory right before going into elementary school.  I am absolutely certain that I only attended one year there, which was the Preparatory class, yet my family sometimes insists that I was in there since Nursery.  I do have pictures of me in the prep uniform, which was blue, but not in the red Nursery or green Kinder.

But anyways, that’s my first memory as far as I can remember.

Letter to my future self.

Dear future self,

Yo, dude, what the fuck?

Love,
Past self.


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Happy New Year!

I hope 2017 will be better for us.

Why my kid always clogs the toilet.

I wondered a while back why the toilet always clogs when my kid uses the toilet. He doesn't eat anything out of the ordinary, but every time he poops, I end up having to plunge that darn thing.

Anyways, I know you all have been in suspense as well since I first posted this in January. But there's a simple reason. He uses a lot of toilet paper. A lot.

Have a nice day!

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What time is the Super Bowl?

What time is the Super Bowl?

Anybody know?