Links and Children

Maybe you've noticed the collection of links at the bottom of the page. The newest additions are at the tops of each category. Mostly, they have to do with web comics, print comics, or other internet detritus. If you're bored, you should tell me what you think (the McDonald's employee blog requires a lot of sifting for true gem entries).

Now on to an actual topic.

Children--they light our souls and inspire us to be our true selves. Seriously though, kids are a comedy goldmine, despite Bill Cosby prodding it out of them with stage lights.

Story one: The place where I teach piano also has a nursery school attached. I happened to see a poster listing various things kids were curious about. Highlights:

I am curious about...
1. every kind of paint (that's fine, just stay away from the fertilizer)
2. about joining a man's class (?????? It's gotta be 'dance' class, right?)
3. Curious Georges (yep, that's plural)
4. breaking a window (oh good! welcome to the neighborhood!)
5. breaking a glass heart stocking (oh Disney, what have you done)
6. eyes (keay)
7. how ponies are magic (there's no question there)

Can I add one? I am curious why children are brilliant.

Story two: My three-year-old niece has a Thomas the Tank Engine train set. She and I were playing with it-- I was the stationmaster figure and she was various train characters. The scenario she set up was that "Toby" was stuck in the engine house because the door was busted. Toby's only help in getting out was a bus that had to do other things before assisting with the broken door. This went on for a while, until...

"Oh no, Giant Thomas is hungry and wants to eat Toby" as she busts out a giant RC version of Thomas out of nowhere that is about 5x larger than anything in her train set and smashes him down on the tracks. "He's smiling because he's so hungry."

At that point I couldn't even maintain the premise anymore because I was laughing so hard. Beyond the randomness of a giant Thomas appearing out of the sky and crashing into its own miniature version of itself, who knew the world of Thomas the Tank Engine was a place of sadistic cannibalism?