Joshua Zamrycki's Weblog

Emily’s friend, Catalina, has chickenpox. So we went out to lunch with them last week. I made sure Emily gave Cata a big hug and kiss when we got there. Then I helped them share some ice cream. I even had them take turns trying to blow up a balloon. It was our own little private pox party. We still had three weeks before our trip to England and the start of summer so the timing was perfect. 10 days incubation. One week itchy/scratchy. A few more days to clear up and recover and off we go. What could go wrong?

Here’s where I went wrong. You see, when I was a kid, there was no such thing as a varicella vaccine. Everyone sooner or later just got chickenpox, took baths in Calamine lotion, and got over it. But Emily and Sebastian both received the vaccine before they were one, and I didn’t realize that only about 2% of vaccinated children will still get chickenpox. I just thought that they would catch it all the same, but it would be a much milder version of the virus. I was not correct.

Long story short, Emily did not contract chickenpox. But both Cata’s mom and I developed a really nasty throat infection, accompanied by hallucination-inducing high fever. Poetic justice? Reminds me of that episode of South Park, but without the herpes.

(fun fact: that episode of South Park may have been the last one to air before I moved to Spain back in ‘98)

I’ve received a ton of mails through the Jocular website since we closed our last show. Many people want to know in advance when we’re putting up our next show and a bunch of others want to know about upcoming auditions! I need to draft a form letter response so as not to leave them all hanging. Also, handing out free wine in exchange for people’s email address at the show helped to pad our newsletter recipients list

Hey, wanna see the lovely photos Jan and I took at our Lend Me a Tenor post-performance celebratory bar-b-q?

Till The Sun Goes Down

I know I still haven’t posted the photos from the show itself, or even written a single word on how the show went! I will. I promise. But the crew has been bugging me to get these photos up as soon as possible so… here they are.

Ed offered his place to host the shindig and he, Basia, and Natalie were wonderfully welcoming. We all chipped in by bringing enough food and drink to feed an entire theater company. Drink flowed merrily. The rain came and went. And came. And went. The Americans diligently manned the bar-b-q. Much basketball was played. The Persians could not defeat the coalition of the willing. The profits from the production were distributed!! People were thrown in the not-so-warm-at-all pool. Speeches were made. Good times were had. I brought my camera. Here are the results:
**Fancy-shmancy full-screen slideshow**

Most three-year-olds come out with a plethora of poignant one-liners everyday. A plethora? Oh yes, a plethora. After experiencing one, I usually laugh, smile with pride, make a mental note of what was said so I can later blog about it, and then I promptly forget what was said. This happens all the time. Here are a few from today that stuck.

In the morning rush to get ready for school, the bathroom door is sometimes mistakenly left open. Sebastian’s finely-tuned radar immediately kicks in and he makes a bee-line for either the medicine cabinet or the toilet. Today it was the medicine cabinet. It was only a matter of seconds before the crash of Jan’s mascara bottle shattering against the floor was heard. Jan left Emily to clean the bathroom floor but it wasn’t long before Emily appeared at the bathroom door with mop in hand eagerly saying, “Mummy, shall I pom it?” Ah, our darling little dyslexic.

I Draw The Line Here

After school, we went to the park. We did the whole slide thing and took a few turns on the swings before Emily ran over to a bench and started taking off her sandals. I asked her why she was taking off her sandals and she replied, “Because I want to.” This is her answer for most things nowadays. So she hands me her sandals and starts walking along the row of benches when she freezes in her tracks, cautiously inspects the bench beneath her feet, and quietly asks me, “Is there spit on the bench?” There was not, and I have yet to learn the back story to her inquiry. Odd.

Cheeky Tree Elf

Dinner tonight consisted of a lovely rice dish with a few cherry tomatoes on the side. Emily and I have this inside joke where, every time we place a cherry tomato in our mouths and bite down, we have to make a face like there was a huge explosion. It’s very funny, really. Once the tomato juice settled, Emily declared, “I like tomatoes!” But she said ‘tomahtoes’ like here mum would pronounce it. So I offered in the usual sing-song way, “I say ‘tomato’, you say ‘tomahto.’” Always on her toes, Emily quickly improvised (in the correct sing-song fashion), “You say ‘avocado’, I say… ‘fokatto!!’” I have no idea where she comes up with these. I don’t think I want to know.