Many happy returns

...to the four people I know who had birthday parties last weekend.  What a great way to spend your days off work!  Two nights out with friends and one trip to London to see my Dad who is *mumblemumblemumble* years old this year!  Hooray!  Here's the card I made him:

I'm particularly proud of the guy's armpit hair.  Yes he may be wearing a leotard, but he's a Manly Man!

The link here is that we all went to see Cirque de Soleil's Totem, which is the current show residing in the Royal Albert Hall.  They usually bring a different show every year, and I've seen the previous two as well; Quidam and Varekai.  None of the rest of the family had been before, and I think Totem was a great show to get introduced on.  Varekai is still my favourite because it has the strongest plot built into it (and as we know, I'm all about the narrative) whereas Totem has less of a story and more of a general theme that they danced about, but the skills were fantastic, as you would expect.

Royal Albert Hall from Mornington Crescent

It always amazes me not only that people can learn how to do these things, but that they even had the idea in the first place.  I mean, who looks at a human being and thinks to themselves "I know, we'll build a one-wheeled vehicle to use instead of walking.  And then we'll make that unicycle eight feet high.  And then we'll get people to pedal them using one foot.  And on the other foot we'll give them some bowls to balance.  And then to throw.  And catch.  In a neat stack.  On their heads.  Yeah, that'll be fun."  WHO DOES THAT???  WHO DECIDED THAT WAS EVEN POSSIBLE!!!  I love it though, the sheer nuttiness of it, and the way that the performers just pick up everyday objects - crockery, a ping pong ball, a pair of rollerskates - and reappropriate it, finding qualities in it that I didn't even realise it had, turning it into something amazing.