Over the weekend the kids’ school had their annual carnival. This is the major fund raiser for the school, and a pretty large-scale affair, taking over the whole north parking lot and athletic field with rides like a ferris wheel and roller coaster and fun house, and food and your classic midway games. It went on for four days and every family has to volunteer. I spent an evening working one of game booths, handing out bean bags to throw, and the occasional stuffed animal to a winner. At the start it wasn’t too crowded and I had a chance to go around and study a few of the games and figure out what makes them so hard to win. It’s a similar design psychology to trade show exhibits and magic acts. I figured out a reliable method for a couple of them, and all the ones involving throwing darts I’m good at, and the ones involving throwing balls or beanbags not so much. I accidentally won a giant lizard tossing a ring onto a milk jug. We named him Carlos Sebastian Bach in honor of the Mets’ no-hitter. Between hanging out and working we were there three of the days. The kids had a great time. The last day had some dramatic, intense but brief rainstorms. At one point it was torrentially pouring and bright sunlight at the same time.
In other news, Lizzy painted her nails to look like the flags of various nations.
