{"id":558,"date":"2007-08-30T20:02:32","date_gmt":"2007-08-30T11:02:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2007-08-30\/558"},"modified":"2007-08-30T20:02:32","modified_gmt":"2007-08-30T11:02:32","slug":"unbridled-excitement-with-a-pop-up-pirate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2007-08-30\/558","title":{"rendered":"Unbridled Excitement with a Pop-up Pirate"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n

I was a zombie for a couple of days after returning to Kyoto<\/a>,\ndespite being able to sleep soon after landing. I got a<\/span> good night's sleep\nand awoke at 6:30 feeling refreshed. I took the<\/span> haruka\nexpress train<\/a> home, but soon started feeling tired again. Despite being\ntired, I didn't<\/span> sleep much that next evening, waking up at 2:30am and was a\nzombie<\/span> for all of yesterday. I was so<\/span> tired it hurt.<\/p>\n\n

Finally, I slept<\/span> well last night, and today was much better.<\/p>\n\n

One nice moment the other day was when Fumie pulled out an old classic\nJapanese kid's game (\u9ed2\u3072\u3052\u5371\u6a5f\u4e00\u767a)<\/span> whose name roughly translates to\n“Blackbeard crisis explosive charge.” (It's sold in The States under the\nless exciting name of “Pop-up\nPirate<\/a>.”)<\/p>\n\n

To play, you push a little pirate doll into a barrel,<\/span> then take turns\npoking the barrel with little swords until you hit the hidden release and\nthe pirate pops out. The game involves<\/span> no skill whatsoever — just\never-building anticipation — which makes it great for preschoolers.<\/p>\n\n

The following sequence of photos showed Anthony's typical interaction. The captions<\/span> are my guess at what he's thinking...<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f\/2.8 @ 22mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>60 sec, f\/2.8, ISO 400 —\nfull exif<\/a><\/span>\nHmmmm, Maybe This One?<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f\/2.8 @ 35mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>60 sec, f\/2.8, ISO 400 —\nfull exif<\/a><\/span>\nAh!!!!!!<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f\/2.8 @ 24mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>60 sec, f\/2.8, ISO 400 —\nfull exif<\/a><\/span>\nSuper Exciting!!<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f\/2.8 @ 24mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>80 sec, f\/2.8, ISO 400 —\nfull exif<\/a><\/span>\nOh My!<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f\/2.8 @ 38mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>90 sec, f\/2.8, ISO 400 —\nfull exif<\/a><\/span>\nI'm Beside Myself with Excitement!<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f\/2.8 @ 50mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>90 sec, f\/2.8, ISO 400 —\nfull exif<\/a><\/span>\nThis is a Great<\/span> Game... I Love You<\/span> Both So<\/i> Much!!<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

(Okay, so maybe that last one isn't what he was thinking )<\/p>\n\n

This was all repeated over and over.<\/p>\n\n

Eventually, he paused to check out the instructions....<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f\/2.8 @ 50mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>60 sec, f\/2.8, ISO 400 —\nfull exif<\/a><\/span>\n“Reading” the Instructions<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

It was really enjoyable to see his unabashed joy. In many ways<\/span> it was\nsimilar to how he was when we shot off a model<\/span> rocket<\/a>\ntwo weeks ago, yet quite different in how he showed it. In any case<\/span>, it's\nalways wonderful to experience a child's<\/span> joy. (The “folloups and related posts” section below contains a few<\/span> more unabashed-joy posts.)<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f\/2.8 @ 17mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>60 sec, f\/2.8, ISO 400 —\nfull exif<\/a><\/span>\nJust Too Much Fun!<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n