Week 658 AZ - Ballooning and Zach the Great

It’s been a good week - participating in Zach’s journey to a healthier lifestyle, connecting with my daughter Amelia as we watched our first tv series together, and creating magical memories of joy and fun at Amelia’s school party as a balloon-maker! Who knew with a little bit of exercise, a great show, and some balloons, I could achieve such contentment! And this is my first blog being co-authored by AI!

Amelia is a 9 year old young lady, and having never been a 9 year old girl myself, that’s not a persona I relate to easily. I’ve got to learn though, so Amelia and I watched Wednesday together (a great series on Netflix about the Adam’s family daughter). It was not only awesome getting that dedicated bonding time with Amelia, but also, and probably more important, seeing the world through her world view. I guess I need to re-evaluate expanding my horizons and consuming media with the kids.

A few months back Zach decided he was going to get into shape, and part of that was diet and exercise. His exercise was going to be biking 30 minutes a day. Zach wanted an exercise bike for this, and I was super skeptical, no one actually uses their home exercise bike, and if they do, no one uses it for more then 7 days. So, I was opposed buying one. Tori is more supportive so got Zach some crappy exercise bike on Craigslist. Well, after Zach had been biking 30 minutes a day for 3 weeks I was like, Dude, you’re crushing it, and I got Zach a real exercise bike

I knew Zach was a director, actor, videographer (cameraman for my boomer friends), and techno wizard, but turns out he’s also a fantastic podcast editor, and interviewer. Zach interviewed me this week, which was amazingly fun. I’m not gonna lie I was not only impressed by Zach’s questions, but also my answers. I guess I’ve got lots of experience given 20 years in industry and a lot of time in bringing joy to folks a lot of time in bringing joy to folks

One of the things I love is bringing joy to others, and getting to see the kids in their natural environment. Thanks to Covid, parents haven’t been allowed at school events till now! Amelia’s class was having a holiday party and they put out a call for volunteers, but we didn’t get a sign up. Desperate to go, I mailed the teacher and said “I’m a professional clown, I’ll work for free”. Obviously, the teacher got back to me and I was in! It was amazing, I must have made 100 balloons! So much fun.

(As you probably know, I love rhyming poems - you can see my rough notes on this in my ballooning post (see github for permanent reference in case I re-write). Here is me using AI to turn it into a poem)

A wild celebration of joy and fun,
I brought to Amelia’s school for all the kids to come.

No invite had I, but I wrote to profess,
That I was a professional clown, and ready to say yes.

The teacher accepted, and I started my task,
Making over one hundred colorful balloons - what a blast!

60 kids’ eyes lit with joy, so adrift with glee,
There was no better sight than all those smiles, surrounding me.

Funny points I made that the kids did laugh at,
A deaf child who couldn’t get a balloon, I tried to attract.

I pulled him out of the line and made something so grand,
The kid hugged his interpreter, happy and glad!

Returning to school, I saw what I’d done,
So many kids with their balloons and happiness under the sun.

I felt such gratitude and joy, that I’d been able to give,
Back to the school, a special day for them to live!

Have a great day and remember: When AI’s authoring your rhymes, they’ll be oh-so-funny!
So leave it to the AI’s quill to make your posts more sunny! - ZiaT