He can't take a goldfish for a walk

[austin_dern]

Now they're really gearing up for the Lunar New Year. The 7-Eleven I wandered into for lemonade had a poster of nothing but Year of the Dog merchandise. One that really caught my eye was the ``2006 Singapore Lunar Dog Cupro-Nickel Proof-Like Coin.'' Yes, they've made a collectible not a proof, but a ``proof-like'' set. I can only wonder what the market in collecting these will be like. And, of course, if the proof-like sets are going to be collectibles, then there can be a futures market in trading on expected values of the proof-like sets, and if there's a futures market there should be an options market on futures on the collections of proof-like sets. But that's probably getting silly.

Malls are hoping to get shoppers into the holiday spirit with special shows and presentations. Suntec City has hired a troupe of Chinese gymnasts who put on shows of rather impressive leaping around stage to percussion instruments, sometimes with hand-held fans for dramatic effect. The crowd for this was much smaller than last month's group there to meet the Care Bears.

Among the buskers the West Mall hired is a man with abnormally large tear ducts. That doesn't sound like much of a talent, admittedly, though it'll get you a tryout in the Legion of Substitute Heroes. But his tear ducts are apparently so large that he can blow enough air through them, into a thin plastic tube, to be able to blow out candles. This may sound like a very simple show, but as part of a performance, it is really quite amazingly creepy to watch. I get squirmy just thinking about it.

My holiday spirit was brightened by discovering a new branch of San Bookstores, a used book chain here. No individual store has a great selection, but between them all there's usually something interesting, and they put plastic book covers on with your purchase.

Trivia: Comic strip artist Walt Kelly was in the stamp club his sophomore year in high school. Source: The Best of Pogo, Selby Kelly, Bill Crouch Jr.

Currently Reading: Venus Revealed, David Henry Grinspoon.

Comments

[porsupah.livejournal.com]

I must see Abnormally Large Tear-Duct Man for myself. You must - for the sake of the enrichment of global culture - attempt to capture him on video. Please, think of the children!

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

I would love to, but, alas, my camera's in the shop. No word when it'll be back.

[gutierrez.livejournal.com]

So this is what I'm missing. I'm under the sign of the dog. Maybe I need a set of official proof-like commemerative collectible dog coins...

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

There you go, yeah. There's going to be all manner of intriguing dog stuff for the next few weeks.