Midgets, Knives, and Circumcisions

No, all of those things in the title are not related.

Tuesday night Carrie and I went to the circus with some friends that are in town. It was me (Cody) and 6 girls. Yes, I am a lady's man. Anyway, the circus was cool, there were flying acrobats, people who could pull all of their joints out of socket, tigers, and ... midgets. There was one midget that would come out in between acts and do really goofy things that all of the kids would laugh at. At one point he came out with 3 daggers and a very large piece of wood (two men carried the wood out, it was about the size of a door). We were sitting in the nosebleeds, off to the side of the ring, but we could see that he was throwing the knives as a sort of act. He was throwing them at various places in the door and making them stick. Then the announcer (who spoke only french) started talking over the loudspeaker. All of the kids started jumping up and down and raising their hands. I was sitting down with my chin in my hands, just observing all that was going on. Carrie, right next to me, started raising her hand yelling "Pick me, Pick me!" Now, i must make a sidenote here that everyone knew that we were there at the circus, it was 6 pretty white women and 1 tall lanky white guy. So as Carrie was yelling this the announcer was looking all over the rink and started running in our direction. He started up our section of the grandstand and was moving towards Carrie. Knowing Carrie for over 6 years now, I was not surprised, she gets picked for a lot of things. But as he got near us, the spotlight fell on me. The announcer grabbed my hand and said something in french. Everyone was looking at me, so I followed the announcer to the middle of the ring. As I got up there they said something to me in french and I said "Does anyone speak english?" The midget said "Inglese? No." Another guy said the same thing, but the announcer said, "I speak a little. They are tying you to the door for safety." Then they tied my hands to the door. Then the announcer said "Just be still." So he started talking to the crowd and the midget got all of his knives and started to throw one, then his assistant stopped him. His assistant proceeded to blindfold him. The midget started again, but his assistant stopped him again. The assistant took the blindfold off of him and placed it on me. I seriously couldn't see a thing. The announcer started to talk in french again, I could tell it was about to happen, then "THUD!", right next to my head. They took the blindfold off and I looked next to my head and there was a dagger there about 4 inches from my nose. I smiled for the crowd, but my knees were definitely shaking, not kidding folks. Then they blindfolded me again and another "THUD" in between my hand and waist. They took off my blindfold and now, for some reason, the seriousness of the whole matter starts to hit me. I start just praying "God, I trust you, if you are going to take me here, so be it." But seriously, I'm smiling for the crowd, but my knees were shakin! The assistant then brings out a balloon and starts acting like he is going to put it on my head. Everyone is laughing it up in the audience and then the assistant proceeds to move my legs apart and put it between my legs. I wasn't going to let that happen and I kick it right back out. They then say something to me in french and put it back in. I didn't feel like I had much choice, so i just left it there. Then the midget pulls out a hatchet from behind the door i am attached to. He is grinning like mad and eyeballing me. They blindfold me again and again I am just standing there praying "I'll go right now if this is what You want. I trust you." Then "POP, THUD" and they take the blindfold off and the hatchet is laying at my feet with the remains of the balloon. Everyone starts clapping and the assistants lower the door that i am on, tip it back wards and carry me and the door offstage. Backstage they untie me and say "Thank you" with heavy italian accents and someone leads me back to my seat. When i get there all the girls are laughing and I tell them how stinking scared i was. Then Carrie says "Why? The assistant was just taking the knife from the midget each time and driving it into the board after they blindfolded you." Wow, i am an idiot.

This is a picture of me in the ring.

This is a video of the highlights. Sorry no sound. I tried to slow down the parts where he is jamming the knife into the board.


In other news, Carrie went to a circumcision this past weekend. Here is a pic of her and the mother of the poor little boy.


Also, here is a video of one of the maids doing some traditional dancing. Enjoy :)