R2D2 and friends

r2d2 and friends
Originally uploaded by Liz Henry

Robogames was great as usual! Moomin first went to it when it was Battlebots or something like that, in 2001. He was in a front carrier and it was just at the cusp of when loud noises and crowds began to upset him. So while he slept happily through loud action movies as a tiny infant, and I had expected him to sleep through Battlebots, instead he fussed and protested and maybe even screamed a little bit.

Now he’s taller than R2D2! And can scream with delight during the battles, to egg on Sewer Snake and Megabite!

No wait, if you’re going to watch one of those, check out The Judge. It gets really exciting about minute 1:00. Somehow it is incredibly satisfying when the brutal hammer comes down to gouge holes in the steel floor!

So, I love the idea that Moomin will grow up remembering this sort of thing as a primal sporting event, much like I was taken to baseball games! At some point this summer Moomin will be going to Lego spybot day camp to build tiny robots, so I figured also that Robogames would inspire him.

A lot of times I felt like a funny little robot myself as I wheeled myself about. I got overtired, and was in pain, and cranky, but then the giant robot Buddha recharged my batteries with its peaceful beauty.

I sat in front of it and just stared as it went through its color changes. A nice counterpart to the scenes of strength and aggression, and also it was a slightly quieter section of the hall, less crowded, where I could chill out.

On the way home I realized I had completely overdone it. But I don’t care because I need to go out and especially to go out with my family and to still be able to share cool stuff with Moomin. I swear I’m going to figure out how to go to the beach with him in the next couple of weeks.

Also, very soon now I’ll figure out how to do what I’m doing without all the bitterness and anger, fear and grief I’m feeling. So this is a good image for me to keep in mind, the Abhya & Varada mudras, though I’m not particularly Buddhist, it’s still very comforting to think of: