Burn update!

it has become only slightly sensitive, and the burned skin almost completely fell off.
I think in about a week there will only be a little residual scarring and scabs.

Evolution of a burn

I burned myself pretty badly on friday... I was juggling and breathing fire, and a gust of wind pushed the flames towards my hand. It didn't seem that bad at first; I didn't have any hair left, but otherwise it was just reddish and there was only 2 small blisters, so I keeped up working. I did balloon animals for 3 hours after this, putting my hand in cold water every 30 minutes or so.

I thought that it would be healed the morning after, like most minor burns... well, it's been over 5 days and it's still painfull! dammit

I went to see a nurse and she told me all I could do is put a loose bandage and an antibiotic oinment where the burn was open and let it breath now and then.

here's some pictures, dating from friday to today. i'll try to update it soon.

friday



saturday



sunday



monday (the skin scratched off while I was sleeping)



today (I've got none from tuesday)

I'm baaaack!

Wow, it's been a while since I posted here... just wanted to let my inexistant readers know that i'm not dead!

and it's unrelated but i'm a bit pissed off that parent's don't understand that if there's a line of people waiting for say, a balloon, then the line IS THERE TO BE EFFIN' RESPECTED! dagnabbit!

children over the age of 5 waiting alone understand that when you want a balloon, you got to get in the line to get it. but adults and older kids... they just bunch up around me! I even had a mom storm off saying to his kids in an irate way "let's go, he doesn't seem to understant" because she had been waiting for 15 minutes for a balloon and that, have she been in line, she would have had it after 5 minutes. the problem is...

she was standing behind me. wtf. clowns have 360° visions, now?

2 contracts coming

Hey, just to tell you if anyone is reading this that this weekend, I'll be at the reopening of a music/movie/book/instrument store, and at a charity event for heart disease. I hope interesting stuff to write here will happen.

frenglish?

here's a nice lil' mistranslation I found while searching for ouija boards info (already planning for halloween!)

http://www.next-mill.com/Spirit%20Board%20MM%202.jpg

L'oeil qui vois tous: they probably wanted it to mean: the all-seeing eye, but it means: the eye that sees everyone (pretty voyeur, heh?)

Jeux des Spiritueux: they are right, it means games of the spirits, but not the kind of spirits you would think about: it's more about the booze than ghosts. a proper translation for games of the spirits would have been jeux des esprits.

Random facts...

...About my life.



My girlfriend hates clown.

My dog has a wart on his neck.

I hate clowns

Not really, actually. But I thought I'd share a link with you:

http://ihateclowns.com

this website is for coulrophobics and people who just simply dislike clowns.

I'm a member, not because of the reasons above, but because I want to learn more about coulrophobia (fear of clowns) and how to seem less harmfull to people who suffer from the said phobia. you should go take a look if it interests you!

Another future coulrophobe, dammit!

So today was my final work day at a 10 day long winter festival. This means I will work at easter and then will be on hold probably until summer.

These last 10 days, though, were really busy. And I met my fair share of strange kids & parents. By the way, it seems there are more and more cross-eyed kids these days... shall we blame the teletubbies?

Anyways, today, I served a client who probably traumatized his son to the point where he won't be able to look a clown in the eyes anymore. The 2 yo (aprox.) kid, when he saw us, clowns, started crying. His dad followed the stereotype of most parents when they have a coulrophobic kid: he tried to turn the boy's head by force, saying "LOOK! clowns! they are nice clowns!" etc.

When he realized his son didn't give a shit about if we were nice or not, he started calling him a big wussy. But he didn't stop there, oh no: he wouldn't leave before his kid had some face painting done.

He sat his child on a chair in front of one of our poor face painters, squeezed the kid's head in his hands, forcing him to show his cheek to the face painter, while the poor boy was screaming hysterically. It didn't occure to him that he was torturing his kid. He just continued calling him a big wussy.

jerk.

Funny, pointless clown stuff

I found this to be funny and pretty... interesting!

Penny for your thoughts, sad clown!

Of coulrophobics and stilt walking

Now, next thing in line: when you come towards me with your toddler, and the kid turns around, buries his face in your coat and start screaming hysterically, forcing him to turn his head with your bare hands to look at me, holding his face in an iron grip, and saying: "look at the nice clown! look!" won't make him stop screaming bloody murder. The kid already saw me. That's why he's throwing a tantrum. He's born coulrophobic, don't make it worst.

Oh, and while we're at it, clowns aren't santa claus or the easter bunny. I don't know since when parents are doing this, but there's always a kid, generally on the edge of being old enough to stop believing in santa claus, who will shout at you: "YOU'RE NOT A REAL CLOWN 'CAUSE REAL CLOWNS DON'T WEAR MAKEUP LIKE YOU DO, REAL CLOWNS LOOK LIKE THAT FOR REAL!" and they sometimes add a few things like "REAL CLOWNS DO MAGIC TRICKS AND BREATHE FIRE!"

I can do both, but I'm paid for juggling, stilt walking and balloon sculpting. Magic tricks just aren't in my act and breathing fire wearing oil based makeup, inside a trailer or a mall, and wearing a full 3 piece costume doesn't seem like a great idea to me.

Making children believe that clowns have magic powers and always look as they do may seem like a nice fairy tale for you, but believe me, it's not that great. When a kid "unmasks" me, it ruins the fun of most other kids and makes me lose all credibility as a performer. Clowns aren't magical beings, they are entertainers and artists. Don't go beyond this, please!

Also, it's completely unrelated, but why, whenever I'm on my stilts, does old men feel the need to pull their pants up to their armpits and look at me saying: "yup.. you surely are tall!"
what do you say to those guys? "thank you"? "and you're short"? please, give me advice!

A little originality, please!

Now, here's a thing that won't stop happening, that may seem benign, but when you hear it as many times a day as I do, it can soon become quite irritating.

Parents, I don't know if when you were young, clowns were only able to do balloon dogs, but I'm far from a master of the art of balloon sculpting and I can do most animals, flowers, swords, motorcycles, guns, etc.

Why, oh why, won't you open up to other things than the dog? I'm tired of the parents who bend down beside there kids who is too shy or too young to talk and say: "(to the child:)do you want a nice balloon dog? hm? do you want a dog? a dog? hmm? (to the clown:) I think he/she would like a dog!(to the child:) wouldn't you? a nice balloon dog? the clown will make you a dog!(to the clown:) make him a dog!"

I swear to god this happens with more than 50% of the families who come see me. Sometimes, they'll include a cat as a bonus choice, if I'm lucky. There will sometimes be a smart ass dad who think he's funny and will ask me a bike, but DAMN do I love those dads. There point isn't to make me happy, nor to give me a challenge, but to make a little fun of me, and strangely enough, every dad who does this seems to think he's the first. But, at least, I can make one, have fun doing it, it will make a change from these hundreds of dogs, and it'll make the smart-assed dad shut up.

Also, children, it's not because the kid in front of you had a mouse or a flower that you must ABSOLUTELY have a fuckin' mouse or flower. Be original, please!

Introduction

Hello, boys and girls. I'm Bongo. I'm a 17 yo clown working in Quebec, Canada, for an important entertainement agency.

While reading my blog you might get the impression that i'm a grumpy bastard who should quit being a clown. I want to reassure you: what I post here is only one side of my job. In reality, I love this job and I wouldn't quit it for any other one in the world. I like children, and nothing makes me smile more than a chubby little toddler grinning while I twist a balloon for him. Every time I go to work, it's not because I have to but because I want to.

But I can speak about all those nice things with most people; what I can't usually do is let out the dark side of my job. The things that crawl under my skin and rubs on my nerves like a cheese grater. Of course, I'll also talk about the lighter side, but that's not my main point ;)