The circus last night was really fun. I quite enjoyed it, and I didn't even ask for my money back, despite my threat of yesterday. There were plenty of things I probably should have expected that I didn't have on my list (Chinese acrobats, a guy on stilts, elephants doing a conga line with their front feet on the other one's rear, white tigers, etc.) and many things that I totally didn't expect (a Jeep driving over a guy's torso, a clown car race (but only one clown per car), and motorcycles driving around a spherical cage).

But of the expectations I had yesterday, only a few were realized. I saw: a train outside, a woman in an outfit consisting primarily of sequins, a man in a top hat, someone singing "Send in the Clowns" (but it was Shelly, singing only because she knew I wanted it sung), and a single flying trapeze artist (though she really was unimpressive). They came close sometimes, such as with an elephant standing on its front legs instead of a ball, or a pair of horses jumping over a fiery bar instead of through a fiery hoop, and I didn't really think there would be a Bearded Lady, but you'd think there would at least be a tightrope walker. Oh well.

There were certain segments of the program that I really enjoyed, and others that I didn't enjoy at all. The difference was whether the act was real. I don't go to a circus to see actors playing a part, like the terrible actors lip-syncing their lines to a recording about how they're a "normal" family realizing their circus dreams by joining the circus.* It was fake and it was stupid. The guy who came out riding a horse and in mid-gallop slipped under the horse's belly and back into the saddle from the other side? That was real and it was fantastic. The videos of talking elephants? Fake and dumb. The acrobat hanging by his feet holding another guy's feet who was holding another guy's feet who grabbed a guy flying through the air by his feet? Real and awesome.

I understand they have a couple of different "shows" with different acts. Maybe next time I can at least get a plume on my horses' heads, but for now, I'll be happy to say that I saw seven motorcyclists buzzing around a spherical cage! Seven!

* The small boy in the family didn't have a circus dream, and kept interfering with all the acts standing around like a goofball. I think he was intended to allow us to identify with him and feel like we're standing there as the Cossack horse riders whizz by, but isn't the point of the circus to NOT identify with what you see? You see the strong man, or the acrobats, or even the clowns, and say to yourself, "Wow, that's incredible what that person just did; I could never do that!" Worst of all was at the very end when the Master of Ceremonies lady reminded us that we could have our circus dreams come true just like this kid. But the whole point of the whole show was that he couldn't figure out what his dream was. Sheesh.