Slime

We'll take a break from the coronavirus updates to talk about Elisa's life's work.  Slime. She says she first heard of the concept of slime in the 2nd grade when a classmate had something similar to slime and it made a noise when you played with it. Later she found videos showing the real thing and how to make it. Then came the onslaught against our shampoos, conditioners, dish soap, and bowls. I can't say I know exactly how the making of slime works. I guess I could ask Elisa and watch the videos. Or not. It appears to involve taking these soapy ingredients along with some special slime ingredients and putting into a bowl to stew. After a few days - or is it weeks - the slime is ready to be kneaded. Elisa does the kneading in almost a meditative state. Pull in half into one hand, compress the other half in, press down onto the table, pull back into hand, repeat. She can do this for an hour. From the various bowls and states the slime is in, this looks to be a multi-stage process. At the end of the process she puts the finished slime into a small container and has occasionally mailed them out. She posts videos of her slime on TikTok. She may in fact be a Slime celebrity.

One hopes one's children develop interests that can challenge them and expand their view of the world. Lydia has sketched since she was small and has developed an artistic eye. Aidan shares my passion for sports and physical activity. Elisa has her slime. At first, when she carved out a corner of her bedroom to work on the slime I thought it was interesting. She did much of the work in private, I think to avoid me asking her not to waste things or create much of a mess. Then I discovered she had two slime processing locations in her mom's apartment. When we moved last month, we moved a small cabinet of slime materials into our new apartment. And when she took over a bedroom in the apartment, she consolidated her slime operation. It must be a top 10 operation in Beijing.

In full respect of her slime operations, Lydia and I decided that our most recent movie night would feature The Blob. The 1988 version, not the original. The only thing more amazing than Kevin Dillion's hair in it was how poor the effects were. Early in the movie, slime took over a man's hand and Elisa winched. She sat under my arm, eyes covered. I started to regret the movie choice. Elisa can be a bit sensitive if she things people are teasing her (a true Allio). Aidan and Lydia were about to double down on how evil the slime was but the backed down and let the moment past. The movie wasn't great, but still enjoyable in a campy way. And spoiler alert - the slime doesn't like cold.