RandomThink.net

So, on Saturday my wife and I went with my mom to hang out at the mall for her birthday. My mom never really gets to get out and just casually look around stores, but she loves to do it. Since it was her birthday, we asked her what she wanted to do, and she said she wanted to hang out at the mall. Fine with us, we like the mall.

So, we were walking around Cottonwood Mall, the mall for the westside of town, looking at the major anchors like Sears, J.C. Penney’s, Mervyn’s, and we saw this little cart that was new. You know how malls have those little carts and all, that sell little stuff. People who want a shop but can’t afford the rent price for a big place.

Anyways, we walked up to the booth, and my eyes just glazed over in delight. It was a booth selling all kinds of variants on Crystal Stix Superflight Devil Sticks. At the time, I didn’t know they were Crystal Stix Superflight Devil Sticks, I just knew that they looked like Devil Sticks.

A quick note, courtesy of JugglingStore.com:

The first thing that has to be said about Devil sticks is that they have nothing to do with the devil. The name comes from the Greek word devil’ which means ‘to throw across’. Exactly when the DevilSticks were first invented is unknown. It is thought that they were first seen in China.

So, I saw these, and I went nuts. You see, some years ago in that same mall, I picked up my first set of juggling balls from a guy named Rob, who was a national champion and ran a local store called Rob’s Magic and Juggling Shop. He was trying to branch out, so he set up a booth at Cottonwood which shut down after a few months. He eventually sold his shop to a guy who was a master at devil sticks, but then the shop closed down not too much later.

There’s been nothing else in town that really sold any quality juggling products, so I was just stoked to see this booth. I never was good with the sticks, but I picked up a nice pair and actually started to get the hang of it fairly quickly, while my wife and my mom stood there kinda laughing at me.

Now, a pair of the crystal stix linked at the top of this story is at the top of my Christmas list.

My wife was teasing me, because the Today show is running a series about Toys for Christmas for kids, and she asked what today’s age group was. It was toddlers, like 3-5. She said she was hoping it’d be the 21-25 age group, so she could get some more ideas. :P

Eventually, I’ll post my master Christmas list, so you all know what to get me.