Michael5000 Invests in His Future

There was a fundraiser for work a few weeks back that celebrated the African immigrant community here in the City of Roses.  Me and Mrs.5000 attended.  It was pretty cool.

There was a silent auction, and I accidentally purchased on the somewhat cheap about a two-year supply of coffee.  I was just trying to get the ball rolling, but that item didn't turn out to be a hot ticket.

But also, I put in a last-minute high bid and bought my new cane.  It's pretty sweet.  It is I believe Congolese and also I believe hand-carved.  Although "hand-carved" can of course mean quite a number of things, this item feels more "small workshop" than "factory floor."  For what that's worth.

But anyway, as I say, it's pretty sweet.

For one thing, it has a zebra.

For another, it has an elephant.

And then it has the curvy bit where you have a giraffe neck twined with zebra and leopard-skin spirals.

And then it bends a little bit because that's the natural shape of the wood.

It has many uses.  I can hold it as a symbol of my power!  Also, I can use it for an African-themed defense against the dark arts, or whatever.

And, I am not above affecting a limp in order that I can use it as a cane.  I find that it is surprisingly tricky to affect a limp.  I try to emulate the villain from Chinatown, although -- let me hasten to clarify -- only in this one specific respect.

As I was doing this at work, a Somali coworker told me I "looked like an African elder," which seems unlikely, but he would know better than I.  It was a proud moment, and then it occurred to me that affecting a limp it the workplace could be construed as unprofessional.  Also, that it might be regarded as insensitive by people who have to limp all the time.  So, I stopped looking like an African elder.

But I still quite like my cane.