A Tale of Excitement:
Kinder Egg/Kinder Surprise.
Okay, the Kinder Egg itself isn't meaningful, but the meaning I've come to attribute to it is what excites me, as stupid as that may sound. (I heard these are illegal in America? That's madness, you guys are missing out!)
For me this little egg shaped chocolate drop of heaven holds a meaning, as it literally takes me back to my childhood, and gives me that same excitement.
There are a infinite amount of things that excite us as people and many things that bring excitement to me; travelling to new countries, trying new foods, extreme sports, getting ready to learn a new magic effect that you were blown away by; these things are all exciting to me and I'm sure a lot of us here - but there is nothing that brings that same level excitement for me as this little Kinder Surprise. The best way I can describe it, is a childlike sense of excitement and from an object that is so small, simple and, to many, arbitrary. Maybe some of you can relate with something like playing with Lego again, finding an old toy you used to love, but it's more than
just nostalgia.
We all attach emotions and experiences to various objects, I think the reason this holds such significance for me is because as a child this was a very rare treat for me given to me only by my parents, and only one was ever allowed at a time. So already the excitement was there for me as a child of when I may receive the next one. However, there was on one occasion ,when I was around 5 years old in school when I got knocked over and I hit my lip on the concrete and I can say I have never bled so much since in my life. My mom was sent to come pick me up from school as I was bleeding so much and in tears. I remember clearly returning home and sitting on the edge of the sofa just holding my bloodied lip really upset for ages, with my mom kneeling in front of me trying to cheer me up for the longest time, but then she seemed to just give up, got up and left the room.
But when she returned, she came back with a Kinder Egg in hand, which immediately flipped the switch on my mood - if you look up bipolar in the dictionary you will see a picture of that moment; I totally forgot the pain, tears just disappeared and I was excited again.
It doesn't end there though; my mom then brought her other hand from behind her back, and what was in that hand too? Yep. Another Kinder Egg! Two Kinder Eggs? TWO?! I still remember that feeling in the moment perfectly.
Ecstatic is an understatement.
I remember just sitting there holding the two eggs of chocolate and being wide eyed looking down at them frozen in a mixture of happiness, state of shock and speechlessness.
Was my mom trying to kill me? Making a 5 year old experience such a rollercoaster of emotions within a minute - from pain and tears, to excitement and happiness then finally to a euphoric existential crisis -
I had
TWO Kinder Eggs. As far as I was concerned that was the keys to the universe. (Pretty sure that it still is.)
No, this Kinder Egg is not something that's always on my desk, or displayed on my shelf or even in my house. But when I go to the supermarket at the checkout they sometimes have a bunch of Kinder Eggs by the till, and if I see them, I always pick one up just to feel that little burst of excitement again.
When we become adults, many things that used to hold meaning just lose its' magic, but for me this hasn't. In a day and age where we have all grown to become more cynical and jaded, this little ball of chocolate still reminds me what childlike excitement feels like and how simple the world could be.
As magicians, we try and induce a sense of wonder and excitement, but how often can we do that for ourselves? This is something that for me, can, and by doing so inspires me more to try to recreate this emotion for someone else.
TL;DR, Time travel has been invented and it's in the form of a Kinder Egg, because every time I hold one, it takes me back to the moment I sat on the sofa when I was 5.
By the way, did I mention that the eponymous Surprise inside of the Kinder Egg is a little toy that you can build? Yeah, you bet that that added to the excitement as a kid! (Obviously the excitement I attribute to the Kinder Egg is for a different reason now - but side note, the toy that came with the one I just bought is freaking awesome! So I guess maybe it's not that different.)
If anyone took the time to read all that, thanks! I hope I managed to let you take a peek into my favourite memory and hope you could feel the same EGG-citement(!) Okay, I'll grab my jacket.
http://i.imgur.com/69uXk0J.jpg (click to see the large version)
(I was just going to find a picture of a Kinder Egg online, but this gave me an excuse to deliberately go out and get one.)