Dear Hagen,
A few weeks ago, we were invited to your friend Calia's 5th birthday party. Her mom, Ms. Julie, is one of your teachers and we love her. For the occasion, she had a bounce house in her yard and we all enjoyed a fun bonfire and cupcakes.
As you might remember, your dad gave me a GoPro camera for MY birthday this year, and I've had fun shooting little clips of you guys sledding and skiing. Little Calia likes seeing herself in videos so much that she had her mom call and ask me to PLEASE bring my camera to her party and "make a movie of it." Side note: One of my favorite things to yell when I'm frustrated on the set of a TV show is "YOU'RE RUINING MY MOVIE!" It's just great fun to pretend you're Orson Wells when you're really making basic cable.
Anyhoo, a few days before the party, I ordered this ridiculous box of GoPro accessories from Amazon for $30, because it included everything from a scuba mount to a helmet doohickey to a mini tripod...and it also included a chest harness, known as a "chesty." After a few beers at Calia's party, I thought it would be hilarious to rig you up in the chesty and set you loose. You took it VERY seriously and told everyone around that you were making a movie (which means you are already halfway to being a self-important reality television producer - congrats!).
An hour and a half later, I realized you were still recording. When I got home, I found myself facing 14 GB of footage, enough to crash my computer.
And let me just say...it was some eye-opening footage, and every parent ought to try something like this at least once. First of all, it's incredible to be reminded what the world looks like from 30-something inches off the ground. It's just a sea of grown-up knees. Often, you'd have to do a little front stroke swimming motion to carve yourself a path between grown-ups. There were times at the party when you'd check in with me to ask what you should shoot next, and I'd say "How about the bounce house?" I now have about 18 minutes of raw footage of the air compressor that fills the bounce house. I'd forgotten about your dedication to investigating how things work.
In the year 2000, a music group called the Baha Men first recorded the now-classic "Who Let The Dogs Out?" I wish I could go back in time and tell them the answer is: Hagen Burbach, at Calia's party. You also caught on camera a grown-up smoking a secret cigarette on the side of the house, but for $20 I have agreed not to make her identity known.
So from 90+ minutes of footage, I've picked more or less at random these 3 minutes to give you a taste of a 4 year old on the loose at a backyard birthday.
Enjoy.
I know I did.
Mom
P.S. I didn't outsource EVERYTHING to you; I took some pictures at the party, too:
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