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Man Needs Sugar

(2022-11-25 11:42:10) 下一個

The weekend before Thanksgiving was busy. At 6:00am Sat, Mom and Tim left for

the VEX tournament hosted by the high school robotics club. The kid had been

working hard with four classmates on their bot for the past two months and today

was show time. After his martial art training at noon and with sore muscles all

over, Bill joined the event as a parent volunteer.

 

He knew next to nothing about robotics and, as it turned out, there was little

for him to do. The school club had run 23 years with a stellar record and the

place worked like a well-oiled machine. 38 teams from the Bay Area gathered at

six-foot fold-in-half tables lined up in six rows taking most of the floor of

the assembly hall. Three arenas (aka fields) were set up at the opposite wall

for testing. At the door was a help desk (called the pit admin), a big screen

showing results and ranking, and a snack booth (or concession). Everyone looked

sharp and engaged in something, each had a purpose, and Bill felt easy being the

center of nothing, and was glad to do what he did best: lounging around, staying

out of the way, and recovering from physical exertion.

 

It was a long day. The teams went back and forth between their tables in the

hall and the theater next door to compete during their slots. 16 were selected

by 3:00pm for four brutal single-elimination rounds. After Tim's team lost at

the quarter finals, Bill rushed out and bought a tuna sandwich to share with the

kid. By the time the tournament ended, he had fully recovered and was happy to

help packing away tables and chairs. It took three more hours to clean up before

they headed home at 8:00pm.

 

Sunday morning, Bill biked 1.5 hrs to Fremont to find a network cable for Tim,

who needed a fast connection for his games. At his old house, he lifted weights,

swept the yards, trimmed the plants, and headed back at around 2:30pm.

 

It was a gorgeous windless afternoon, just like yesterday. Under a fresco sky,

the sun was shining on the dancing waters of the Bay. The golden east hills had

turned darker and already started lap-dissolving with a hint of green. The

trails were buzzing with hikers, runners, cyclists, dogs, and small children. It

was the season: since Halloween, festivity descended in the air and no matter

what was befalling, people cheered up. Coming out of the hills, Bill took to the

levees. Flat, quiet, and well-travelled on, they were perfect for biking.

 

He had begun to feel hollow inside, however. Since morning, he had had black

coffee, two handful of nuts, and two cups of tea. After scaling the Dumbarton

bridge, all he could think of was food: not just any food but hot chocolates,

the thick, cloying, scalding stuff from the store. At the T junction west of

the bridge, he could have continued on to the Starbucks at the end of Willow

Street in East Menlo Park, but instead of replenishing, he wanted to conserve

energy--halfway home, his own and the e-bike's were both draining fast.

 

Once indoors, he pounced on a big chunk of a leftover cake and a bow of Kyoho

grapes. With another handful of nuts, it was a satisfying supper.

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7grizzly 回複 悄悄話 回複 'stillthere' 的評論 : Thank you, my friend. That means a lot to me although some would doubt it :-)
stillthere 回複 悄悄話 The world needs more 7grizzly!
7grizzly 回複 悄悄話 回複 'stillthere' 的評論 : The ebike has changed my life-style. I've since achieved car-free grocery shopping :-)
stillthere 回複 悄悄話 Happy biking.
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