December 22, 2008

• A Record Breaking Weekend

  
  Yesterday, Joel and I took the boys to the Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana.  They were celebrating their 10th anniversary.  There was cake and punch, and hundreds of Rubik’s Cube enthusiasts (including my friend Tyson), trying to break the Guinness World Record for the most people solving the Rubik’s Cube at one time.  The last time I took Tommy to a speedcubing event at the DSC back in April, he proclaimed he was the “luckiest kid in the world” for having met Tyson, who is admittedly a celebrity in the cubing world, having starred on the hit reality show, Beauty & the Geek.  (He also  taught Will Smith how to solve the cube for The Pursuit of Happyness.)

  Ever since then, Tommy has been playing with the cube, but hasn’t mastered it yet.  I think it was good for him to see kids younger than him, who could solve it with ease.  He brought his own cube along and I was careful not to let him ask anyone to solve it for him early on, as I knew that once his cube was solved, he would quit trying, because he didn’t want to “mess it up”. 

  At one point though, Tyson was being interviewed by a TV station that sounded Chinese.  He didn’t have a cube in his hand, and since Tommy was shadowing him, Tyson asked Tommy to borrow his cube and to hold some papers for him.  Tommy was elated.  As Tyson proceeded to work his magic fingers, Tommy watched in awe.  I told him he’d probably be on TV in China, seen by a billion people, and needless to say, he thought that was pretty cool!    Of course, now he wouldn’t touch his cube anymore, because Tyson had solved it.  Here’s the video:

  After that, I gave in and bought Tommy another mini Rubik’s Cube on a keychain.  When we were watching the speedsolving competition in the theater, Tommy asked the kid sitting next to him if he would solve his mini cube.  The kid, Justin, a former speedcuber told Tommy that he had been “clean and sober” from the cube for a year.  He said that even touching a cube made him want to do it obsessively, and that he had already been down that road of addiction.  I was watching him though, and he was really tempted to take that little cube from Tommy.  It might as well have been a bag of heroin!  Apparently, speed solving can become quite addictive!  Of course, wouldn’t you know it, a few minutes later some girl came up to Tommy and asked him if she could solve his mini cube.  As he watched her, I could see hearts in his eyes! 

  

  At the end of the day, Tyson was nice enough to give Tommy a free DVD that he made about solving the cube.  (Makes a great Christmas gift…available exclusively by Barnes & Noble!)  Oh, and lest I forget, Andy had a great time too….running from the dinosaurs, and not jumping into fountains:

  Here are some other images of the beautiful day:

    
  Tommy & Tyson

  
  Don’t you think my picture is better than the one they put in the newspaper above??

  

  

  
  The kids literally ran from the same dinosaur for over a half an hour.  LOL

  

  
  Double trouble!
  
  

  

  

  
  Went to see “Rachel Getting Married” at the Sunset last night.  Talk about a dysfunctional family!!
  
  
  Best of the rest…

  For more amazing Rubik’s talent, check out my visit with Macky in “A Kaleidoscope Of Mathematics”

  My favorite Christmas song!

  • 2:27 am
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