cameroon log

Game Boy fun

Saturday December 7th, 2003

I played my Game Boy today. Lots of resting and relaxing. I feel pretty good today. I have Alex go out and test the video on different players, and it seems to work well…although the translation to PAL is still really really bothering me. The highlight of the day had to be the Alex and Petit juggling show.

Petit came by to hang out, and show us his new juggling tricks. He is practicing almost every day. Alex, on the other hand, stopped practicing, except for a few minutes here and there. So we all started a bit of juggling, and I started talking about different tricks. I brought up the apple eating trick. After not being able to explain it successfully to Alex and Petit, I sent Petit to get us some apples. I did my eating thing.. Jen tried, and couldn’t really get the hang of it, which really supprised me as she is a FAR better juggler than I will ever be (she is working on 5 right now, I will probably not get past 3 in this lifetime). Then Alex and Petit went at it. This is when the entertainment really started. I started to try to teach Petit how to do the trick, and Alex started teaching him as well. With total authority, he was telling Petit the nuances of eating the apple. Petit wasn’t really getting the hang of the trick, largely due, I believe, to the fact that throwing a perfectly good apple in the air is pretty much a totally alien thought. I mean, eating apples here is pretty rare… so risking one falling is a bit difficult…but Petit is very smart, and very talented.. so he started getting it a bit. Alex meanwhile, was coaching and correcting away. Then it was Alex’s turn. He pretended to juggle, and started to eat the apple. After faking it, he actually tried to do it.. with little success. It was fun to watch, but we hadn’t even started. We then got the Alex and Petit juggling show…They did an improvised and totally unselfconscious act for us. Petit moonwalked across the floor jugling, with Alex deriding him the whole time…but never juggling. Then Petit called him on it, and Alex faked his way around the fact that he couldn’t do it. His faking wasn’t even a real attempt, it was more slapstick than anything else. This was pretty much the pattern. Alex not doing a trick, or doing a very simplified version of a trick, while Petit did all the real work. I would be a great act if they could actually take it on the road… Alex is pretty clearly not as capable, so uses his only talent: his mouth. The thing is, he isn’t really that mean, and overall is pretty ineffectual, so he never delves into the bully territory… and Petit doesn’t just sit back and take it..but he is clearly not as good with the witty banter as Alex. All in all, with the power going out and the whole scene by candle light, it was a very pleasant diversion. I mean really, who needs television?