Three Things

I recently saw one of my son's school assignments, a writing project to list and describe "three things" that were important to him. They were: his baby blanket, his (my) copy of Unreal Tournament 2004, and his iPod nano.

Baby blanket: Chris has this at his mother's, I haven't seen it in years. But I know that he is prone to sentimental attachments. He still loves to pull on, at the right time of the year, a glittery "Christmas hat" that we've had since he was six.

Unreal Tournament 2004: This is a "first-person shooter" game I bought a couple of years ago because my department was addicted to playing online against each other. Chris used to love watching us play when he visited me at the office. I brought the game home when I left there, and installed in on my home Mac, where Chris has learned to play in spite of my stream of advice. "Watch out for the player behind the rock!" "Go back to the base and reload!" "That vehicle's too slow. Get into the Manta!"

iPod nano: This was a birthday present last year. It's more about the music it contains that the device itself. Blackeyed Peas, Eminem, Green Day, a bit of Cure, Foo Fighters, R.E.M., U2...

A nice surprise yesterday: I was at a post-season triathlon "event" held by Multisport Canada and won a $500 prize pack of Pearl Izumi athletic clothes! Nice.

Listening to: Don't Lie by Black Eyed Peas from Monkey Business.