The Giant and the Midget
by Jace D. Albao (b. 1969)

Once upon a time, in a land not that far away from where you are now, there lived a giant, all alone. Not your ordinary giant, mind you; not the kind of giant you’ve read about in storybooks and fairy tales. This giant was different. He was only three feet tall.

Every day the giant took a walk through the fields near his home, overlooking the sea.

“I must be the biggest giant in the world,” he thought. “Why, there couldn’t possibly be any giant bigger than me.”

Once upon the same time, in a land not that far away from where you are now, and not that far from the fields near the giant’s home, there lived a midget, all alone. Not your ordinary midget, mind you; not the kind of midget you’ve seen in movies and television shows. This midget was different. He was ten feet tall.

Every day the midget took a walk through the fields near his home, overlooking the sea.

“I must be the smallest midget in the world,” he thought. “Why, there couldn’t possibly be any midget smaller than me.”

One afternoon, the giant went for his daily walk. Deciding to try something new, he wandered through the fields near his home, and kept going, and kept going, and soon, he wasn’t near his home at all.

That same afternoon, at the same hour, the midget went for his daily walk. Deciding to try something new, he wandered through the fields near his home, and kept going, and kept going, and soon, he wasn’t near his home at all.

It wasn’t long before the giant saw a ten foot man walking towards him through the fields, overlooking the sea.

“Wow,” thought the giant. “I’m not the biggest giant in the world after all.”

It wasn’t much longer before the midget saw a three foot man walking towards him through the fields, overlooking the sea.

“Wow,” thought the midget. “I’m not the smallest midget in the world after all.”

And the giant waved to the midget.

And the midget waved back to the giant.

And they both went home, walking through the fields, overlooking the sea.

“For I am that special freak, the man with the child inside who remembers all.”
– Ray Bradbury

One thousand students stand in line outside a school, each numbered 1 to 1000. In the school are one thousand closed lockers, each numbered 1 to 1000. One by one, the students go into the school and “change the state” of the lockers. That is, if a locker is open, they close it; if it is closed, they open it.

Here are the rules:

The first student goes in and changes the state of each locker. The second student goes in and changes the state of every other locker. The third student goes in and changes the state of every third locker. The fourth student goes in and changes the state of every fourth locker. And so on. Eventually, the thousandth student goes in and changes the state of the thousandth locker.

After all one thousand students have completed their task, how many lockers are open?

Source: Rob Gonsalves

“In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about Life: it goes on.”
– Robert Frost

My cousin Kevin and his wife Kat were visiting from Kauai a couple weeks ago, so my bro Micah and I carved out a day to do some wine tasting with them in Temecula. Here we are at our second stop. Or maybe it was our third.

In either case, it turned out to be the perfect way to cap off the preliminary Sierra Nevadas from lunch.

Visited the folks out in Temecula recently, and stopped by a neighbor’s ranch while taking the dogs for a walk through the area. I think these are llamas. Some of the trippiest animals I’ve ever seen. Especially with the eye contact.

=continued=