10/27/2006

Alex has a friend at school whose nickname is “Cheeto”, presumably because he enjoys snacking on Cheetos. When asked about his own nickname, Alex responded that it was “Calculator”. He admitted, however, that it was a name he invented for himself, and in fact no one really calls him that.

However, the planets must have been aligned or something because we went to the kids’ school tonight for their annual Fall Festival, where the kids play games and win candy or crappy plastic toys. Two things happened.

First, we ran into Cheeto. He was– surprise!— walking around with a bag of Cheetos, getting little orange crumbs all over his shirt. He said hi to Alex and tagged along with us for a bit.

Second, and even funnier, we were walking along and one of Alex’s classmates said hi to him and mentioned to another kid standing there, “He’s really smart.” A third kid in the hall chimed in with, “Yeah, he’s like a calculator.”

I thought it was a riot. I guess Cheeto and Calculator live up to their names.