There was this one game we played in fifth grade reading class: we'd divide up into teams of four and take turns guessing the definitions of words. It worked like this. Each of us on one team would get a card. Three cards would be blank, while the remaining card had the definition of a word on it. Mr. Dewing would announce the word, and the four of us would take turns reading out definitions. If we had a blank card, we had to make one up. It was the other team's job to guess which one of the definitions was real. Pretty straightforward.

I was a shy kid back then, so I always only just barely made up a definition when my turn came. Then one round, I just completely froze. I turned to the next kid in line, Brian, and asked him, "Do you want to go first?" The other team broke down laughing, and scored a point with their improved odds.

Next round, Brian says, "Lawrence, you better not screw up this time." I only shrugged my shoulders as I couldn't make any promises. So eventually my turn came and I sighed. Once again, I had to turn to Brian and ask him the same question. He threw up his hands in frustration, and Mr. Dewing had to give me extra time to come up with something (to preserve the spirit of the game, I suppose). I paused for a moment, then blurted out "a mix of vitamins." It sounded pretty ridiculous, and I watched nervously as the other team whispered to each other "we know it's not Lawrence again." They chose some other definition... and a few moments later, of course, the right defintion was mine!

Mr. Dewing jumped up and shouted, "Dustin Hoffman! That was total Dustin Hoffman!" I had no idea what Dustin Hoffman had to do with it, but it sounded good to me.

I still don't know how I managed to keep a straight face the whole time...  ¶ 6:49 PM