The Memory Game - Condo Pig Viking Version

Six or eight thousand years ago, the Nielsen family invented a game on New Year's Day called 'The Memory Game'. They've played it every year since its inception.

The memory game has been played in caves, on Viking long boats, in Scottish castles, in the English city of York, in sub-zero temperatures (Joan's living room) and in my Cambridge-Narrows living room. Now it's available in a Toronto condo version!

Here's how the game is played: random items are placed on a table, then covered with a cloth. The Nielsen Vikings are then invited to gather around the table, at which time the cloth is removed for about a minute. Then the items are covered again and the game contestants take pen and paper, disperse to various corners of the cave/castle/house, and they record as many items as can be remembered. After a few moments they are brought back to the uncovered table to see who remembered the most items.

And then what happens? Well, typically Linda is awarded first prize.

She must have an incredible memory?

Just look at how she remembers song lyrics! She knows the lyrics to every song that's ever been performed on Hymn Sing, Lawrence Welk, Don Messer's Jubilee, or any of Wendy's Irving Berlin tribute concerts.

What doesn't she know?

She doesn't know the lyrics to any rock songs, or any B52 songs. I guess when her parents introduced her to music, they didn't allow any pop/rock music into the house. They laid down the law!

So, are you wondering what today's image depicts? It's an illustration of some of the things I found while cleaning under the stove in our new condo. If there's one thing that I do know, it's that whoever lived in the condo before us must have been a pig. Certainly the word 'cleaning' was not part of their vernacular. Let's take a look at what I found....

In no particular order: styrofoam ball, bottle cap, paint tube cap, jelly bean, halloween bubble gum candy, dog food, glass vial, dog biscuit, something horn shaped that even CSI can't identify, massive dustball, teak shoe horn (??), flattened Lindor box, pen cap, and some light bulb packaging. Not in the picture but discovered with further, deep cleaning: nails, screws, dog hair, scum, ketchup and a cigarette butt. A neat excavation, you might say.

I would encourage you not to remember these items. I hope to forget them. Game over. God only knows how long this stuff has lived under that stove. I have no idea. I ain't no student of ancient culture.