Once upon a time, there was a family with 4 members; Mr. and Mrs. Jackson, and their children Tamika and Waldo.
One day, Tamika turned 5 years old. She got many birthday presents, one of which is kindergarten trivia. She played that game with her mother every Friday evening.
Tamika did a good job with her kindergarten trivia. A year later, she got first grade trivia, and the same routine was followed. She sometimes played the game even when in the car or on a boat ride.
After another year, Tamika got second grade trivia as a present from her mother. She was still happy. Her mother and her friends were happy. But her father made a new, unexpected reaction. He responded by saying, "I think this should be Waldo's!"
Tamika just didn't like her father's comment, which she thought was simply teasing. She got her old kindergarten trivia and permanently gave it to her brother Waldo, saying "It's yours now." Tamika and Waldo were now both happy. Their mother was also happy with the words "Both my children now have trivia games they can play!" Tamika has second grade trivia and Waldo has kindergarten trivia.
One day, the family was on a boat ride with the father as the driver. The mother was playing trivia with each of Tamika and Waldo. Tamika did second grade trivia and Waldo did kindergarten trivia. They did well and their mother was happy. But the father (who was just eager for Waldo to be very smart) was unhappy because he really wanted Waldo to do the second-grade trivia.
That night, Tamika's father was thinking too hard about one of his wishes that he wants to come true early rather than waiting. He dreamed hard about playing second grade trivia with Waldo. Waldo did poorly and if it weren't for the fact that it was a dream, the next thing would be to help Waldo do better.
The next day, Tamika was talking about second grade trivia with her mother and how smart she was. Her mother was happy, but then she was taught an important fact. This is an understanding of a fact about people and that you can't simply tell who is better by physical disabilities. Her mother took her on a trip to a house in Florida where a married couple lived. They came to a woman with a wheelchair. Tamika said, "This must mean she is difficult to interact with!" But her mother said, "Don't trust stereotypes. Practice interacting with her." Tamika tried her best, and when she was finished her mother said, "That woman is very nice and respectful! Now, look at her husband." Tamika tried the man she saw and thought he was fine physically, but the result was that he has many bad habits. He loved to respond to serious questions and directions with silly responses, and had he give Tamika second grade trivia he probably would have made the questions harder.
Then came Tamika's next birthday. She got third grade trivia. She also gave her old first grade trivia to her brother Waldo. But now a new problem came. The family needed something to do with the old kindergarten trivia.
The kindergarten trivia was sent to a school with poor students. But each of Tamika and Waldo kept it inside their memories of the past.
Then one day, they were going on vacation to visit their grandmother. While in the car, Tamika did third grade trivia with her mother and Waldo did first grade trivia later in the same car ride. Tamika was very happy to be good at trivia.
For Tamika's next birthday, she got fourth grade trivia. Her old second grade trivia was now Waldo's, and the first-grade trivia was sent to the same school. Their father was happy that the second-grade trivia is now Waldo's, and so he needed a new way to make Waldo what he wanted. Waldo got a series of books about a Christmas character named John Lowell. John Lowell gives Christmas presents to teenagers. Instead of laughing ho-ho-ho, he counts from 1 to 14, substituting Kennedy for 13. He rides a sleigh guarded by 14 reindeer, their names are Kennedy 1, Kennedy 2, Kennedy 3, and so on, all the way to Kennedy 14; except that the thirteenth reindeer is named Kennedy Kennedy. John Lowell considers it naughty to call the thirteenth of his reindeer Kennedy 13.
Tamika learned about this series of books. She got so unhappy because to her, they were just silly. She wished she could forget about it, but it was very hard for her to forget. She had a new, hard goal. This goal was to try to avoid thinking about things she dislikes.
That night, Tamika was trying hard to look for something nice to think about while in bed. She knew she was so good at the fourth-grade trivia. But she wanted a series of books that she would find nice to think about.
Tamika later got her own series of books. They were about Christmas, and it had 2 special characters. One had a habit that was to find a negative of each Christmas that was to be resolved the following Christmas. The other had a habit that was to find a positive of each Christmas that was to be kept the following Christmas. Tamika loved these books an imagined that these 2 characters are herself and Waldo respectively.
Tamika often reads them when she's in a car ride and there's a traffic jam, or when she's on a boat and there are no channel markers in the area she's riding in.
Along came Tamika's next birthday. She got fifth grade trivia, and the third-grade trivia became Waldo's. Again, however, their father got disappointed; he wanted Waldo to have fifth grade trivia.
Now a new routine was given to the family. Every Saturday, their mother took them (Tamika and Waldo) on a boat ride, and during a period where the boat goes and there are no channel markers, their mother plays trivia with them. Fifth grade trivia for Tamika and third grade trivia for Waldo.
One day, however, their mother was sick and so their father had to be the one who took them on the boat ride. The boat ride felt very different. Tamika felt very sleepy and took a long nap. Waldo did fifth grade trivia and got about half the problems wrong. Tamika was woken up by the conversations. She was mad because her father let Waldo do her trivia game. Tamika just didn't like the way the boat ride felt so different from the more standard boat ride with her mother. Tamika knew it was because her father was the one who took them, but as part of the "parent gets the last say in parent=child disagreements if child is under 18" rule, her father's perspective (which said that the reason is because Tamika took a nap because she arbitrarily didn't sleep well last night) was used.
Tamika just had to accept change. A week later, however, her mother was better, and they had a boat ride that was back to normal.
Then came Waldo's birthday. He got a list of instructions for fishing well because he likes fishing on boat rides, unlike his sister Tamika who likes to ride boats just to have fun. Their father said something similar to what he said about Tamika's fifth grade trivia, but in reverse. That is, he said that he wanted Tamika to have the fishing instructions.
After a while was Tamika's birthday. As usual, she got sixth grade trivia. She wanted to make sure she always does a good job.
Then came Christmas. Tamika and her family wanted to practice decorating the house with Christmas lights. Initially Tamika's mother wanted lights of 6 colors: red, green, blue, pink, gold, and white. But because red and gold lights often look similar when turned on at night, Tamika took gold out; to her there should be 5 colors: red, green, blue, pink, and white.
Then they did a hike. One important difference was that Tamika liked to focus on simply liking the hike simply as a nice walk and that Waldo liked to study the animals he saw whenever he went on a hike. The 2 children needed to take turns.
But how about how good of a job Tamika does with her sixth-grade trivia?? She still does well!
Tamika was happy to be good at trivia. But then she had to learn something else. This is her favorite kind of shoe. She prefers shoes of a brand that balances between 2 important things; being easy to put on and being able to last a long time.
Tamika went on a boat ride with her mother one day and saw a special place where she could get out and get ice cream. They got off the boat and swam to the shore. There was the ice cream place. She loves having ice cream in a cone.
For Tamika's next birthday, she got seventh grade trivia. One would expect her old fifth grade trivia to be given to her brother Waldo, but instead their father bought eighth grade trivia for Waldo, drawing a black line through the phrase "This high level is just for girls".
Tamika wanted to make sure she understood why Waldo got eighth grade trivia. First, she had to know why they designate eighth grade trivia as being only for girls. Her mother said, "Girls are normally smarter than boys. If a boy does such a high level of trivia, then he'll see it as unfair, making him miss when he was younger and saw himself as happy to know a lot of things."
Next Tamika needed to know why Waldo was bought the eighth-grade trivia contrary to the rule. Fathers are often excited to hear that their sons are smart regardless of what good gender studies (suggesting that girls are smarter than boys) suggest.
Meanwhile, Tamika herself did well with seventh grade trivia and got a special surprise just after that. It was a deck of playing cards. It had a total of 199 cards. There were 22 ranks: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, baroness, countess, marchioness, duchess, princess, queen, and empress. There were 9 suits; each one had its own color; black circles, brown square, red hearts, orange diamonds, yellow pyramids, green clubs, blue spades, violet moons, and magenta flowers. The one remaining card was simply a joker, and its color was gray.
Then one day Tamika and her mother went on a nice vacation to Texas where they could do lots of things, including riding roller coasters. Meanwhile, Waldo and his father were going on a vacation to Colorado where they were learning to climb mountains.
After a while, Tamika finally got eighth grade trivia herself! She was so glad she got the highest level of trivia! She was so optimistic that she should be able to get a special surprise for having the highest level of trivia!
Tamika did well with eighth grade trivia. A new part of her routine was added; every Saturday she goes to a place where she can practice running around, usually in circles.
One day, after she was running in circles, Tamika was told by her mother to practice something new. This was running in a shape called a "figure eight". Tamika tried that and did well. But then she tried something she thought was twice as good as a figure eight. She started at the bottom left and went up in a vertical line. Then she made a horizontal line that was just a connector of the 2 important parts of her run. Then she went diagonal and eventually the diagonal turned into a curve that went into a complete circle. It was simply a 16 with a horizontal line at the top that connected the 1 and the 6. She did a "figure sixteen". Her mother just loved it a lot.
Meanwhile, Waldo was practicing guitar lessons, and he played his favorite song, "Shortnin Bread". He loved the song so much and wanted to play it on his guitar.
Then came Tamika's next birthday. She no longer has any trivia to do because eighth grade is the highest level of trivia available. But she got an exciting present, a photo album of images of her from different stages of her life in the 0-13 age bracket.
Tamika often thinks that in conversation it is best to use terminology that sounds natural over formal language when it comes to pronouns. In general, she uses "you and I" only in direct quotations, titles of works, formal writing where "I" or "we" (as opposed to "me" or "us") would be correct, and poetry when the words need to rhyme; otherwise, she always uses "you and me", which to her sounds more casual and appropriate for everyday talk.
In contrast, when it comes to words with numbers in their meaning (such as "pentagon" meaning 5-sided shape) she thinks it's important to use the proper language for the numerical prefix. "Nonagon" (as opposed to "enneagon") meaning a 9-sided shape is one of the most common words Tamika dislikes so much because it uses a prefix from the wrong language. (This applies only to words with numerical prefixes, words with non-numerical prefixes [such as "aquaphobia" meaning fear of water] don't participate in this statement.)
Waldo is the opposite. He thinks it is important to determine pronoun case in everyday speech exactly the way it is prescribed in formal writing, but he thinks it's okay to use words with numerical prefixes any way you want to. (That is, he thinks it's okay to use a Greek numeral prefix when a Latin one is expected, or vice versa.)
Tamika has a new special goal; this is to make love letters for her friends.
Sure enough, along came Tamika's 15th birthday. She got a nice present; it was a cake that she could eat a piece of every day for about a week. She hopes all birthdays she has will be this way.
Waldo celebrates his birthday with popcorn. Waldo sometimes talks about his preferences with an imaginary friend named Donald Elephant.
Tamika also got a very special present, a collection of therapy putties. Each one was a different color, tan, yellow, red, green, blue, black. This order is also the order from softest to firmest.
When Tamika plays with her putties, she always plays with the tan one first, followed by the yellow one, then red, green, blue, and black. This represents that to her, order is important.
Tamika is a good piano player. But her neighbor Peter wants her to be a flute player.
Tamika is very good at "you can't judge a story by its cover" statements. She applies this to 2 series of story books, specifically using their titles to determine whether they are appropriate for people who like stories about girls. One of them is titled "Timothy Thigpen" and the other is titled "Kerri Thigpen". The former series of books, despite having a boyish title, has lots of girls that are nice and loveable. The latter series, despite having a girly title, is primarily about boys and the only female character is the boys' mother.
For Tamika's 16th birthday, she went on a field trip with students in school. She went to a hotel to spend a night, and she was told that her room was on the third floor. She went upstairs twice. But she argued with her teacher. She was told that she was on the second floor and that she needed to go up one floor even though the floor she would be on is technically the fourth floor.
When Tamika came home, her mother explained to her, "It is the fourth floor, but it is the third floor that has rooms where people sleep. The first floor, which is at ground, is where people go to eat.
Now, we know that Tamika is good at trivia. But by the time she is 16 her family notices 2 special subjects: elevator and escalator safety and the uses of oil. Tamika cares a lot about elevator and escalator safety but not much about the uses of oil. Her brother Waldo is the opposite.
Then one day, Tamika, her mother, and a close friend were going on a boat ride. Tamika loved the roller coaster part; she loved the boat's feel the most. But after a while, the close friend wanted to do some fishing. The fishing part of the boat ride felt like 5 hours to Tamika because she doesn't like that part. Tamika took a nap on the boat during that part and dreamed about swimming.
After she was done dreaming, she woke up and came home. She gradually began to form a romantic relationship with her friend Leonard.
Then came Tamika's 17th birthday. She started to think a lot about her adult life now that it was coming quickly.
One day, she went to the pool even though it was a little rainy. She prefers sunny weather for going to the pool, but the rule was needed to be made more flexible: "Sunny weather is preferable to rainy weather if you want to go to the pool, but light rain is okay."
Tamika and Leonard tried their best to get used to each other and then spent more and more time together.
Tamika gave Leonard an interesting problem. "How many of the 48 contiguous states have you been to in your life??" She gave a list of all 48 of them. Leonard circled the ones he has been to, but then he added Alaska and circled it.
After a while Tamika turned 18. Meanwhile, Waldo started to form a relationship with someone named Josephine.
During the next few years, each of Tamika and Waldo developed nice relationships with their respective partners.
Then one day, Tamika and Leonard were engaged. This gave many of their fans an exciting event to look forward to.
Tamika and Leonard got married and everyone who went loved this event so much. A year later, Waldo and Josephine got engaged as well.
Then they got married as well. For a few months Tamika was thinking nicely and peacefully about both her own marriage and her brother's marriage as equally nice parts of her current life. Then, Waldo and Josephine were becoming parents. Tamika was as patient as she could be and then their baby girl Isabel was born. Tamika was very happy that she has a girl biologically related to her born. Known to Isabel as "Aunt Meeka", Tamika talked with Isabel a lot and wishes she could do trivia for each grade in the K-8 interval the same way Tamika herself did.
For the first 3 years since Isabel was born, Tamika was happy and optimistic about having Isabel in her life. Then one day, however, Tamika was pregnant herself. This baby was a boy. When the baby was born, he was given the name Michael. He had a very interesting habit. He always cries "Maa! Maa! Maa!" (repeated as many times as possible until Tamika tells him to stop; pronounced like the word "mad" without the final d sound) when he wants Tamika to focus on him.
Michael's "Maa! Maa! Maa!" cries just make Tamika miss thinking about her beloved niece, who has properties that remain true to Tamika's wishes despite not being her own daughter. Tamika just disliked the cries that she made a rule that Michael must stay with his father whenever Tamika goes out anywhere.
For the first 2 years after his birth, Michael got used to real talking. But he adopted a special rule when he counts things. Convert the number of the next-to-last item being counted into a letter. For example, if there are 6, he counts them 1-2-3-4-E-6; if there are 8, he counts 1-2-3-4-5-6-G-8. (He uses this as a warning to indicate that he's nearing the end. The last item gets a number to indicate how many items there are. If there are 6 items; the E [as opposed to the expected 5] indicates that he is coming near the end and that the item gets a letter as a reminder to indicate this. The 6 that comes after the E is useful because being the last item, it indicates that there are 6 items total.)
Michael has a deck of playing cards that differs from the one mentioned above in 2 ways. Clubs are gray, not green. And instead of baroness, countess, marchioness, duchess, princess, queen, and empress; the cards above the 15 are named cheetah, leopard, cougar, jaguar, lion, tiger, and bear. Tamika had to adjust to her son's likes and dislikes a lot.
Now let's go on to Michael's third birthday. Now he goes to nursery school and spends more of his time with his same-gender peers. This allows Tamika to spend more time with a life independent of Michael, and she can spend time playing trivia with her niece Isabel.
Also, Tamika got a hand cycle for her birthday. She usually spends between 1 and 2 hours on her hand cycle.
Tamika also goes to the birthday parties of her niece Isabel. She gets trivia for each grade in the K-8 interval the same way Tamika did herself.
Tamika loves to have cake. But there's one day where the rules say you can't celebrate with cake. It is March 14; it is Pie Day. Pie Day has to be celebrated with pie.
Tamika visits her niece Isabel every Christmas. They have lots of nice time together and do things that they love, such as hikes.
In contrast, for Thanksgiving Waldo visits Michael.
Tamika sends love letters to her friends that have lists of nice things for them to think about. Michael is different; he sends love letters that give things for people to think about that they need to work on looking at positively.
When Michael is 3, he becomes a big brother to a girl named Kamala. Meanwhile, Isabel becomes a big sister to a boy named Herbert.
Kamala and Isabel (6 years apart in age) sometimes play trivia where Isabel gives Kamala the question. This applies to all grades (K-8) of trivia.