Friday, June 26, 2009

Norway part deux, or trois

One of my favorite Tom stories took place in Norway, when the family decided to walk up a fjord. (It's unclear why we were doing this exactly, when there were perfectly good hi-res fjord photos online to look at, and plenty of lovely bars in Norway we could have been at drinking in the local culture as our ancestors would have, instead of slogging up a mountain. Alas.) Half way up the hill, maybe an hour or two into the hike, we stopped at a scenic spot to take a breather. See the photo below.




So here we all are, huffing and puffing, and the group was pretty quiet. I can't remember who asked me, probably Mom, what I was thinking about. At the time I was looking at a bug like an idiot. "That bug," I said, pointing to the bug. No one said anything, because the bug wasn't interesting or note-worthy in any particular way. (I think that was the last time I was asked on the trip what I was thinking about.) Someone probably asked Krista or Dad what they were thinking about, but I can't remember what their responses where. Dad's was probably something about enjoying the great outdoors etc etc. In any case, enter Tom!

"Tom," someone asked, "What are you thinking about?"



"Oh," he answered nonchalantly in the way that Tom answers things nonchalantly, "I was just thinking I could calculate the depth of the water out there in my head by measuring the distance of the waves (Imagine Tom pointing at the waves in the water) and here I can't recall what Tom said exactly because my mind folded in on itself, but not because it was a complicated answer, Tom rather expertly explained to the math laypersons huffing around him how simple the answer would be to derive, but rather because I was keenly aware of the incredibly contrast between my own insect comment and Tom's awesome brain.
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2 comments:

  1. OpieJune 26, 2009 at 4:49 PM

    Another aspect of Tom's profound brilliance that I always admired was his ability to multitask. I tend to focus on one thing at a time, but it seemed like no amount of simultaneous tasks could ever overwhelm him.

    I remember hanging out in his room at college one time. Some outrageous movie was on TV; the stereo was playing; a dozen people were milling about, talking; and Tom, by the open window with a bourbon in one hand and cigarette and pen in the other, was keeping up with all of it. What made it so impressive was that he was also solving math problems at the same time, problems so advanced that nobody even recognized the symbols, much less the operations.

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  2. KristaJune 27, 2009 at 5:37 PM

    I think he was figuring out the depth of the fjord based on the wake of a boat, but I don't remember exactly either.

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