‘Take a minute to smile’: B.C. student takes breaks from studies to juggle, play harmonica and solve Rubik’s Cube

Adam finds out how a student started striving to spread joy by juggling and playing harmonica on a unicycle.

BURNABY, B.C. — Before he learned how to juggle things in the air, Arlo Watts had to develop the patience to keep picking them up off the ground.

“I like to say that juggling just means dropping things over and over again,” Arlo smiles.

But after months of practice and perseverance, Arlo got it.

“Once you feel like you have a rhythm, then it’s really exciting,” Arlo says before juggling a trio of bowling pins. “And immediately you think, ‘What’s the next thing?!’”

That turned out to be the unicycle, which Arlo taught himself how to ride after moving away to university.

“I find that in computer science, I often don’t have to leave the house if I don’t want,” Arlo says.

But when you’re a unicyclist, you do. So, Arlo started riding around to maintain his physical fitness, before adding juggling to the exercise, to challenge himself mentally.

“Because normally when you’re riding the unicycle, you’re using your arms for balance,” Arlo explains before cycling on one wheel while juggling three pins. “But when you’re juggling, suddenly your hands have to go all over the place to catch whatever it is you’re juggling.”

It’s hard. So sometimes Arlo takes it relatively easy by grabbing his Rubik’s Cube, wearing a clown nose just for fun, and riding his unicycle while solving the puzzle, which he can consistently do mostly with one hand in less than a minute.

“I get a lot of satisfaction out of working hard at something,” Arlo says. “And then succeeding at it.”

While finding personal satisfaction is important, Arlo has learned that inspiring positivity in others is too.

“What I really want is to get people to see something they’ve never seen before,” Arlo says, before riding his unicycle, juggling three balls, and playing the melody to ‘Piano Man’ on the harmonica, all at the same time.

Like Billy Joel’s classic song, whenever it seems like we’re in the ‘mood for a melody,’ this multi-tasking unicycle man tries to get us ‘feeling all right.’

“Take a break from being stressed for a moment,” Arlo says as his fellow students look up from their studying to do just that as he passes them in the university courtyard.

“Take a minute to smile and think about all the weird and wonderful things that are possible.”