What we do for fun

As if we weren't having fun already! Though, in all seriousness, here are the top four activities we like to pursue while slacking off in the field, in the order in which we might do them in a day:

Hacky Sack - No scores, no competition; just keep the hacky sack in the air for as long as possible between players using any part of your body other than your arms and hands, though predominant use of the feet is the norm. Since last season, it has been tradition to play this game every morning after breakfast to warm up for traverse. If every person within the participating circle can get a touch on the hacky sack without it touching the ground, the act is considered a 'hack' and cause for celebration.

Let's just say that Jon and I are totally boss at the two-person hack. This past week with Catherine and Erica around, we managed to play a three- and even FOUR-person game (yes, let it be known that Catherine Rose played hacky sack!), and that is a totally different style of play. We've realized that hacking with just two people, although more difficult and perhaps less fun, does wonders for your skills. Friday Afternoon Tea Time, watch out for us.

Trundling - You've got wind and sometimes rain in Oz, but the best kind of weathering by a long shot is trundling, a.k.a. lobbing giant rocks down steep cliff faces and watching how far they go; extra points if you have the grin of a prepubescent boy plastered across your face. A successful trundle is a boulder that travels all the way to the bottom of a slope, whereas ones that become lodged in other rocks are considered duds. No point system has yet to be developed based on the time, number of bounces, and arc of the projectile trajectory, but we're working on it.

Cribbage - A card game based on luck and probability, and therefore very difficult to cheat in (though Jon does this all the time by making up rules on the spot). We play this game at night after dinner, in the dead hour or so before bedtime. We fashioned our own cribbage board using the lid of a plastic bin and a blunt permanent marker and are in the process of further decoration. Jon has decided do go with a demon-ghost theme whereas I just whimsically scribble swirls over my side of the lid like a kindergartner. These games are for keeps--at the end of the season, we'll each total our number of games won (we actually have a tally count on the plastic lid), and whomever has a smaller number owes the winner the difference in ice creams.

Reading - Wow, I forgot how much I missed this, reading for fun. I am ashamed to admit that through high school and college, I read probably less than five books of my own accord, which naturally is pathetic. I remember going to the library every single Saturday as a kid, taking out ten or so paperbacks and spending the rest of the week with my nose pressed between their pages. Here in the field, after donning every article of clothing I have and snuggling up in my sleeping bag, I break out the Kindle and read by headlamp. I initially brought three e-books: Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality, the best fan-fiction I have ever read (if you loved Harry Potter and are nerdy in any respect, this is a sure winner for you); Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman; and The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins. Thus far, I have finished the fan-fiction and the Hunger Games, and dude--the Hunger Games! The most compelling young adult fiction book I have read since Ender's Game, and I almost like it better. I ended up going to bed at around 4 a.m. the night I started the book and was a complete disaster mapping the next day. Jon didn't help either with his repetitive chanting of "Hunger Games! Hunger Games!" This isn't the place to rant about an amazing book though, but I guess I've already done that (and I didn't even start talking about what the book is about).