It’s been quite a while, I’m well aware. The semester has been up to many and all things all at once, but that’s done for the time being. So as I’ve found myself with a decent amount of time in the Dallas airport sipping on possibly the best frappe I’ve ever found, here’s a little update on the past several weeks.
Where’d we leave off? Halloween? That was definitely a while ago. What’s gone on since? Hmmm. Simultaneously lots and nothing at all. It’s been a season of gifts, with the holidays coming up and a great number of people I know celebrating the anniversary of their births. Random crafts here and there. Items people have commissioned from me. Mending jobs on a host of clothing. Nothing too much of note I’d say. Especially since an inordinate amount of time has been dedicated to schoolwork as the semester wrapped up. Anybody else feel that the turnaround from Thanksgiving to finals went too quick this year?
One event that might be of interest does come to mind, though. If you’ve yet to piece it together, I’m in university, and mine holds an annual scavenger hunt filled with challenges, races, puzzles, clues, the works. It’s likely the biggest event of the year. The competition is incredibly fierce, so much so that there’s a quiz to qualify and limit on the number of teams that can participate in the main hunt. I’ve obviously known of this event each and every year, but had yet to participate. I didn’t have many more chances left, so this was finally the year. Along with my roommate, we decided to just go for it and join a team.
One thing to know about this hunt is that it takes place over a weekend and is twenty-four hours long. For each the quiz and the hunt itself. All-nighters are nothing new to college students, at least not for me, but usually I only partake in one of those if I have a major project due at noon for whatever reason, which only ever happens once, if ever, a semester. The quiz was supposedly “pretty chill,” so there weren’t all-nighters for that, only work in shifts. The specifics for that are unimportant though. Long story short, we qualified and now had to prepare for the big event the next month.
This hunt. The main part would obviously be the clues and puzzles to find locations to go to and whatnot. However, this wasn’t the only way to earn a team points. There was something for people of all expertises, we found, and there just happened to be one category where I was able to shine all my perhaps otherwise un-useful training: crafts! At the start we got a list of crafts that team members could work on over the twenty-four hours in order to earn some extra points. Naturally I grabbed that sheet and got to work as soon as I was finished with our beautiful team shirts.
It was the best twenty-four hours of my life. I’ve never been that awake during an all-nighter. Definitely a mixture of adrenaline, caffeine, and pure excitement from crafting the entire time. What were some of the things I made in that time frame? As a disclaimer, I did not make as many crafts as I’d hoped I could, because twenty-four hours is such a long time, but I got a decent amount done. I started out with a paper solar system mobile. Then made some origami teacups, alien headbands, balloon cat, glitter glue alien, felt Chewbacca, Stitch keychain, origami Yoda, Thanos mask, asteroid belt, paper stars for various constellations, and a few other things. That day was a blur of paint, paper, and all forms of tape.
My favorite mini project of the day would probably have to be the asteroid belt. I made it at some point in the night between the hours of three and six. I’ve had this star covered duct tape for the longest time just waiting for this moment. What I did was make a double sided duct tape strip by sticking two pieces together a length long enough to go around my waist. (Obviously asteroid belt meant make an asteroid themed belt) My supply bag didn’t contain any buckles or clips or clasps or anything really one would think useful to hold a belt together. What I did have, though, were binder clips. So, I attached one to each end, wrapping the end around itself to cover up the clip. That was pretty much it. I then put it on through the belt loops on my jeans and connected both ends by clipping the clips to each other end, one on the top and the other on the bottom, and finally tightened the belt by adjusting the ends I wrapped around the clips. And voila, asteroid belt.
What more have I been up to? Some might say lots, I might say not much else. To each their own. For now just waiting for this plane to touch ground again. Maybe next year will yield more projects that I’ll be better about reporting. There might be another post before the year is up, but knowing myself there also might not. Either way, happy holidays! Till next time!