Tag: fun

designing a fun race for non-runners

I recently received an email newsletter that started with this:

I ran a marathon a couple weeks ago. No training. No preparation. I decided 5 days before. Just went out and did it.

The newsletter had the title “Lessons Learned”. I’m thinking that would be some harsh lessons there. If you don’t train, you don’t just go out and run 26.2 miles. Without running regularly, most people probably couldn’t run more than a quarter mile. I was curious about these lessons he learned, so I kept reading, and he talked about how it’s good to prepare, but then he said he did it because he knew he “could run 20 miles”, so he could just push himself to get to 26. And he did finish.

At this point, it’s obvious he’s being misleading, so I’m out. I unsubscribed from that email. (I realize there is strategy for trying to win a marathon, but the hardest part is being able to run that far, and being able to run 20 miles counts as training and preparation to me. That doesn’t just happen. Even if you’re young and skinny, you don’t just run miles without building up to it.)

I run more than the average adult, but I know I couldn’t finish a marathon without massive amounts of training, and that’s not one of my goals. I suspect most people have no interest in running that far.

However, I do enjoy being outside and getting exercise, as well as enjoying the camaraderie from being with like-minded people. So perhaps there should be some similar events but with modifications. I don’t just mean a shorter race — I know those exist, and I’m still not interested.

I’ve heard of a bicycle race called the Tour de Donut (The Donut Race). It’s a 30 mile race with two pit stops where you eat donuts, and each donut you eat reduces your time by five minutes. That’s more my style. Although 30 miles is still too far. So we should have one that is 5 miles (bicycling or running or walking), and each donut you eat takes off one minute from your time. We could also do this with bacon strips. Or donuts AND bacon!

I think a lot of people would attend an event like this. You could hand out medals for various categories: fastest actual time, lowest adjusted time, anyone who gets negative time, and most donuts/bacon eaten. The whole event could be a fundraiser, too. Someone should make this happen.

Would you participate?

Do you have any ideas to make it even more awesome?

teaching students with explosions

I had lunch the other day with the Buffet o’ Blog staff, and we always have some crazy conversations.  (If only more of them made it to the blog… perhaps we need an secretary to keep notes.)  Somehow we got on the topic of those secret messages in spy movies that at the end say:

“This message will self-destruct in 5 seconds.”

What if we applied that concept to learning in school?  Say once a student learning something, the message would explode, whether it was a paper, book, or chalkboard.  That would make learning fun!  Kids would be excited about learning new stuff then!

Obviously public school aren’t going to apply this technique because of “safety concerns” and cost.  So maybe we need to start our own private school where we teach with explosions and cool weapons.  It would be prohibitively expensive, and the disclaimer would be quite extensive (even more so than the disclaimer for this blog!).  But the students would be excited about going to school.

I’m convinced that people enjoy learning if you make it fun and interesting.  (I could’ve worded that “people enjoy learning if you make it enjoyable”.)  School should be more fun, I think.  I certainly learned more with the fun teachers . We would also use video games to teach students — some school is already doing that successfully.  If they can learn something while saving the world, everyone wins.

how to enjoy wrapping presents

I enjoy wrapping presents, but I sometimes get tired of doing it the traditional way.  (Why do I have to conform to what is “normal”?  Plus randomness is fun, as evidenced on this blog.)  Also, one of my pet peeves is when people are able to easily guess what is wrapped.  When I wrap presents, particularly for my brothers, they aren’t going to guess what’s it in.  I’ve employed various techniques to disguise it, such as including rocks, pennies, bricks, pine cones, etc., inside the box.  And of course, the box should be one other than what the actual gift came in.  You want to vary the size, weight, and sound it makes.   There’s no anticipation if they already know what it is before opening it.

One year I put pennies inside a hard plastic case inside the main box, so when the present was shaken, it would make a crashing sound that happened after the normal sound, so it sounded like it was broken.   🙂   I’ve also made presents exceedingly difficult to open before, using numerous packagings and duct tape.   Some of my presents cannot be opened in under a few minutes.   That helps people savor the moment…  🙂

But beyond disguising it, I like to make it look unique.  One thing I’ve started doing is saving the scraps of wrapping paper from other gifts to use on one package.  Last year I did this on two different presents, which are displayed below.  (Click the images for a larger picture.)

present #1
present #1

Present #2, top
Present #2, top

Present #2, side
Present #2, side

Present #2, bottom
Present #2, bottom

Hopefully this inspires you to be more creative with your wrapping this year.  But a quick word of warning: not everyone appreciates this “art” the same way.  It seems to work better on brothers and male friends, rather than parents, grandparents, and in-laws.

voting should be more fun

This is the day that most of the nation goes to the polls to vote.  Not only is it the Presidential election, but various other political offices, too.  So obviously it’s important.  Every citizen should vote.  And it stands to reason that if you don’t vote, you shouldn’t have the right to complain about who gets elected.

But just because something is important, that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t also be fun!  Either some people don’t see it that way, or they haven’t realized how much better it would be if it were also fun.  (If they don’t believe me, then they’re just wrong.)

People would be more likely to vote if it didn’t involve hours and hours of standing in line with absolutely nothing going on.  I’ve been through this, and it gets boring FAST!  You have thousands of bored people standing around, the smell of body odor accumulating in the place (because there’s never a fresh breeze, for whatever reason), and the boringness of it just multiplies and spreads.

So here’s some ideas:

  • Have a talent competition, with the judges being people waiting in line.  Contestants in the competition have to be people who are there to vote.
  • Have a cell phone ringtone competition.  (I would win that one, but I wouldn’t always be there, so other people will get to win some, too.)
  • Have a concession stand (that doesn’t charge rip-off prices).  Have a drawing for free nachos every hour.
  • Have arcade machines that can be played for free, where you play for a minute then the next person in line continues the game.

I could go on, but you get the idea.  If you have any ideas, put it in the comments section.