Right before my birthday, I went to a camp as a teenager. It shared a name with a popular Linux shell. It was during the school season, which meant it was over the weekend. It started Friday evening and went on until Sunday morning.
Everyone at the camp (I estimate 30-50 kids) was split into cabins. The girls stayed in the rooms joined to the main center, while the boys stayed in the staff cabins that were a little ways away. Everyone was also split up into teams. There were a few, but I was on the blue team.
The theme of the camp was “Fear Factor,” which was both copyright infringement and not a fun time. Each team had to compete in multiple games over the camp to decide on a final winner.
The first game we played was interesting. There were multiple water bottles with glow sticks inside. We had to collect as many as we could and bring them back without being tagged by the two taggers. Each glowstick was a different color. If you collected one of your own color, you got 10 points. If you collected one of another team’s color, you didn’t get any points, but you prevented them from getting points. If you collected one of the bottles that had every color inside, you got 20 points. I collected another team’s bottle and a rainbow one, and somebody else got another team’s bottle as well. That gave us 20 points and a firm position on the bottom of the board.
The next day, we played a game with Oreos. You had to roll the Oreo down a table into some cups at the end. Each cup had a different substance in it. The middle one had milk, but the rest were disgusting. If your Oreo landed in milk and you ate it, you got 10 points. If it landed in something else and you ate it, you got 5 points. There was mustard, ketchup, pickle juice, ranch, BBQ sauce, and a few others. But the one I got was the worst of all: Apple Cider Vinegar. I thought, “This won’t be too bad,” and shoved it right in my mouth. It was one of the worst experiences I’ve ever had. Not tasty.
After that, we played an interesting game. There was a container of baby food, and two contestants from each team came up. If a contestant ate one scoop, they got 5 points. If they ate the whole container, they got more. My partner ate one scoop and was done, but I downed that whole container.
Afterward, we played two more games. The first was a game where you stood in a tub of ice and took out marbles with your feet. Another was where you had to keep your hand in the snow, and you would get 5 chances to take it out. Each time, you had to run to one of the counselors. Whoever tagged him first won. It was a confusing game.
In the evening, we played a more fun game. There was a plate of whipped cream full of gummy worms, and you had to eat the worms without your hands. Each worm was worth 5 points.
But after that came the worst “game.” It was a simple challenge. Eat a bug, you get points. I saw the big black eyes on one of those things and decided I wouldn’t be eating a bug today.
We got one more chance to get points by eating sardines, and one of the members of my team ate one because he was hungry.
My team got dead last.
I don’t eat bugs.
And neither should you.
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