Hut 10: Where Restraint Is Like Your Shoes, Left At The Door. A.K.A. Knuck-Tats

“I have Social Disease. I have to go out every night. If I stay home one night I start spreading rumors to my dogs.”
― Andy Warhol

After getting settled into a proper work routine and facing the exhaustion of working nearly 60 hour work weeks, the need of a good time was beginning to become more apparent, not only with me but with my coworkers. So the nearing of one of our coworker's birthday was quite the pleasant event to look admirably to the future. With the paperwork filed and anticipation high we prepped ourselves for a night at Hut 10.

The Magical Time Machine Hut 10:
There are many things that can be found around station that are both entertaining and time consuming; but nothing comes close to the wonders that lie within the walls of Hut 10. This is a space primarily reserved for the most important of Distinguished Visitors (D.V.'s) of the likes of Ex-Mr. President William Jefferson (Bill) Clinton. It is essentially the only separated "house" in McMurdo Station. All of the other building are dormitories or work centers of some sort. Hut 10 has it's own plumbing system with working sinks, showers, and toilets. There are about 3 bedrooms including a master bedroom with a King-sized bed set up. There is a living room with a big screen and couches, a dining area with a table that can seat roughly 10 people, and a kitchen with everything you need to make food for said 10 possible people. It's a cozy little spot that all of us would LOVE to have for an entire season.

When we are not entertaining the likes of the honorable Billiam Clinton in this lovely home it can be "rented" by anyone in the community for a day/night. The people in the Rec department keep a list of all of the people who have requested Hut 10 for what night and why. It has to be approved by the station manager and various supervisors but once it's yours it's a wonderful feeling.

At this point you can plan fun events that involve the three d's: dinner, drinks, and dancing. Of course, it's always fun to make a theme for the night. Costumes are ALWAYS encouraged! Sometimes people have certain viewing events where they watch Arrested Development, eat frozen bananas, and take sips of hot ham water "With just a smack of ham!" (This actually happened one night. Big ups Grace Graham).

So back to the story of our first proper Hut 10 party.

It was Morgan's birthday, we just finished work, and we were all returning home to get dressed and ready for the night. My roommate, Sarah Leonetti, and I were extremely excited to finally do something social with the people we were becoming close friends with. Once we were ready we walked to Hut 10, excited for our first chance to see our friends outside of work with only the slightest of nerves. Upon entering we found a mish-mash of various workers from the Galley and Jano-Land talking and sipping on their beverage of choice. We were greeted with smiles as we shed our coats and shoes at the door, gave a fine happy birthday to Morgan, and then stood around awkwardly making bits of small talk with those who were around.
After a while, people began to loosen up and there was laughter from wall to wall in Hut 10. Being the person of importance that day, we wanted to know what Morgan wanted to do and she requested that we played a board game or two.
We first played a simplified version  of Taboo which was a lot of fun and encouraged more joy and laughter within the group. Afterwards, we found a Jenga set that had all of it's pieces so we set it up and began our attempts at stacking the tower. Early on we discovered that most of the blocks had things written on them such as, "Take a drink." "Give a drink." or my favorite, "Slap somebody!" making for an interesting few rounds.

The skinny kid in the picture missing his shirt, rocking the amazing hair, and crushing Jenga one-handed is me.

At one point the tower loomed so high that it seemed to sway on it's own accord. It was Morgan's turn and after pulling her block the structure began to fall towards her and she pushed it with her torso and arms to regain it's position. She claimed "Birthday Save!" and left the blocks in disarray but still standing.
Something that no one expected was that the blocks were built higher and higher without falling. The blocks were so imperfectly placed that it balanced perfectly on it's own.
The game began to get so intense that the entire party was completely captivated by our attempts at removing and replacing blocks. After many breathless moments and screams of disbelief the structure finally found itself toppling over in my arms and across the floor around me.

I was missing my shoes, sock, and my shirt and I knelt in disbelief at what had happened to me. You could feel the room breathe a sigh of relief, unable to withstand much more of this spectacle. Following the sigh came hoots and hollers. Boos and claims of victory from the other participants. It was definitely the greatest game of Jenga played that I've ever seen/been a part of.

At this point we no longer needed games to have our fun. We abandoned them and simply danced and socialized on our own around the room. As various people left throughout the night, the party grew stronger despite their absence.

Before I really knew what was happening my hands were taken by two people with markers and I was told not to move. After a little giggling and scribbling I got my hands back and was told to make fists and place them side by side and show everyone. "Poop-Lick" was written across my knuckles and a roar of laughter came from the room. At this point I was explained the fine art of Knuck-Tats where two people take your hands (without discussion) and write a four letter word on each area of the finger between the knuckles. The likes of which may include: Shit-Fart, Lick-Nuts, or Slap-Dick (They're really never this coordinated).

I'm not sure why but clothes began to get swapped between the men and the women...pants in particular. And at some point we had an intermission without pants at all but did not last long due to the palpable awkwardness felt int he room due to the fact that we did not know each other well yet.

After we had our fill of dancing, humility, and singing "Happy Birthday" at sporadic intervals we decided that the night was old and, despite the laughter, we needed to leave. Understanding that we had an entire season to recreate nights like this made the departure simple and we left after rigorous cleaning and long good nights.

Understanding The Job Part 2 Jano Land

“I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints.”
― Billy Joel

The life of a Janitor is quite a stellar event for everyone on station in my opinion. These are people who appear to be permanently happy, fun, and extremely contagious.
Janos come in every shape, size, and personality. We have those solemn ones who greet you with a smile and a head nod but leave the initiation of conversation up to your discretion.
There are those found singing away the workday while working to sterilize the many doorknobs around station.
There are some which you don't even notice because they are quick on their feet and direct in what they are cleaning and have a list of other items on the docket leaving them no time to "dilly-dally."
And then there are those who have a hearty laugh that is heard through the halls. These are usually found dancing up the halls with mops and brooms or playing pranks on clueless victims.

A Day of the Fabled Jano:
Our Janos begin our day just like the vast majority of the workers at McMurdo Station, slow, quiet, and at 7:30am. At 7:25am you can usually point them out because they'll be the ones grabbing a cup of coffee with a pastry in their mouth making their way to the second floor to attend "Morning Meeting." Going to Morning Meeting is a great way to start the day if you ask me. You get to see friendly faces and discuss any odd events that may have happened in the last while since your last morning meeting such as what happened at the social gathering the previous night. My favorite days are when you're sitting next to someone who was up entirely too late the night before when someone walks in with a "Shit-Eating Grin." (As it's been known as). The person, upon entering, immediately looks at the person of concern and, with a slight hesitation for dramatic effect, asks something like, "How ya feeling today?" or "How much of last night do you remember?" or "You guys won't believe what this guy/girl did in the Galley!" This always starts the morning with a good, much needed laugh.

Once all of the possibly embarrassing stories are out of the way the actual stories begin. The Lead Janos are amazing people. They are constantly thinking of fun things to do for the plebeians who have to follow their orders. One thing they do for morning meeting is find fun little books that are silly in every way. For example, "People Who Deserve It" by Casey Rand. A book about crappy people in society who giggle on their cell phones while you're trying to tell them a funny story or eat with their mouths open, allowing you to smell the process of their digestion.
Another book is, "I wish Daddy didn't drink so much"by Judith Vigna. Where a young girl spends Christmas hoping her father didn't do such silly things like dressing up like Santa and spilling beer on her bedroom floor.

Once the fun is over we take a moment or two to actually discuss topics involved with work such as safety concerns, cleaning techniques, and actual work schedule for the day. It may seem like this is a good way to waste the first 1/2 hour of work everyday but it is crucial for morale and general happiness. Without starting the day out with laughter the entirety of station would suffer greatly.

So at this point we go to the Galley one more time to get our hydration on and refill our water bottles. Afterwards, we break off on our own to handle our various tasks. At the beginning of the day we all have our dormitories to clean. This is a large task and definitely takes a lot of the day. When we are done here it is usually time for lunch after our appropriate stretch break and break break. Once we are back on duty it is time to clean Highway 1. This is the busiest part of station because it leads to the Galley and on the way has various offices for Human Resources, Housing, and Recreation along with our small store. So naturally this place is going to get filthy with people tracking in mud and snow along with spilling coffee and food bits all over the floor. This is a fun event because it's the only part of the day where you are teamed up with other Janos. The four of you tag-team clean the two bathrooms, two hand sinks, and sweep and mop the floor with the assistance of the Zamboni.

The Zamboni:
This pleasant little vehicle makes a Janos life much easier but also a little more exciting. It looks like a regular zamboni got pregnant and aborted the baby a bit on the late side resulting in a miniature blue thing that with a handle that is too low for most people to operate and barely has the capacity to suck the dirt off the ground without spreading more of it around. But as they say, "It's the little victories." Yes it is small and does not do it's job well but damnit, it's a change up from a push broom! Plus, you can "ghost ride the whip" which means you let it gently pull itself forward while dancing around it to the music that you can only hear because you're wearing headphones.

After another stretch break and one more break break we come to the home stretch of the work day where we just start tackling work centers around station. At this time the other workers get the pleasure of running into random Janos around station. We walk into where they work and close down their bathrooms for cleaning. A lot of people get pissy about this but whatever, if it doesn't get cleaned now then it never will so dance around for a little and let us do our thing.

So now that you understand what we do work-wise, let's discuss the important part of things. Recreation!