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.