Simple Pleasures

I got my fourth Explore UT shirt today. Two years ago, I'd never dreamed that I would get sick of free t-shirts...but I think I was wrong.

Explore UT was as big as ever: people were milling around all the buildings on campus, there were games, and information booths, free balloons, candy, educational models, thousands of volunteers, happy kids, patient parents, robots, make-your-own-airplanes, $5 meals in Kinsolving, liquid nitrogen ice-cream, and probably enough activities to keep any individual busy for the rest of his/her life.

This time, I was helping TBP with its trebuchet event - they were throwing water balloons at kids. The kids were going wild, and happily screaming and trying to catch the balloons. It was quite a sight - I was highly amused. Kids are crazy.

Cute too - from a distance. One kid was trying to get the trebuchet thrower to throw a balloon at the ENS building - which over a 100 feet away. He said he'd give him $10 if he managed that. Another kid - who was barely 8 - tried to buy some water balloons from the balloon-fillers. He said he had $80. Another one asked if she could be launched from the trebuchet. The most persistent one was trying to steal the balloons as we filled them up - he tried ambush attacks, sneaking up on us, begging, pouting etc. After his seventh attempt, I decided that he'd make a great lobbyist when he grew up.

A man walking behind us commented on how kids really knew how to enjoy the simple pleasures in life.

When I got back to the WRW, I ran into Odin. He said that he was beginning to appreciate more and more what Explore UT did for kids.

I agree.

**Honorary Mention**
Ammar was great. He did, in fact, lose his voice for that trebuchet...and definitely had more fun than all the kids put together. The rest of us were going about our own business; loading the trebuchet, getting the balloons ready, but I was amazed to see how one person could make such a huge difference...the kid- crowd was three times as large when Ammar was in charge. He was yelling and cheering - and making the kids do the same. I suppose the parents are either really really thankful to him for tiring their kids for the evening, or really mad at him for making the kids lose their voices, in turn.