yesterday i indulged a little bit in the mit mystery hunt. it's basically a glorified (not to mention horrifically intricate) puzzle, reminiscent of a scavenger hunt. you solve countless mind-bending brainteasers that the 'headquarters' (the winners of last year's hunt who wrote this year's puzzles) send you every 3 hours around the clock from friday afternoon to sunday (so, no sleep; lots of stockpiled food and sleepingbags), and although your immediate goals are to solve the puzzles quickly, ultimately the main main goal is to be the first to find a coin on campus. (yikes!) i believe it's more difficult than your most layered nightmare. anyway, jim and i were only there for 3 hrs or so with one team (math camp alumni), but we (and i'm really proud because i, among all the smarties, had the correct inspiration which led to the solution) solved a puzzle (the only puzzle out of six solved in the timespan we were there)! seriously, all my years doing crosswords and word games and things really played a part. the puzzle is a bit complicated to explain, so i've provided a photo (and evidence of solution!) of the puzzle. the difficulty mainly lies in the fact that there isn't an explicit question for an explicit answer. all we get is the little blurb at the top and these sets of jumbled words. that's all. it's up to the players to figure out what exactly is to be done. once you see how you're supposed to manipulate the words, it's not that bad, but up to then it's just a fearless struggle to figure out what exactly is going on. anyway, it was amazing :) :) :) :) i was so excited that i was yelling and jumping up and down and stuff when we kept solving more parts of the puzzle. i haven't felt that way in a long time, this creative rush of seeing through the mess to find clarity. through a process full of hysterics and unix thesauri, we worked together to the finish. it was the best feeling. it's incredibly geeky, getting so excited about a puzzle! (by the way, the final solution, after hours of manipulating the words, is CHALET. isn't that crazy???)

the other picture is silly; one of the puzzles was sort of a scavenger hunt, and this is a photograph of "3 people not touching any non-living object, the floor, or the walls." this picture is priceless because i dont believe jim will ever be seen carrying me ever ever again. hahah. the funniest part is the strain on his face. well, i'm not the lightest person in the world! (and neither is he, for that matter, ha ha.)

aaaa. now to begin studying, i promise!