Some people get confused when I tell them about NerdWars. They think for instance if you are on the Star Wars team - all you can make is lightsabres and deathstars and yoda hats. Or if you are on the Harry Potter team - all you can make are owls and brooms and golden snitches. That isn't really how it works. There are 6 challenges every month. You can do one, you can do all - While there is a badge for "melting the cube" doing all 6 projects it isn't necessary or expected. There is also a badge for insane over achievers like your's truly for doing all 18 -
But really the challenges are sometimes simple sometimes not. There was a square challenge under giving geeks. I put together a lapghan - not in time for the original charity I had in mind- so I donated it for Christmas for a local nursing home to give to a resident who didn't have gifts or visitors. Some people just made squares and donated them to warm up america or other put squares together charities. One person made rectangle kitty toys for a local shelter. Another challenge was for the number pi. Some people knit/crocheted pies, one person spun a yarn of beige, red & white - the crust filling and whipped cream of a cherry pie. I made a tea cozy with stripes of 3,1,4,1,5 (pi in stripes) and fastened it with a pie shaped button.
You get extra points if you tie it into your team, but that's like extra credit when you were in school. For example - the lapghan was the colors of the stripes on Ernie's shirt from Sesame St. I made the tea cozy when I was on Team Bazinga for the Big Bang Theory - and Sheldon has been trained by his mom to offer tea or a hot beverage to people. Really they are quite liberal with what they allow as a team tie in. Multi colored stripes were tied to the rainbow Connection from the original Muppet Movie. Fingerless mitts were perfect for Scooter - the backstage manager to wear at the Muppet Theatre.
There is also a dissertation. This is a larger project which is going to take the better part of three months. Again this is optional. Some people do a dissertation but none of the monthly challenges, some do a few challenges and the dissertation. Some (yeah there goes my type A personality) do both. I like doing a dissertation because it gives me added incentive to avoid the startitis I can sometimes get and actually finish a larger project. For example, I don't think I would have finished my Hey! Teach sweater in three months other wise. And believe it or not - the wedding dates of my sister and brother wouldn't have been enough for me to finish the wedding shawls - they would have gotten them by their anniversaries ( the 8th is shawls right? LOL) And like other things - we so love out badges - and there is a silver participation badge for getting over 50% and a gold one for finishing.
Last tournament I volunteered to be the manager of a team. I'm pretty good with behind the scenes stuff - even at work I make the most awesome of support staff. I had told the captain that the end of November beginning of December would be kind of tough because of said weddings - but other than that I was there with her. Unfortunately real life and internet issues kind of took her out for the second half of the tournament. I didn't realize how long she would be gone - and how much a void that created until I think it was a bit to late. Some of the team splintered off to form a disney team - and some seemed to wander away entirely. Those of you that know me well - know this sort of thing causes me to go into an analytical, fix it, better plans for next time mode of thinking. I stalked the more successful teams to see what they were doing. And I have a plan. ANd I inherited the captaincy, and I have a awesome co-captain to help keep the tram chatting and happy, and there. But for this I need a team. As of Monday, our team still needed a nudge to get enough players to field a team. Not an all out panic recruitment, but a nudge. This is my real issue. I suck at recruiting. I hate recruiting. (almost as bad as I suck at & hate fundraising) That's what our old captain was great at - recruiting. I am trying, but I hate and suck at every minute of it. We have a great team concept. Jim Henson. There is so much to tie into -
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