R-JAM

During the lunch hour at work, several of the engineers and I meet in the conference room to hang out while we eat our sandwiches.  I'm not sure why I'm the only regular non-engineer that shows up, but that's not important.  What's important is what we do after we're done eating: R-JAM.

R-JAM is basically the classic basketball game of HORSE with fewer letters and played with a small, Fisher-Price version of a ball and hoop.  With as many as ten players, it's certainly entertaining.  Some people even try for trick shots like not looking or standing on a chair while shooting.  I'm usually one of the first people out, but after a couple of weeks at it, I actually made it to the final three on Monday.  While I had a nice buffer with a bad player going ahead of me, I also made around four or five shots during the game, a record high for me.

What's nice about not being competitive is that I enjoy playing even though I always lose.  There are some days that I'm better and others that I'm worse, but that's not why I play.  I play for the chance at camaraderie with my coworkers.  There's a lot of trash-talk that takes place while we play (most of the trash-talk directed at me as also come from me), but it's all in a good spirit.  We all keep track of our own letters and no one tries to lie to keep playing, because if we broke the rules, it wouldn't be fun.

While R-JAM only takes up a small portion of the day, it's still something that to look forward to, even if I know I'll lose.