The Challenge

The Other Single Guy and myself met up in Roanoke over the weekend to celebrate Subway's 30th birthday. Please note, we weren't celebrating the restaurant. I'm pretty sure the sandwich place is older than 30. Anyway, Subway's birthday party was held at a picnic shelter with friends and family, including a group of us from Bluefield College. The fact that it rained really didn't dampen spirits as we caught up with each other, laughed about old times and more recent events, and played a few games of Corn Hole.

Among these old college friends, we discussed an upcoming event: a weekend getaway at Smith Mountain Lake. It'll be a time when even more of our Bluefield friends get together and try to catch up after being scattered to the four winds. Okay, not really scattered that far, but we're spread out over a few states on the east coast. We really don't see each other very often.

After the party, the Other Single Guy and myself discussed the lake trip and he mentioned that he wanted to lose some weight before choosing whether or not it would be wise to go shirtless while hanging out on the dock. Now, I couldn't care less about going shirtless or not. I don't swim, so there's a good chance I won't be getting in the water at all. Also, have you been in Smith Mountain Lake? There are houses down there. In the lake. Hard to tell what could be floating around in that water.

Nevertheless, I issued a challenge. I could stand to lose a few pounds myself, so I asked the Other Single Guy if he'd like to make a wager on who could lose more weight before the lake weekend. The winner would be the one to lose the most weight, in pounds, by September 12. The only problem is that we couldn't come to an agreement on what the winner would get.

The Other Single Guy threw out $100 as the wager. I threw that one out altogether. It would be nice to win $100, but if I lose, there's no way I can pay off the bet. I don't need him sending a collector to break my kneecaps. So I called for a Slap Bet, in which the winner would be allowed to slap the loser once in the face as hard as he can. The Other Single Guy wasn't down with that. I don't want to say he was afraid to get slapped if he lost, but... well... read between the lines.

So I pose this question to my readers, what should the terms of our bet be? Money really isn't an option (unless someone wants to float me the cash in the event that I lose), physical pain is apparently not on the table, and it can't be some crazy stunt like, "the loser has to jump into the lake naked." If I lose, I could die from that one. It's the whole "I can't swim" thing. Suggestions are welcome.