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If everyone else is happily engaged in activities which they enjoy, announce that you are going outside to play. You may harbor a hope that someone will join you, though you know in your heart that nobody will. Pick up your bat and ball anyway and play self-pitch. Holding the bat with your weak hand, toss the ball up just high enough to give you time to wrap your strong hand above the grip and hit the ball. Hit as many balls as you have on hand, tracking in your head how many are hits, how many outs, and how many home runs. Use invisible runners to track the scoring. If you hit too many home runs, turn around and bat from the opposite side. This is how to keep things honest in self- pitch. When you’ve hit all the balls that there are, walk to the fence, flip the latch, and collect the balls that landed in neighboring yards, chucking each one from its landing place back to home plate. Take care to close the latch when you come back through: sometimes, there are dogs in that yard.