And this is where I come out of the closet as a "wannabe"...

1.  I'm not a professional, not an academic (big shock there, I suppose).
I've been trying since I was 18 (well, the last twenty years) to get my
degrees, one semester or year at a time as finances, job schedules and
constantly-changing duty stations allow (archaeology doesn't exactly lend
itself well to the the night school or online university approach).  I'm one
semester away from my bachelor (most recent stint, a year-and-a-half at the
University of Maryland in 2001-02).  I'd like to go into CRM; at this rate
that should happen when I'm about 70.  My personal pet research interest is
the WWII POW camps here in the US, and the idea of passive propaganda.  I've
got a rough-draft senior thesis just sitting here waiting for the next
academic attempt.  So yes, I'm soaking up the list like a sponge.

2.  Filthiest?  Digging out a fire pit in the middle of a Maryland summer.
The black ash was *glued* to my skin and took the better part of a week
(even with plenty of showering) to work its way completely out of my pores.
Most unpleasant?  Face-first in the same Maryland summer into a 60yo
multi-seater latrine that was still quite ripe, thanks.  Field school that
same summer was positively pristine compared to that.

3.  Whatever's the most non-restrictive but holds the most gear.  After
field school I went out and bought a couple of pieces of old LBE from a
surplus store; they held all my crud when I was in the Army, so they should
work fine for digging.  For footwear, my old Army boots or my Timberlands.
Oh, and I always packed a container of Tuck's hemorrhoid pads to deal with
mosquito bites and poison ivy.