GISHWHES 2017 started
it all off with a weeklong Scavenger hunt - but not your typical style scavenger hunt. GISH is all
about trying new things, stretching your limits, giving back, paying it
forward, meeting new people and learning about what make them (and yourself)
unique, beautiful and wonderful.
This was my second year, and I renewed ties with my team "LeRadis".
We had many returning members, but also a few abnosome newbies.
There were over 200 tasks/items on the list to complete and
our team did as many as we could.
Here are a few of our submissions: (Specifically the ones I
worked on...)
Personify your Team Name
Inspirational Rock
Nightclub for Huldufolk
Helping an Alien with our Produce
Peace, Love & Stormtrooper
Cartoon of Spices
Our Team:
Captured by Aliens & kept as Specimens
Videos:
Slug Obstacle Course Races
Reenactment of my Birth using Shadow Puppets
GISH isn't about winning, but we always do the best we
can! :D
Immediately after GISH, my Bestest Friend, Suzanne, and her
son Alex, arrived in Ontario, from Seattle.
I joined her as soon as I could at "The Farm". Chickens, Hay Fields, Corn, Carrots,
4-Wheelers, Trees, Norwegians, Spiders(Akk!!) and so much more.
Here are a few candid shots.
After a few days at "The Farm" we headed back to Ottawa to have some Quality Time with my Sister & Family. Mostly low key stuff, but we did get a chance to see Mosaica, have a Dance Party, visit with High School Friends, and a trip to Blakeney. Here are a few pics : :D
In the summer, as per my Blog Post about Gishwhes, I was on Team LeRadis and participated in The Greatest International Scavenger Hunt the World Has Ever Seen.
It was Awesome. Hecktic. Terrifying. Freeing. Wonderful...
It was our 1st year as a team and had only one veteran to guide us through the mayhem. She was awesome, by the way.
Gish has a swag shop that offers a variety of apparel and what-not to purchase. The shop is open for a short time at registration and again for a little while after the hunt is done. Several team mates purchased a number of different things including cool shirts and the colourful Coffee Table Book. As expected, but not without disappointment, we were not the winning team. We weren't even a runner-up. That's ok by us, we all had a great time, and I think most of us will do it again.
One of the fun parts after the hunt is... FEGVEP ... I don't know what that stands for... hang on, let me look it up... "First Ever GISHWHES Volunteer Extraordinaire Program" Ya. That. Not completely intuitive as to what that means. Basically Gish participants can volunteer to review submissions. They are given a selection of submission for a Hunt Item and they rank the ones they like the most; pick their 3 favorites. (They system is set up so that the volunteer doesn't get to review their own submission.) I participated in this part as well, as did some of my teammates. Again. Super fun and Wow. some of the submissions were Fantastic!
Rach made the book too! - pg 207
The out-come of FEGVEP was the Coffee Table Book. The submissions that were ranked highest were put into the book. Its another way for teams to get recognition for great submissions even if they aren't the winning team.
The tricky part is that you don't know if you're going to be in the book or not when you order it. You place your order before the judging even starts. I didn't order a book. But. some of my team mates did.
Page 25
When the book arrived, we were astonished to learn that our team had made it to the book! TWICE!! How Cool is That?!?
I received a frantically joyous text from our fearless co-captain telling me that I made the book! Me! One of my submissions made the book! I was pretty stoked! She graciously sent me a quick pic of myself, and later brought the book for me to see in person. We made the book - at least twice - it's a big book, so we've only found these so far. Maybe there's more.
As per my previous blog post, I was hesitant to join GISHWHES, even though
I really, really wanted to. There were many reasons, but in the end there were
more reason to join, than not to.
It was a BLAST. My team mates were awesome and so dedicated
- just fantastic.
One of the conditions I set for myself, with the support of
my team co-captains, was that I wouldn't overdo it - that I wouldn't over
commit. My personal resources (specifically health related) have been strained lately
and I didn't want to burn out.
At our 1st team meeting, on Gish Day 1 - and it was a doozey
at 4+ hours - I agreed to take on about 4 tasks - that's not a lot, but I was
already getting nervous about being able to complete them.
The first was right up my alley - hand made birthday cards for
Ryan:
http://abc7.com/society/boy-from-big-bear-with-severe-autism-wishes-for-birthday-cards/1424726/
We had some young helpers at our meeting who where more than happy to make a
few to get us started. Another team member volunteer his daughter to also make
one, and I made one too. I gathered all the photos of the cards and stamped
envelopes and made my 1st submission.
Success.
I was pretty happy with what I had done and felt
ready to look at what else I had agreed to.
I had to Mail myself... This was super fun! The postman at
work, Louis, was as excited as we were to make this happen. Again, with another
team member to take the photo, the task was completed and another submission
was on its way.
One of the tasks involved me waiting for a specific tweet
from Misha Collins on a specific day... the specific details of task remained
unknown until the last minute. Nothing
is ever simple. This task ended up being
a Twitter Poem - started by Misha, retweeted by me, with the next 2 lines of
the poem and tagging someone on our team
to continue... total of 14 team tweets. Not so easy to coordinate. I had to
walk a few folks through the twitter process, as some don't tweet much. But it
got done!! (Had a picture here - but seems to be gone.) :(
Another takes was a 360 degree video with an exciting intro but very boring
footage - all within 14 seconds. - I filmed the inside of an empty cube van.
Nothing too interesting, and significantly more difficult than I had originally
thought. But, I got it done.
Along the way, there were side tasks, related to the hunt,
but not actual items to get points. Many on our team played along. I wrote a Haiku for Commandment #36 and tweeted it at a
specific hour on a specific day.
I had looked over the task list many times by this point and
had committed to do another task - Zachary Levis... Paint a portrait of Zachary
Levi on a pair of Jeans. I wasn't too stressed about this one and surprised
myself with how well it turned out.
Original image:
I also took on Living my Dream - well, more like nightmare...
I offered my skills and experience to the team with cropping
images or putting together multiple
shots for an entry, basic video editing, as well as uploading image and video
entries. Some of my faves:
Spider-Man does chores (Photoshop)
Regional Pictures (Team Photos -Photoshop)
Coupon Fairy (Photoshop)
Hope Bra (Photoshop)
Artichoke Bouquet (Photoshop)
Corn-husk dress (Photoshop)
Plasticine Front Page (Photoshop)
Gishwhes Jingle (video editing)
Bad Lip Reading (Expert camera holding skills)
I ended up being a key participant in a few other entries as
well...
Selling Ottawa Air (Props & photography)
CosPlay Misha Collins at one of the Wonders of the World...
we
couldn't get to any, so we chose a Giant Spider "Maman".
Hipster Kilroy Meme (meme creation)
Fighting Drones (Expert drone flying skills)
There were so many other fantastic entries by my team mates,
I was just blown away.
All things considered - I'm glad I did it, and that I didn't
commit to more!
I felt excited and exhausted, I wanted it to be over, and
yet, never end.
It was an amazing experience with a fantastic team!
