2020 GISH OR The Year We Finally Got Into The Book

 
Everyone knows 2020 was weird, blah blah blah.  And while Gish was different than previous years, it was even more welcome and as usual it was such a bizarre, much needed experience.  If you're unfamiliar, Gish is an experience and creation based scavenger hunt which happens each summer.  Our team, the Lunicorns, has participated for the last 6 years with a variation in team members and it's the highlight of the year. Jump into the pool for some camping.

#THINKBIG OR My 2018 Annual Goal

For 2018 the theme was #THINKBIG.  After last year’s many goals and many years of completing goals, I wanted to go for bigger things but fewer things.  In the end, I think it was just as much work, which wasn’t really what I was going for.  Turns out, when one has their mood disorder well controlled and treated, one sleeps like a normal human and doesn’t have the same amount of free time one used to.  If you want to see what I’ve done in years past click here.  If you’re the TLDR type: This year I did a mountain Traverse, went to Hogwarts, stayed in an Ice Hotel, visited New Zealand, began the process for Kidney Donation, went Backpacking, attended films at an Independent Film Festival, and studied Graphic Design.

Traverse

My plan had been to complete the Presidential Traverse, however because I got wicked sick during the month I had planned to complete the hike and it snows in September up on Mount Washington, I had to make another arrangement.  I was so pissed, but the Presidential Traverse shall be mine some day!  My other arrangement was to traverse the Squam range—Mt. Squam, E. Doublehead, Mt. Percival, Mt. Morgan, Mt. Webster, Mt. Livermore, and Cotton Mtn.  I grew up with the Squam range out my bedroom window and one of the peaks, Mt. Morgan, remains one of my favorite hikes.  Despite these facts I had never hiked three of those peaks.  It was fall in New England.  It was a gorgeous day.  On the way up my Mom wanted me to stop by and she gave me some trail mix, some flowers, and a container previously filled with brie cheese which she had filled of the ashes of two dear friends and their three dogs.  My mom is…a subject previously expounded upon.  I spread the ashes on a mountain top with a view of their home.  I have no idea why my mom had the ashes of their three Spaniels.  There is a magical satisfaction ascending up one end of a ridge and descending down the other 13 miles later.

Hogwarts

I read all the Harry Potter books.  I saw all the Harry Potter movies.  I’m one of the people who have been quite moved by them and admire the world built.  So one of my dearest friends and I flew down to Florida for my 3^rd ever trip to a theme park.  We went in September when the park was comparatively empty and thank god because it was still my max people tolerance.  We ducked behind the wall and walked into Diagon Alley.  We got wands at Ollivander’s and had butter beer and saw the fire-breathing dragon and rode the Hogwarts Express to Hogsmead and the castle.  We got to peak into Knockturn Alley and cast spells to make it rain, move objects, and get things to sing.  I get motion sickness severely, so I only did the Escape from Gringott’s ride, which was a blast and had no line.  Even without doing the ride in the castle, we got to walk in and tour it, see the sorting hat, etc. etc.  Tremendous to have had an opportunity to steep oneself in the environment so stunningly imagined.  It was truly enchanting and I am so grateful that I got to experience with a friend who was just as excited as I was, what a drag it would have been to go with a wet blanket.

Ice Hotel

Ok, so I had heard about this place in Montreal for years.  Every year, they build a functioning hotel made entirely out of ice and snow and theme it differently.  It happened to be the weekend of my boyfriend’s birthday and our six month anniversary.  D’awww.  The place is amazing and we went tubing.  I hadn’t been sledding since 1^st grade when I had an incredibly bad crash and lost all the skin on the left side of my face.  There were outside hot tubs and an inside locker to put our things in and indoor toilets… which was actually bothersome because it meant walking across the cold between the ice hotel and the main hotel.  Walking in through the doors, everything is ice.  The seats, the walls, the chandelier, the bar, the walkways, the ceiling are all ice or snow and many of them have decorative carvings.  The ice is shiny and wet and smooth.  The snow is compact and granular and matte.  There are endless textures in an encompassing enclosure of white, blue, and gray.  They have loose, coarse snow on the group so one can walk without skating along.  The staff came around at night and left us a -30 rated sleeping bag and a -40 rated sleeping bag.  We did some ice carving and had drinks in the bar… which came in glasses made of ice.  There was a slide.  The theme for the year was the circus.  Before bed we went in the hot tubs and took the pro-tip from a staff member to leave our towels in the sauna so they would stay warm.  What a brilliant woman she was.  The bed platform was ice with a pad on top of it and the light in the room comes from a light build under the bed platform so that the ice diffused and projected the light.  We ended up almost being too warm during the night and when we woke up it was gentle snowing threw the vent hole in our room.  Surreal.

New Zealand

I had two friends move to New Zealand, so I figured it was a good time to visit.   On the plane we crossed the International Date Line and failed to live Thanksgiving Day 2018.  We were greeted by sunshine and spring in Auckland.  Rose gardens, lunch in the southern hemisphere’s tallest building’s rotating restaurant, a tea planation, glow worms, the best day of my life, black swans and black sand beaches, sea shells upon seashells, my friends, an octopus in the wild.  For the first time, I have an answer to what has been the best day of my life so far:  Lazily waking up in a bedroom across from the beach, face to face with a man I love.  Laughing with an old friend while having cookies and crumpets for breakfast (I became addicted to Squiggles).  Driving inland with my boyfriend to have high tea at the Zealong Tea Estate where we got to drink tea while watching people harvest the leaves and have a lovely high tea food spread.  Returning home to relax, nap, snuggle, etc.  Heading out to pick up picnic supplies at the grocery store and going to McClaren Falls Park to have a picnic with friends.  Exploring the rocks in the falls.  There’s a sunset and birds and a family of black swans while we eat together, laughing hysterically at the birds desperately seeking people food.  Chatting until dark and then heading up a wooded trail next to a brook.  Chartreuse dots begin to appear on the ground cover and up the exposed walls of dirt on the right side of the trail.  Then an entire swath of luminous polka dots at eye level spellbind us all.  The speckles of the glowworms continue to lead us up the path, at times just small spots in the dark and other times jacketing the banks of the trail.  At the terminus, a waterfall splattering in the darkness and we just listen to it for a while.  Soft drive home, after reliving the glowworms on the path back to the car.  Climbing into bed and his right arm goes around me, my left around him, our foreheads together, my left leg between his legs… sleep.

Kidney Donation

Hey!  I just donated a kidney!

My tattoo by Sarah Arnold

Backpacking

This task also took a bit of a tumble after my illness and some fallen plans with friends.  I ended up having to pinch hit and go out and camp by myself down in Cape Cod at a beautiful place… where it was then so late in the season that I couldn’t warm my feet up and my tent stakes wouldn’t stay in the sand, so I couldn’t keep the wind out of the tent because the fly wouldn’t stay extended.  During the night, I decided to pack it in.  Even with my -30 sleeping bag in 40 degree weather, I just couldn’t warm up my toes and was an adult.

Independent Film Festival

A friend and I got to see some films at the Boston IFF.  The highlight was a documentary about matchmaking HIV+ patients in India, Lovesick, and a Q&A with the directors afterwards.  I do not have the attention and stamina to consume media in a film festival format.

Graphic Design

I wanted to study graphic design when I did a college summer program in high school, but they stopped offering it that year and I ended up in metalsmithing instead, which lead me down a great path.  Still, I’ve always sparked to design and using art to spice up messages and words.  So I completed the graphic design specialization California Institute of Arts offers through the Massive Online Open Course (MOOC) provider Coursera.  I had actually missed the tedium of art homework.  I took a whole course on typography and I learned where the terms “uppercase” and “lowercase” come from.  I love that shit.  I got to learn how to use Illustrator and InDesign all by myself and the internet which was an adventure.  I got to mock up a company development guide (logo, typography, labels, color palettes, etc.) for a business selling honey and custom designed spoons… Can you believe how vapid the world would be if we removed the art from our visual communication forms?  Yeah, I’m the person who gets titillated when books have blurbs about the typography and font they selected for the text.  This is Book Antiqua, in case you were wondering. I got to make a logo for my dream job.

And now it's halfway through 2019.  Who knows what's next.💖

I Donated A Kidney OR She Who Smelt It, Dealt... A Kidney

I donated a kidney to someone.  I don’t know whom. Everyone asks how the hell I decided to do such a risky thing for a stranger.  A few years ago, one of my friends who moved to the west coast had a friend back east looking for a kidney donor.  Without much hesitation, I volunteered to at least get checked to see whether I would be a match. It didn’t end up that I was contacted for consideration, but after that I got to thinking… I happened to hear this one mother’s request for someone to help save her dying son, but thousands of people need kidneys for their failing health.  There are thousands of other cries I just never encounter; if I was willing to donate for one stranger, why not another? Years passed and I continued to think about donating. Learn a lot about my body and kidneys, after the jump!

#Abecedarium OR My 2017 Annual Goal

For 2017, I did a new thing for every letter of the alphabet.  It was a close call on some of them but it allowed me to call upon old friends for new adventures. (Yeah, it's that cheese ball.)  Obviously, it was all organized on a spreadsheet and it was infinitely more enjoyable than my #stephstewart year.  What story does the alphabet tell?

2018 Gish Wish List

 It's GISH season... Think you can help our team win by facilitating any of these things!?  We need photos or videos and let me know if you have any leads, something is better than nothing!

Gishwhes Wish List

Ok, it's that time of year, anybody got some leads which can help our beautiful team win this damn thing?

#StephStewart OR My 2016 Annual Goal

The annual goals for 2016 were #StephStewart and it was the hardest thing I've ever done.  Now that I have some distance from it, let me tell you about the 100 Martha Stewart themed things that I did for a year.  How far down the rabbit hole did I go?

Gishwhes 2016 (Part 2)

Part 1 here.
But here's Part 2.

Gishwhes 2016 (Part 1)

Once again, the Lunicorns knocked it out of the park for Gishwhes.  For all of you who helped us, laughed at us, lent us stuff, or were just wondering what the hell we were talking about for the last week... Here ya go!  Jump into our trash boat!

2016 GISHWHES Wishlist!

Hey, so, maybe you have connections or elements of wonderment and can help my team win this crazy, silly thing?  Help us pretty please?

The Avett Brothers at Thompson's Point, Portland, ME

This 4th of July weekend had breathtakingly spectacular weather of candy blue skies, puffy white clouds, a dry, cool wind, and buckets of sunshine.  There was no better way to celebrate than with some A+ Americana in the form of The Ghost of Paul Revere and The Avett Brothers at a lovely outdoor venue on the Fore River in Portland, Maine.  The environment was perfect and the crowd was so polite.

DeBass Me OR I Am Sexually Aroused By A Good Bassline

Not just, the bass.  Not like how the low end on Robert Delong's set vibrated parts of my body I didn't know were in my abdomen, no, no.  That's very arousing, too, but here I just mean the bassline of a song.  The bassline of a song can hold a tune together and be it's sexy, undulating underbelly.  Do you have a favorite?  I'll tell you mine, after the jump.

#13Ms OR A Year of Channeling My OCPD Doing 169 Things

This is the sequel to #listeningtoallmycds.  For 2015, my spread sheet was 13 pages of 13 M things I had to complete between January 1st and December 31st.  The image above has all of the things I did.  At the end of 2015 I managed to complete 169 things with loads of help and company from great friends.  Here are the highlights, after the jump.

Post Post

I just need to tell you how much I love this post.  This particular fence post, not just any post.  Find out the deal with the post.

A Love Letter to Ryan Adams

Yayyy! Another musical love letter!  Ryan Adams is prolific and magnificent, let's marinate in his wonderfulness.  Let's get admiring, after the jump.

Collective Soul Was My Favorite Band OR In Defense of "Bad" Stuff

There are a lot of things in life which are arguably and often critically bad.  Whether it's music, books, art, movies, or whatever else, we've all liked some bad stuff from time to time.  Guilty pleasures or plain ol' garbage, we should be more kind to each other and ourselves because I'm here to argue that the bad stuff has real value.  It's a you-have-to-have-the-rain-to-see-the-rainbow kind of post.    Dig into the dumpster, after the jump!

New Billing Codes

Our computer system at work has approximately 300 million codes for billing shit and staff logging their time.  Despite how long it takes to find the code you need, the lengthy list is missing some essential codes I would like, in order to accurately log my time.  The bigger, better code list, after the jump!

Enjoy What You're There For OR A Defense of Opening Acts

I'm not one of those people who show up late to shows to miss the openers.  I recently heard a friend complain about having to sit in the front row and wait out the opener before the band she came to see took the stage.  Openers are such a fun experience of newness!  Here's the thing, when you intentionally skip or talk over all the opening acts, you're really scamming yourself.  Let me convince you, after the jump.

GiShWheS 2015 (Part 2)

Part 1 is here.

#91 You know how when you draw lines to connect the stars in a constellation you see the image of the thing it's supposed to be? You connect the stars in the Big Dipper and you see a giant ladle. The Stars of "Supernatural" deserve their own constellations. Connect the dots of stars to create a constellation in the likeness of a Supernatural actor. Your constellation must be crafted from an actual high-resolution telescope photo of stars in the night sky. You may not overlay an image over the night sky. You must connect stars to form the shape. You may use an existing image (or images) of the night sky.

#92 RACHEL MINER ITEM. Make and wear a "Save The Unicorns" t-shirt and stand in a crowded public place asking people to sign a petition to "Save The Endangered Unicorns."

#93 Throw a conspiracy theorist party complete with tin foil hats and suspicious guests.

#94 @GISHBOT ITEM. (If you choose video, it may be up to 20 seconds but you can do an image as well.) A robot (Hitchbot) successfully hitchhiked across Canada, Germany and the Netherlands but then fell into the wrong hands in the US and was vandalized: http://www.cnet.com/news/hitchbot-is-dead-long-live-hitchbot/. We’ve discovered he was a distant relative of Gishbot’s (currently in mourning). In honor of Gishbot, let’s help his robot relative get back on his feet: reconstruct Hitchbot and treat him to a fun day or night on the town (roller-blading, boating, picnic in the park, dinner at a fine restaurant, opera, movie, nightclub dancing, etc.) and then send him off with a stranger (unless your friend is cosplaying as Hitchbot in which case take your friend home when you’re finished). Tweet your video to @hitchBOT with @gishwhes and #hitchBOTreturns in the tweet BUT SUBMIT US THE IMAGE OR VIDEO, NOT AN IMAGE OF THE SOCIAL MEDIA POST.

#96 The Tooth Fairy is on strike. Invent another fairy that provides a service in your home for your children, or your dorm room/apartment for your roommates. Dress up as the fairy providing the service, and then caption the image with what you are.

#97 Yarnbomb something in your town that shouldn't be yarn bombed.

#99 The problem with growing kale is that hipsters are always trying to sneak into my garden to steal it! Show what a trap would look like to catch these pests. Extra points if you capture (alive) a real life hipster.

#104 Turn your living room into a giant snow globe with fun props and falling "snow."

#107 JONATHAN LETHEM ITEM. Read "Call of the Wild" to a dog in a public place, "Moby Dick" to a whale, or "Born Free" to a lion. They must be within 10 feet of you.

#108 Lay your bets and time lapse a snail race from the starting gun to the finish line.

#109 Design and build a comfortable, functional piece of living room furniture made entirely from repurposed/recycled materials. Then show the family enjoying it.

#112 Let's see a refined game of croquet on a public lawn of a historic site. All participants must be zombies.

#117 Take a truck that's shaped like the food it sells or a service it provides (like a truck that sells or delivers hotdogs that's shaped like a hotdog) to a drive-in movie theater. Two people must be necking in the truck.

#119  Create the Impala or any iconic from object from Supernatural out of compost scraps.

#120 Stand in front of your garden holding up a sign with your best unorthodox or hard to believe gardening tip for the First Lady of the United States. Tweet it to @MichelleObama and include "@gishwhes" and "#gardeninghack"

#124 Get a coffee shop to create and run a drink special for Gishwhes and have it advertised on their menu board.

#125  Using food found in your refrigerator or pantry, recreate a national landmark.  You may not use gummi bears.

#126 The setting is a candle-lit romantic dinner for two.  Let's see the "spaghetti" scene from "Lady and the Tramp." Both of you must be dressed for the hot date. Super bonus points if it's in an actual nice restaurant.

#127 This is a real Welsh word: "Llanfaurpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch." Find a Welsh person and have them say in Welsh "I am Welsh and I hate that I have to do this," and then they must say the lengthy word 3 times, without stuttering and without reading it.

#134 Hand out craft-made or real roses to people standing in line at a food bank or a homeless person. If you can afford it, it might be nice to include a health bar, piece of fruit or other snack as well.

#139 Do your best June Cleaver impression and vacuum the lawn.

#140 Paint or draw a celebrated historical figure on a glass slide; but paint them really small. Submit two images side-by-side: one with the glass slide in your hand, and the other showing what your portrait looks like magnified 20X under a microscope.

#144 A live bull in a china shop.

#146 Make a macrame holster for a pistol.

#147 A stunning origami centerpiece.

#148 Make a highway rest stop more restful- make it a paradise.

#150 Dating can be so challenging! Thank god you used the TaxidermConnect App. So now let's see you, seated for a romantic dinner at a high-end restaurant with a taxidermied animal as your date. Bonus points if it's Michelin rated.

#155 Let's see a portrait of Taylor Swift or Nicki Minaj made from glue, rice and dried legumes. 

#159 Tweet a picture of you holding up your most inspiring book or book title with the hashtag #booksnotbullets and @gishwhes.

#162 Commit a random act of kindness and have someone take a picture of what you're doing and caption it. Here are some examples: http://boredomtherapy.com/random-acts-of-kindness/. Tweet it to @RandomActsOrg if you wish but submit to us the image only.

#165 WILLIAM SHATNER ITEM - Carrie Fisher is known for her portrayal of Princess Leia in Star Wars. Her memorable hairstyle was often called the Princess Leia Bun. Bake a portrait of Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia in bread.

#166 Your hair will grow back. Cut off at least 10 inches of it and donate it to your country's local hair donation organization (just google it). Wigsforkids.org is just one of many. Take a picture of you before and after and submit them side by side.

#168 Represent an artistic depiction of a famous Italian landmark- on a pizza.

#169 "Kale to the Chief" - Get a president, a king, a prime minister or other official head of state to wear a real kale crown.

#172 Build a raft made entirely out of empty plastic water bottles. Float in a lake on your raft.

#176 Register to vote, then take photographic proof of this event (i.e. you at the post office getting it done, you all holding your registration cards, etc.). In the photo hold up a sign that reads, "If Richard Speight Jr. can't be King, I'll settle for democracy." (Or something else that indicates that democracy is your tolerable second choice of political systems.) - Inspired by Richard Speight Jr and TC Couture

#179 Work opportunities are scarce since the Death Star blew up. Let's see a stormtrooper working at their job as a waiter, fast food line prep, car mechanic, postal worker, deli sandwich maker, road-repair worker, etc).

#181 Sign up to your country's organ donor register.

#183 My grandmother lives in a retirement home called Roland Park Place in Baltimore, MD. Stop by between the hours of 9 AM and 5 PM this week and find a way to give the residents a little boost. If you do not live near Baltimore, you can do this item at any retirement community anywhere in the world.

#184 Matthew 14:22, and so did the best of you gishwhes.com/ghof_item_view.php. Don't submit unless you solve the puzzle or you will be docked points.

#185 This just in: the ancestors of Gishwhes 2015 mascot, The Dinomite, have been discovered in Liaoning Province, China! Contact a paleontologist at one of the many fossil digs going on there and track down images of fossilized dinosaurs and fossilized insects that formed Dinomite's family tree. Submit two images side by side: one of the dinosaur and one of the "other creature." You need to caption the image with the paleontologist's name who helped you.

#188 JOHN GREEN ITEM. Write up to a 250 word personal manifesto that answers the question: "What are you fighting for?" or "What cause is the most important for you?" Then make your own uniform/costume that declares that cause. Two pictures side by side must be submitted (or one embedded in the other): you wearing your uniform/costume, and your manifesto. Share your manifesto and image with John Green (@johngreen) or The Art Assignment (@artassignment) on Facebook or Twitter.

#193 Contribute the recipe for 'Dinomite's Fluffy Bites' to Allrecipes.com and get at least 20, 5-star reviews from people who enjoyed the recipe.

#194 Let's see a fully dressed Mary (pregnant) and Joseph shopping for baby clothes or items, or in a pregnancy breathing class.

#196 Record yourself and friends singing a quartet rendition of "Carry On My Wayward Son" in an amphitheater after you Google-translate it into at least three other languages and then back to English.

#200 Leave a review for gishwhes on Yelp or Google.

#201 Show us something you find beautiful that most others would deem ugly.

#208 Back to school! Back a backpack (or more!) full of school supplies and deliver them to a local school or school collection site.