Day Five: Mass Social Experiment (Anailuj)

Today we had to make an out of order sign, stick it on something, and see if it caused a breakdown of our social structure as we know it.
So I ripped out a piece of notebook paper, scrawled "Out of order" on it in sharpie, and taped it to a vending machine. But that wasn't that exciting. So I taped it to a bathroom door. Not a stall door, the door to the entrance of the whole bathroom.

See, there it is, on my very low resolution camera. I picked a place that was pretty high traffic, but doesn't have a lot of seats so there was no one sitting around to observe me causing trouble. Except some girl who was sitting right across from me and was not observant enough to notice me doing any of this. Then she got on her phone and was being obnoxious.

The results were pretty predictable: every now and then some girl who had to pee or fix her hair would walk up to the door, hesitate, and walk away. Once two girls walked by and one pointed to it. Not that exciting. no one was even curious enough to take a peak to see what kind of disaster
could put a WHOLE bathroom out of order.

Conclusion: People obey signs, and watching them do it is really not that thrilling. I would have done the same thing. This was only life-changing in that it made me want to try it on a larger scale. Next time I'll put an out of order sign on an airplane. Or a pilot.

Day Five: Mass Social Experiment (Yellenahs)

Today, the book provided us with a circular red "Out of Order" sign and instructed us to place it on any item of public infrastructure we may encounter throughout the day. I didn't want to destroy the book by cutting it out, so I just wrote "Out of Order" on a piece of notebook paper. Not quite as harsh as the book's, but it gets the idea across.

Now, I'm basically a huge wimp when it comes to things like this. I would have liked to place my sign on something really cool that would really freak people out, but I didn't have the nerve. So I placed it over the buttons of an elevator in one of the academic buildings on campus. And then I ran like hell. Okay, I walked away sort of fast. But I was sweating in fear!

Since I had to go to work, I didn't even get to watch what people did. Instead I am going to provide you with a fictional conversation that may have occurred between two freshmen Long Island girls when faced with the sign:
Girl wearing leggings: "Uhhh the elevator is broken?" (tilts head)
Girl wearing Uggs: "Whattt?" (whine)
Leggings: "How does an elevator even break?"
Uggs: "Uhhh I dunno? Should we try it anyway?"
Leggings: "I don't think so...we could DIE in there!"
Uggs: "But there are soooooooooo many stairs!"
Leggings: "I know, right! The third floor is soooo far away!"
Uggs: "Let's go to Starbucks instead."

I'm pretty sure this is indicative of mass social breakdown. Toward the end of the year when I'm less of a wimp, I also plan to do this more often. For the funs.

Day Four: Work Out Your Globetrotting Plans (Yellenahs)

I can't wait to travel the world. I want to see everything.

The world map that we found on the interwebz hurt my eyes with all of its pixels. So instead of coloring in a map of the world with countries I have been to/want to go to, I am including this nifty list.

Been there, done that:

• The United States. Obviously, because I live here.
• Canada. Obviously, because the drinking age is lower there.
  
• Japan. I took a P2P trip to this fascinating country a few years back. I drank water with "sweat" in the title and ate things like Pocky.
• The Bahamas. Disney Cruise, ftw!!

Intend to go there this year: None this year, unless I study abroad in Italy. But, alas, I am only a poor college student for now.

Intend to go there sometime before I die: I'm just gonna go ahead and say the whole world. Honestly, I don't think I can say there's a place I wouldn't like to go sometime. Except maybe Antarctica. There's not much there. Everywhere else, though, I know there's some beauty that I need to witness. Europe is first, and I plan to visit as many cathedrals as I possibly can.

I'm also going to do the United States, because I've been to more states than countries and have more definite goals with them. For this one I have a map:


Green: Been there, done that
Blue: Intend to go there this year
Purple: Intend to go there in the next 5-10 years
Yellow: Intend to go there sometime before I die
Red: Happy never to set foot there in my whole life

I may want to spend some time in California this summer. If not, then I intend to take a mass cross-country road trip. In which case, some of those purples would be blue. Said road trip may also take me through some of the reds. It's not that I don't want to go to those places, I just don't care about them that much.

Day Four: Work out Your Globetrotting Plans for the Rest of Your Time on Earth (Anailuj)

Today we got to color in maps. It was fun pretending to be in 5th grade again.

KEY (in 5th grade we lost points if we forgot to provide one of these):

green- been there, done that

yellow- plan to go there before I die

purple- plan to go there sometime within the next 5-10 years

blue- intend to go there this year (There's nowhere I'm planning on going to this year that I haven't already been to, so no blue for me :P)

red- happy to never set foot there in my whole life

I live on the east coast, so the occasional vacation/class trip has taken me to most of those states. I'd like to see California, the Four Corners, Louisiana (I'm a big fan of Anne Rice southern spookiness), and Montana for sight-seeing.

Michigan because my good friend Esteban lives there and I'd like to visit him sometime.

Hawaii and Alaska might be nice places to honeymoon, hint hint to my many potential fiancees.

The rest of the yellows I just sort of wouldn't mind seeing: AZ for the grand canyon, TX for the intolerant Republicans, NV for the Burning Man Festival .

The red states. Apparently I have a thing against Tornado Alley and the deep south. I guess it's mostly due to me not wanting to be blown away or have to eat grits.

The white states are the ones I just don't care about. I mean, Minnesota? The only good thing about it is hearing how the locals say the name of their state with that cute accent. But you'll get essentially the same accent, universal healthcare, and duty-free liquer from Canadians, so you might as well just go there instead.

Here's a really stretched version of the world. I've only been to the U.S., the Bahamas, and Canada. I was supposed to go to Ecuador this summer for a student volunteer program, but it fell through, so getting there is on the top of my list. Ecuador also owns the Galopagos Islands too. Sea turtles! Penguins! Darwin!

Mexico to see the Aztec ruins. Russia because the world seems to be telling me to go to Russia lately.

Madagascar because of that movie. Lemurs are cute.

Somalia because it just sucks so bad there. National Geographic and K'naan make me want to take the risk of getting my head blown off in hopes that I might be able to help out just a little bit. The poverty I saw during just one day in the Bahamas was enough to make me want to do something for people.

India for the architecture and the mango lassi.

Certain places in the middle east because me going there would mean they've reached some semblance of peace.

Austrailia to visit my family who moved there a couple years ago.

Not France. I took French for five years. I've about had my fill.

All the whites are places I could certainly get behind, I just don't have any strong feelings about them right now.

Conclusions: I need to get places. Also, you should listen to K'naan.

Day Three: Throw Away Something You Like (Anailuj)

I am a packrat. I develop emotional attachments to garbage, which I hoard, sort of like Smaug the dragon. Like Smaug, I'm also very unwilling to part with it. But I finally made the decision to get rid of some crap that's doing little more than take up space in my room. Even though I have some fondness for these items, I figured I'd feel better throwing them away. I'm changing my life here, best to get rid of some of the stuff lying around from my past:

1 green gift box shaped like a chinese take-out box. Super cute but has writing on it and can never be re-used.
1 key to my old car- Why didn't I give this to the dealer when I traded it in?
1 Lasertron "official membership card." Codename: Skwissgaar.
1 burnt-out red light bulb, awesome birthday gift from four years ago
1 thank-you card from a parent at my work. These are hard to get rid of because they usually say stuff about how great I am and how much the kid loves me.
1 Senior Prom place setting. I got the vegetarian dinner. I went with someone I'm no longer dating.
1 Frightworld ticket from last year. I went with someone I'm no longer friends with.

All in the trash can, crammed down there with coffee grounds and used tissues. Brief moment of regret! What if I want to remember these things when I'm old?!

Conclusions: If you want to start fresh you have to get rid of what's stale. If these things are worth remembering, I'll remember them alright. And in the meantime, my room is a tiny bit less cluttered.

Day Three: Throw Away Something You Like (Yellenahs)

I refuse to throw things away. Ever. I'm almost positive that I'm an even bigger hoarder than Anailuj. And Smaug.

I own:
Jeans with holes in the crotch (but they're my favorites!)
Science notebooks from the 7th grade (what if I need to refer back to them someday?)
Every single Christmas and birthday card I've ever received from anyone (I'll want to remember those days when I'm older!)

So this is a difficult task for me. I have this irrational belief that someday I will miss these things if they're gone. This is true for certain things, but not necessarily for the three tubes of old mascara I found while searching for something to throw away.

BUT I'M KEEPING THOSE. THEY ARE MINE AND YOU CANNOT TAKE THEM AWAY.

As this is a life-changing activity, I wanted the something to be important enough to be missed, but not so much that I will need it in the near future and not have it. I considered throwing away John, but the rent is due. And he may not appreciate such a thing.

In the end, I threw away this pink wood carving of my name. We got it at a flea market God knows how many years ago. I used to display it proudly on a shelf in my room. I'm now wayyyyy too classy for such a thing.



Now that I remember I ever had it, this will surely be missed.

P.S. Brian just stated that he doesn't like Seinfeld. I am shocked and awed by such blasphemy. We're watching it anyway.

Day Two: The Love of Your Life (Anailuj)

Anailuj has also decided to switch to first person because third person is making her feel a little schizophrenic. I gazed wonderingly at strangers all day.

Sports Fan: Sorry, but I can tell from the way that you've incorporated the logos of three different teams into your outfit today that all you do is watch ESPN. I need some ATTN, too.

Various Mellow-Looking Guys: You know this guy. He's a nice, decent guy. This is the guy you want to marry, but not really date. This is in no way his fault. It is yours because you're masochistic and immature, and like to date the wrong boys. You unfairly want him to just sort of remain available until you're finished running around with Tight Pants Guy.

Tight Pants Guy: TPG, I respect the boldness it must take for a guy to get up in the morning, look in the mirror, and think "Today I want to cram my junk into a tiny denim straitjacket." TPG is actually a genius. He knows that his skinny jeans will serve him dual purposes: 1) To attract ladies who love a man wearing jeans slim enough that they could borrow them, and 2) to kill all his sperm so that he does not impregnate any of those ladies.

Matt: Matt lives down the street from me. Matt has promised to go to the moon, write my name on it large enough for me to see it from Earth, and find me a massive moon diamond. If I actually believed that could happen, I would be carrying Matt's babies right now.

Yellenahs' Housemates: It's important that I talk about them because they're an increasingly important part of my life...
B-Dolla: Great taste in music, which is a Big Deal to me. However, I often find him difficult to locate, which could be problematic.
Aaron: Even though he's a harmless day-walker, he carries the ginger gene. Not willing to take that risk.
John: We would have lots of sarcastic babies with poor eyesight and braces, but they would make up for it by being incredible swimmers. If lucky, they would combine my English skillz and his Math skillz and get perfect SAT scores.

Soul Mate?: I was looking super cute in my red heart-shaped sunglasses. He was wearing large, square, bright orange sunglasses. For a moment we were alone in the airlock of the building as I was exiting and he was entering, and time stood still as our eyes locked and I knew that Orange Sunglasses might be my soul mate. But then time abruptly resumed its pace, and I, unable to react in time, lost Orange Sunglasses forever.

Conclusions: I believe that if Orange Sunglasses really is my soul mate, I'll find him again. I kind of dropped the ball on the "act in consequence" part of this task, but it's ok because I believe we'll be reunited if it's for realzies. Also, I'm a little superficial.