Of Krakens, Of Kale, Of Knitting Cardigans. Of Misha and the Queen: A GISHWHES Journey Part Duex

Item 119: Our typewritten Manifesto.

The Manifesto of the Kansas Killers

 We, the undersigned, who being NOT of sound mind, but rather the ravenous, blood thirsty, tyrants that we are, declare the following:

1)      DEATH TO NORMALCY! And to those that seek to impose normalcy on the proudly not normal, fie on you! FIE I SAY!

2)      To run amok and do acts of random that are most kind.

3)      Make merry in the mist of our insanity.

4)      To lay our sacrificial items before our Overlord, Misha Collins’s feet at the appointed hour and day.

5)      To live up to our chosen moniker and slay the competition! ARE WE NOT KILLERS FROM KANSAS?! MAY STREETS RUN RED WITH THE (metaphorical) BLOOD OF THOSE THAT DARE TO OPPOSE US!!!!

6)      To unleash our creativity on the world at large in order to bring smiles to an unsuspecting public. Or at the very least, bring looks of confusion. Maybe even fear.

7)      To band together across international borders and international waters with those we hardly know to become a most fearsome group of GISHWHES warriors this side of history! Even the fierce 300 soldiers of Spartan would quake in our presence.

8)      To individually challenge ourselves. To push beyond what we each thought ourselves capable and discover new skills and talents that will last a lifetime.

9)      To PUSH! Persist Until Something Happens.

10)  And finally, TO HAVE FUN!!! Always find the fun. It will help to keep you going when it seems next to impossible.

This was our team’s manifesto. And these are the members who helped to carry it out to the fullest:

WENDY

Item 35: You’re naked and late for your day job of saving cities. You’re in your garage with no time to hit your secret lair. Get dressed using only auto/home improvement tools and landscaping items.

1. What made you decide to participate in GISHWHES 2013? My sister asked me to join.

2. Did you have any doubts/fears going into this year’s GISHWHES? No doubts or fears just a sense of anticipation before the list came out. I joined about 2 weeks before the hunt.

3. What was your favorite item that YOU did? I has a couple of favorites, one was the dumpster pool and the wearing things from the garage one; we had a good laugh with that one.

41: IMAGE Have a pool party with at least three guests swimming. In this case, your “pool” shall be made from a large garbage can or dumpster. The party must also include towels, a BBQ, cocktails and floatation devices. All three people must be in the “pool”. Bonus points if it’s a dumpster.

4. What was your favorite item that SOME ONE ELSE completed? There was so many….probably the garbage car; that car was amazing.

5. How would you sum up your GISHWHES experience? It was a lot of fun.

6. Any moments when your enthusiasm for GISHWHES lagged and you felt frustrated/angry/depressed? And how did you find motivation to keep going? It was frustrating that we didn’t have the whole team on board.

7. What is your takeaway from this entire experience? What memory will you hold on to? The friendships I made.

8. What will be your best GISHWHES battle story? The battle to get my work to let me use the dumpster and to have it empty so we can use it, lol.

9. Do you plan to do this all over again next year? Yes I’m doing it again next year.

10. Will you continue to use “abnosome” as part of your daily vocabulary? Sure it’s an abnosome word.

11. Did you learn anything about yourself or about skills and talents you didn’t know you had before GISHWHES? Not really.

12. At any point did you find yourself hating Misha Collins for doing this to you? Nope.

13. What is the one item on the list you wish you could’ve done, but didn’t, either due to some else completing it or just simply not having the resources to do so? I wish I had done the dressing as a robot and going to work one that would have been hilarious.

14. What surprised you the most about doing GISHWHES? How much time you needed to dedicate to the hunt.

15. What advice would you give to someone who is deciding to do GISHWHES for the first time next year? Have fun, do what’s in your comfort zone but don’t be afraid to try something crazy.

                                                         SHERRY                                                                             

61. IMAGE: Sidney Scott. CS Lewis once said, “Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: ‘What! You too? I thought I was the only one!'” Take a picture capturing this exact moment. The two must have something very visually unique about them. The photo must be taken in a crowd of other people who do not share this unique quality. For example, both could be dressed as cavemen at a crowded train station. 57 POINTS

1. What made you decide to participate in GISHWHES 2013? I attended last year’s Burbank Supernatural Con. During Misha’s panel he talked about GISHWHES and it sounded like a blast. When I was younger I would do things like pay for the car behind me to go across the bridge or put the waitress tip inside a balloon on the table. But as I got older I did this less and I miss my nutty side. So I signed up.

2. Did you have any doubts/fears going into this year’s GISHWHES? I was afraid I would let down my team by not doing enough items. Also before I got my sister to sign up I was nervous about doing the crazy stuff in public by myself.

3. What was your favorite item that YOU did? I liked standing in front of a health food store getting people to sign my petition to pave all California beaches so we don’t get sandy while swimming. The guy I interviewed was perfect. He put his name as Max Dolla$ on my petition, too funny. What you guys didn’t know was two people rushed passed me and refused to listen to my petition because they thought I was serious. I guess I looked too believable. I also really loved the Classified Ad I put in the Sacramento Bee getting people to join my cult. Cult kale where it’s Kale all the time. That ad only costs $15; however, the Sacramento Bee put it online 3 days then finally read it on the third day and rejected the ad. So I got my item and I didn’t have to pay.

113. IMAGE: Run an ad in a local paper for the cult you are starting. Sell us on it. Make us want to join. Make grandiose promises.41 POINTS

4. What was your favorite item that SOME ONE ELSE completed? I really liked Melissa’s Elephant she did a great job on that. I also liked Brandi’s a dragon burned down my castle.

5. How would you sum up your GISHWHES experience? Fun, exhausting, and at times frustrating.

6. Any moments when your enthusiasm for GISHWHES lagged and you felt frustrated/angry/depressed? And how did you find motivation to keep going? Yeah I got frustrated when I realized there were team members not participating. I also had frustration when someone would repeat an item that had already been done. The repeats didn’t make sense to me. How I found the motivation to keep going was to focus instead on what I wanted out of the experience and not on what other people were or weren’t doing. I also focused on the other team members that were submitting items. So instead of worrying about repeats or team members not submitting items I preferred to encourage the other team members working hard. Everyone likes to feel appreciated.

7. What is your takeaway from this entire experience? What memory will you hold on to? The memory I will hold on to is doing this with my sister. It was a great bonding experience for us. We both get busy with life it’s nice to take a break from it and do something like this. I’m really glad she agreed to join me on the hunt. By the way it’s totally Wendy’s fault there’s a picture of me in a dumpster with a cocktail. I would have never picked that item to do. She brings out the crazy in people. It why I know she would be great for this.

8. What will be your best GISHWHES battle story? The dumpster is my battle story. I’m 5 feet 1 inch tall. That dumpster was huge and deep. Getting in and out of the thing was a challenge. Plus it was about 97 degrees so I was roasting in that thing. I’m just glad it was the recycled dumpster and not the garbage dumpster. That would have been gross.

9. Do you plan to do this all over again next year? Heck yeah!!

10. Will you continue to use “abnosome” as part of your daily vocabulary? Sadly no. I have no clue how to pronounce the word. I’m dyslexic so I can’t pronounce a word I haven’t heard spoken.

11. Did you learn anything about yourself or about skills and talents you didn’t know you had before GISHWHES? I can sew really fast when I put my mind to it. I made that baby quilt I used for the stealth random act of kindness in about one week. Which is crazy fast.

12. At any point did you find yourself hating Misha Collins for doing this to you? He is a bit evil but in a totally abnosome way. See I just lied to number 10 I will use abnosome. But no I never hated him; I dig how creative he and his team are with these wonderful items.

13. What is the one item on the list you wish you could’ve done, but didn’t, either due to some else completing it or just simply not having the resources to do so? I wish I could have gone to the Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany. I know this castle, it was the inspiration Walt Disney used to draw Sleeping Beauty’s Castle. I would love to see it in person.

14. What surprised you the most about doing GISHWHES? How time consuming doing the items were. Who know turning my car into my prom date would take that long.

15. What advice would you give to someone who is deciding to do GISHWHES for the first time next year? I recommend they take the week off from work. Also don’t sweat the small stuff and get a good camera. If you are jumping in a dumpster you want the pictures clear.

MELISSA

75. IMAGE: “You are what you eat.” Prove it. 21 POINTS

1. What made you decide to participate in GISHWHES 2013? First, I love Misha. Second, I wanted to be involved in something new and exciting.

2. Did you have any doubts/fears going into this year’s GISHWHES? I was really scared because I knew I would be doing new things. And things that put me out of my comfort levels.

3. What was your favorite item that YOU did? I loved the Wooster attack and the “you are what you eat” items.

4. What was your favorite item that SOME ONE ELSE completed? My favorite item another team member did was Sherry’s dumpster pool party.

5. How would you sum up your GISHWHES experience? I met new people, made new friends, did new and crazy things, and discovered my inner weirdo.

6. Any moments when your enthusiasm for GISHWHES lagged and you felt frustrated/angry/depressed? And how did you find motivation to keep going? I got frustrated with my team a lot because we couldn’t stay on the same page. I just tried to focus on what I was doing and try to complete as many as I possibly could.

7. What is your takeaway from this entire experience? What memory will you hold on to? I will take away that i was a part of breaking a world record. And that I met some really cool people.

8. What will be your best GISHWHES battle story? I do not know if I have a battle story. But it was just hard to coordinate all the Gish-helpers.

9. Do you plan to do this all over again next year? YES!!

10. Will you plan to continue to continue to use “abnosome” as part of your daily vocabulary? Yes, of course!

63. IMAGE: Edit screencaps of 10 different instances of your team using the word, “abnosome” (or one of its conjugates) in online posts into one image. In other words, 10 images edited in a grid into one image. This will introduce the world to this new, and important word, which of course means: “abnormal in an awesome way.” 38 POINTS

11. Did you learn anything about yourself or about skills and talents you didn’t know you had before GISHWHES? I learned that I can try new things and it is not as scary as I thought.

12. At any point did you find yourself hating Misha Collins for doing this to you? No. Not really. I knew what I was getting into.

13. What is the one item on the list you wish you could’ve done, but didn’t, either due to some else completing it or just simply not having the resources to do so? I wish I could have done almost all of the items on the list. But the ones I chose were my favorites.

14. What surprised you the most about doing GISHWHES? The experience was fun, but I did not expect to get so stressed about it.

15. What advice would you give to some one who is deciding to do GISHWHES for the first time next year? Prepare yourself for stress. But also stock up on arts and crafts items, and feminine hygiene products. Most importantly: Have fun!

Brandi

10. IMAGE: Jennifer Kristiansen. While showing some sign of the dragon-attack on your clothing or body, panhandle on a sidewalk (NOT ON A MEDIAN IN TRAFFIC!) with a sign that reads: “A DRAGON BURNED MY CASTLE DOWN.” Donate any money given to you to your local food bank. Bad karma if you don’t. 47 POINTS

1. What made you decide to participate in GISHWHES 2013? With everything going on in my life I need a vacation. And this seemed like a good one. And for a good cause.

2. Did you have any doubts/fears going into this year’s GISHWHES? I had doubts that I would find a team that I got along with, I feared that my self-conscious would get the better of me.

3. What was your favorite item that YOU did? I was lucky enough to visit someone on dialysis. And when my team went the extra mile and did individual get well messages so I could not only help one person with a better day but about 4 others. That. I would never trade that.

33. IMAGE: Laura Camanini. Dialysis treatments are long and boring. Entertain a dialysis patient during their treatment. 26 POINTS

4. What was your favorite item that SOME ONE ELSE completed? Mel’s Wooster attack. I almost peed myself editing it several times.

5. How would you sum up your GISHWHES experience? Life changing. I’ve become very good friends with Mel. And I learned the random acts matter.

6. Any moments when your enthusiasm for GISHWHES lagged and you felt frustrated/angry/depressed? And how did you find motivation to keep going? My team seemed to split into two. Items were being done twice and others weren’t getting accomplished and i just felt like everything I was doing was pointless. My motivation lied in Mel. As did mine for hers. We kept each other going.

7. What is your takeaway from this entire experience? What memory will you hold on to? That random acts of kindness can truly change a life. The memory I will hold onto is the day I spent with my little sister in law and we did like 5 different items. It was the first day I spent alone with her in the 4 years I’ve been with her brother.

8. What will be your best GISHWHES battle story? My best GISHWHES battle story would be the paper crane and the rain. That gave me a cold for like 3 days.

9. Do you plan to do this all over again next year? Sure do.

10. Will you continue to use “abnosome” as part of your daily vocabulary? Maybe. I find it sometimes slips out.

11. Did you learn anything about yourself or about skills and talents you didn’t know you had before GISHWHES? I didn’t know I could fold a paper crane in the rain. I also didn’t know days could be that awesome.

12. At any point did you find yourself hating Misha Collins for doing this to you? Every single day!

13. What is the one item on the list you wish you could’ve done, but didn’t, either due to some else completing it or just simply not having the resources to do so? Flash mob.

14. What surprised you the most about doing GISHWHES? My friendship with Mel.

15. What advice would you give to someone who is deciding to do GISHWHES for the first time next year? When you are pulling out your hair and feel it’s hopeless, remember EVERY SINGLE PERSON doing GISHWHES is feeling the EXACT same way. Also, sleep. My team forgot that and at day 5 we were cranky, some of us were delusional. And by day 6 we were all borderline homicidal against each other.

Alyssa

110. IMAGE: If Gishwhes were a fraternity or sorority, what would the initiation ceremony look like? 43 POINTS

1. What made you decide to participate in GISHWHES 2013? I noticed a lot of my Supernatural friends were doing it! I had hear about it before, but when I heard people talk about it, I just had to try it out.

2. Did you have any doubts/fears going into this year’s GISHWHES? Oh yes!! I was terrified I wouldn’t be able to do a single thing on the list and I would let people down.

3. What was your favorite item that YOU did? Probably getting to know someone homeless and then get them their favorite food, mostly because of the adventure I had with my friends that night. It was insane! But I honestly had fun with every single item I did except one!

45. IMAGE: Strike up a conversation with a homeless person, talk to them until you know their first name, where they are from, and what their favorite food is. Bring them that food and, if they give you permission, take your picture with them and their meal. 38 POINTS

4. What was your favorite item that SOME ONE ELSE completed? My team mate, Brandi, went to go entertain dialysis treatment patients, and it honestly touched my heart so much I was nearly in tears when she showed us the picture! But all in all, I am so proud of ALL of the items my team submitted!

5. How would you sum up your GISHWHES experience? Incredibly fun/crazy/insane/rewarding!

6. Any moments when your enthusiasm for GISHWHES lagged and you felt frustrated/angry/depressed? And how did you find motivation to keep going? Definitely. I noticed my team mates sometimes got upset with each other, and there were items that just seemed impossible. The thing that kept me going was how much fun I was having despite some of the setbacks.

7. What is your takeaway from this entire experience? What memory will you hold on to? It was such a great experience! You do so many fun things, and also some incredibly rewarding things. The memory I will hold on to, is how much bonding I did with my family and friends! We became a lot closer during that week!

8. What will be your best GISHWHES battle story? Oh goodness! There’s two! One, not EVERY ONE is willing to help. I went to an Oakland A’s game to try and get a GISHWHES cheer going and not a SINGLE person helped! Everyone was actually very rude and sometimes even cruel. I was upset that day but I got excited for the items I could do and everything was okay! The other one was the night my friends and I went out to find homeless people to feed. When we went to McDonalds to get food for the two men we had met, there was another homeless man outside of McDonalds. We decided to get him a burger and just get as much food as we could with the money we had and hand it out all night. When we went back outside the man who was waiting out there had obviously just taken a hit of heroin (I am not even kidding, I wish I were) and my friends and I basically panicked for a few minutes trying to snap him out of whatever he was doing until someone came out and told us to leave the food there and when he woke up he should eat it. Let’s just say my friends and I were terrified and that wasn’t something we were expecting. We stayed out until the early hours of the AM handing out the rest of the food. Other than that one thing, it was a pretty great night. (Sorry that was really long!)

Another casualty of GISHWHES

9. Do you plan to do this all over again next year? Definitely.

10. Will you plan to continue to continue to use “abnosome” as part of your daily vocabulary? Haha! Honestly? I won’t remember to use it often enough to make it a habit. I may say it occasionally but probably not daily.

11. Did you learn anything about yourself or about skills and talents you didn’t know you had before GISHWHES? Hmm. I truly learned what extreme degree I was terrified of talking to people. I had to come out of my shell A LOT, even just with my own team. I’m an extreme misanthrope, but I honestly learned to like people more than I had before, just because most of the people I ran into during that week ended up being WONDERFUL people!

12. At any point did you find yourself hating Misha Collins for doing this to you? Every. Single. Day. But I love him for it too.

13. What is the one item on the list you wish you could’ve done, but didn’t, either due to some else completing it or just simply not having the resources to do so? Bungee jumping! I would’ve had a blast!

14. What surprised you the most about doing GISHWHES? How many people are truly kind and are willing to do random acts of kindness for others. I never really had people do that before!

15. What advice would you give to someone who is deciding to do GISHWHES for the first time next year? Honestly? Have fun. Try not to get stressed. I did this to win in the beginning but now I wouldn’t mind if I didn’t (although it would still be amazing if we did! Haha). I had such a great time doing this that it was all rewarding in itself!! Get to know your team mates and go out of your comfort zone! It’s incredible what can happen!

 

Kathleen

87. IMAGE: Host a seated traditional Japanese tea ceremony in an elevator to make the passengers feel more at ease. 48 POINTS

1. What made you decide to participate in GISHWHES 2013? Well, this was my second GISHWHES and it’s too much fun to miss it. The prize is just a bonus. I get to spend my whole week doing crazy-fun stuff, not to mention meeting new people. It’s just exciting!!

2. Did you have any doubts/fears going into this year’s GISHWHES? Oh, yes!! I was really afraid of this year’s list. Especially because the list tend to get worse and worse every year, which means it gets harder and harder, so I was really tense and nervous about this ahah.

3. What was your favorite item that YOU did? Probably the tea-bag swimsuit, even though I wasn’t the one wearing it… Or maybe the japanese tea ceremony in an elevator, because the door-man to my friends’ building was watching through the security camera and calling the elevator to tell us to stop doing it because we were holding the elevator. All that while we were trying to keep a straight face, completely ignoring the phone ringing, and taking pictures. WITH REAL TEA. I think I even spilled some tea in the elevator’s carpet when I was getting off of it? ahahah ALSO THE TWO-PLAYER GAME. BECAUSE I HAD NO IDEA HOW TO MAKE A GAME BEFORE GISHWHES AND I LEARNED HOW TO CODE A GAME IN JUST ONE NIGHT. I totally felt like Tony Stark, not even kidding. AHAHAH

4. What was your favorite item that SOME ONE ELSE completed? Oh my God, there were just so many items? The You Are What You Eat item, completed by Melissa, looked super good.

5. How would you sum up your GISHWHES experience? Crazy. Wild. Fun. Nerve-wrecking. Extremely abnosome.

6. Any moments when your enthusiasm for GISHWHES lagged and you felt frustrated/angry/depressed? And how did you find motivation to keep going? Probably on Friday? I was super stressed and didn’t sleep well the whole week, concerned about the items, what was left and all that? Not to mention the nights I just stayed up doing stuff for GISHWHES too.

7. What is your takeaway from this entire experience? What memory will you hold on to? That doing stuff you would never dream you’d be doing, not in a million years, is more fun than you expect.

8. What will be your best GISHWHES battle story? Probably adding random people on Facebook to find a stormtrooper costume. I even got one person that was up to doing this item with us, but he backed away on the last minute, thank God another teammate (Sherry) got to do it.

5. IMAGE: A stormtrooper at a laundry mat folding clothes. 56 POINTS

9. Do you plan to do this all over again next year? Heck yes!!

10. Will you continue to use “abnosome” as part of your daily vocabulary? Probably… Maybe… Totally?

11. Did you learn anything about yourself or about skills and talents you didn’t know you had before GISHWHES? That with a little effort, I can make myself learn a lot of things!!

12. At any point did you find yourself hating Misha Collins for doing this to you? As soon as I saw the list. HAHAHA

13. What is the one item on the list you wish you could’ve done, but didn’t, either due to some else completing it or just simply not having the resources to do so? The bungee jump one 😦 The only place with a trustworthy bungee jump closed a couple of years ago here 😦

14. What surprised you the most about doing GISHWHES? How many items we were able to do, even though some were just impossible?

15. What advice would you give to some one who is deciding to do GISHWHES for the first time next year? GO FOR IT, KID. As long as you don’t mind going crazy, feeling the urge to maim and kill Misha Collins, but also having a hell of a good time. It’s totally worth it. :’)

 

Alexis

20. IMAGE: Retrofit a wheelchair and its owner to look like a powerful superhero in a “Gishmobile.” 69 POINTS

1. What made you decide to participate in GISHWHES 2013? I thought if I participated I’d get to hang out with my friends more and have lots of fun doing weird crazy items on the GISHWHES list and as it turns out I was right.

2. Did you have any doubts/fears going into this year’s GISHWHES? Fear is the path to the dark side! Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering. So my answer is NO! YES! MAYBE! and ALL OF THE ABOVE! Truthfully, I wasn’t so much afraid as more so doubtful we’d win which I still am and I was a little bit nervous the list would be so super ridiculously hard again that we’d only be able to do a few items. Fortunately we did way more than I expected and I always expected it to be fun in a wild nutso kind of way.

 3. What was your favorite item that YOU did? PILLOW FIGHT! That one was definitely the most fun, follow closely behind that one was light saber battle and Release the Kraken!

 4. What was your favorite item that SOME ONE ELSE completed? The Shrine of Osric and Cosplay video Osric did as Castiel. Though I’m still waiting to see a really cool verison of the COMWS flash mob one. I bet that would be super cool if all the singers and musicians are good.

 5. How would you sum up your GISHWHES experience? ABAaKngikjbijedhgfikan gykernhgviednkdnfiksdnkl,genieakjdgjerbngifjngkb,rnegkfdngk,g nkfngkfdn gkln sgdknkldns gknedkngkwsnDAMNYOUMISHAYOURUINEDMYLIFEILOVEYOU!!!skesejtgjgbejdbgtjkdbhfijskjngfjkwebdgjkaewbdsjbjkn something like that pretty much sums it up. My brain has turned to mush now.

 6. Any moments when your enthusiasm for GISHWHES lagged and you felt frustrated/angry/depressed? And how did you find motivation to keep going? Yes, there were moments like that especially when our team started bickering about trivial matters, but what motivated me to keep going was all fun I was having with you doing the items.

 7. What is your takeaway from this entire experience? What memory will you hold on to? An empty bank account and a lot of hilarious photographs. I will hold onto memory of us going to Dennys and having a light saber battle in middle of Fremont St.

8. What will be your best GISHWHES battle story? Definitely the light saber battle, only in my version of the story that I will tell future generations, I will tell them that I so kicked all your butts with my legendary light saber skills!!

9. Do you plan to do this all over again next year? Yeah I plan on it, but Uhhhhhhhhhhhh………………… ask me again next year. I want to do it, but you never know where life is going to take you so I won’t say for sure yet. We might all get abducted by Daleks by then and turned into pig people best to just live for today and enjoy it.

10. Will you continue to use “abnosome” as part of your daily vocabulary? God No! I will never use the word abnosome again! OH CRAP! I JUST DID IT AGAIN DIDN’T I? I really have no self-control now do I? 😛

 11. Did you learn anything about yourself or about skills and talents you didn’t know you had before GISHWHES? I learned that all my new friends are just as crazy as I am and like to use GISHWHES as an excuse to live out childhood fantasies and take their clothes off in my house.

 12. At any point did you find yourself hating Misha Collins for doing this to you? NEVER! How could I hate Misha Collins, he’s such a great ACTRESS with such adorable children and great flexibility if you know what I mean 😉

13. What is the one item on the list you wish you could’ve done, but didn’t, either due to some else completing it or just simply not having the resources to do so? Well we did do it, we did death with chocolate and it was fun, but it didn’t get picked as final group submission which was a little disappointed, but still it was fun to do. As for the rest of the items I guess the flash mob, yeah it would have been cool to do that one, but we didn’t have the resources.

120. IMAGE: Jessica Mejia. Let’s see your most dramatic interpretation of “Death by Chocolate!” 34 POINTS (This wasn’t the final submission for our group)

 14. What surprised you the most about doing GISHWHES? Everything about doing GISHWHES is a surprise especially the items on the list, they are always INSANE!!!

15. What advice would you give to someone who is deciding to do GISHWHES for the first time next year? RUN AWAY!! STOCK UP ON KALE!! SAVE YOUR MONEY BEFOREHAND! DONT SQUABBLE OVER PETTY DETAILS WITH YOUR TEAMMATES! ENJOY THE PROCESS! GO NUTS!! BE CAREFUL AROUND SMALL CHILDREN! And most importantly DO IT WITH FRIENDS! 🙂

EBONY

The aftermath of item 59. VIDEO: Tisha Fay: Hold a pillow fight that involves 10 or more people all in pajamas. 22 POINTS

1. What made you decide to participate in GISHWHES 2013? My friend Alexis kept nagging me and nagging me to join her team for GISHWHES this year as they needed more members. After two months, she finally wore me down and I said “yes”. Plus, it was the brain child of a one Misha Collins and I seem to be under his spell lately. It’s almost scary….

I told you he had me under his spell! (The rejected item 73.IMAGE: Create a shrine to an actor from a CW show. Pay homage to it. 56 POINTS)

2. Did you have any doubts/fears going into this year’s GISHWHES? YES! My biggest fear is that I would be absolutely creatively useless. I’m not an artsy person. I can’t draw, I don’t craft, I have no useful video/photo computer editing skills. No nunchuck skills, no bow hunting skills, or computer hacking skills. I was worried I would be a lame duck member.

3. What was your favorite item that YOU did? It’s between number 93, Release the Kraken, because that really pushed me outside of my comfort zone and number 79, doing something that I always to do since childhood, which was having a lightsaber duel with someone. It wasn’t just the fact that I was able to have a lightsaber duel, but my friends and I did it on Fremont Street out in public and then afterward hung out at Denny’s eating a sundae and making interesting, to say the least, conversations at 2-3 AM in the morning.

79. IMAGE: There was something you always wanted to do as a child but never did. Do it.24 POINTS

4. What was your favorite item that SOME ONE ELSE completed? The choices! Probably the GISHWHES Journey video that Brandi made. She did such a good job editing our videos together and I think it really summed up the group and how we were feeling throughout that week.

5. How would you sum up your GISHWHES experience? Survival. Just surviving the week on little sleep, little eats, and apparently little hygiene while still trying to make your brain think up the best ideas possible for completing each item.

6. Any moments when your enthusiasm for GISHWHES lagged and you felt frustrated/angry/depressed? And how did you find motivation to keep going? Probably when my team would start arguing over items. I wanted to do like Crazy!Castiel in season 7, whenever people around him would start fighting or get angry, he would disappear. I wanted to do the same, I don’t like confrontations. I wanted everyone to be at peace, GISHWHES is hard enough. Plus, I was working a full time job while doing GISHWHES, so I would be so tired. But once I started doing items with Alexis and having fun, the motivation came back. Plus I had a playlist of sorts I would listen to on my iPod. The songs were “Can’t Hold Us” by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis; “My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light ‘Em Up)” by Fall Out Boy; and “Survival” by Muse.

7. What is your takeaway from this entire experience? What memory will you hold on to? What amazing works people can create in such a short amount of time. Between our team and the works I have seen from other teams, it truly is inspiring what people can do with a random assortment of materials and determination. The memory I will hold on to is the Kraken. Definitely Release the Kraken.

8. What will be your best GISHWHES battle story? Alexis and I making our way down the Las Vegas Strip in order to get a good picture for the home town motto and trying not to get hit by crazy tourists driving.

9. Do you plan to do this all over again next year? I will give a tentative “yes”.

10. Will you continue to use “abnosome” as part of your daily vocabulary? I will try my best! I’m a word nerd, so I love learning new words. Even if it’s a “made-up” word. My line of thinking is if you say it, it is now a word in the English language. Who cares if Oxford or Webster hasn’t put an official stamp on it yet!

11. Did you learn anything about yourself or about skills and talents you didn’t know you had before GISHWHES? That I can be creative on occasion and come up with creative ideas. That I wasn’t as lame duck in that department as I thought I would be.

12. At any point did you find yourself hating Misha Collins for doing this to you? Aww, I couldn’t really hate the guy. I mean, he’s Misha Collins! Whenever I came close, I would see pictures of his handsome face and think “I can’t hate a guy with a face like that! I just can’t!” Plus, I kind of did it to myself. I knew what I was getting into and I decided to participate anyway.

13. What is the one item on the list you wish you could’ve done, but didn’t, either due to some else completing it or just simply not having the resources to do so? The flash mob. I’ve wanted to be part of a flash mob for 2 years now, maybe three. But we just didn’t have the people needed to pull it off.

14. What surprised you the most about doing GISHWHES? The lengths I go to for Misha Collins. I think I can truly call myself his Minion. And this though both thrills and terrifies me.

15. What advice would you give to someone who is deciding to do GISHWHES for the first time next year? Don’t do GISHWHES if you are just starting a new job. Trying to work and keep up with myriad of updates from your teammates isn’t a good idea. In fact, just take that week off from work and dedicate it to doing GISHWHES. Also, really get organized with your teammates in terms of who is doing what items. I talked to a member of another team who said they kept everything straight by using a spreadsheet. Not a bad idea. Oh, and stock up on kale. I was kicking myself that I didn’t go with my first mind and buy a buttload of kale when it was on sale at the local Fresh n Easy. Don’t worry about doing every item; in fact if I do participate next year I only want to focus a few items and do them really well so I can be in the Hall of Fame and be in the coffee book! And don’t sell yourself short; you can do more than you think you can 🙂

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