smartgrrrl's guide to stuff

– Inspired and encouraged by the response I’ve had to a number of what I think are pretty genius ideas, I went ahead and dipped my toe in the rather cold and tumultuous waters of event planning, only to find out that my brilliant idea for a borough-wide Capture The Flag game was sorta already done. A couple times in Toronto, a couple times in Brooklyn. The Brooklyn games were limited to a single neighborhood and two teams, which of course sounds much more reasonable.

I wrote to the organizers and received a prompt response, which was nice. They’re planning on having another DUMBO/Williamsburg game this spring, if anyone’s interested. And while they were into the idea of doing something bigger, it would seem as though there’s a reason why it hasn’t been done, and that reason has everything to do with folks not really having the time or inclination to devote more than a few hours to something. Because really: Capture the Flag across five boroughs is a more-than-one-afternoon commitment.

Which . . . ok, I guess I understand. But damn, I think pulling this off would be amazing and, yes, legendary. It’s on the backburner for now.

– My other ideas: well, I’ve had the piano bar party idea since June, and I keep coming up with silly excuses not to do it. But I keep talking about it. And I finally had my duh moment when I realized that talking about it is safer for me because then it stays in its idealized, perfect form, where everyone I invite shows up, there is actually gin in the bathtub, at least one of my friends or a friend of a friend knows a whole bunch of songs, and nothing gets broken or spilled on the piano.

I need to get over it. At this point, I’ve talked about having this damn thing so often and to so many people that hosting a piano bar party is now a moral imperative.

(which reminds me . . . I had drinks with a coworker earlier in the week, and mentioned this idea to him. He said, “Hey, I’ve been wanting to open a piano bar.” I told him, “You could open your piano bar in my bedroom.” Which was probably not a work-appropriate thing to say.)

– The last idea I mentioned at the end of this post: to enter into this year’s Halloween Parade with a float of the Match Game set. As far as ideas go, this is more complicated than piano bar but less complicated than 5-borough Capture The Flag, so I am still confident that this could happen. I think my first step is running it by the parade committee because I read somewhere that they have to approve any massive vehicular float. Maybe we could work around it if the float idea doesn’t fly — really, all I need are a few iconic markers: the skinny mike, Charles Nelson Reilly’s scarf, the blue cards with “Bazooms” written in Sharpie, and a boombox playing the theme on repeat. And possibly a group of followers walking with us yelling “HOW FAT IS HE?” So stayed tuned on that one, chickadees.

Update: I added a non-Wikipedia link to Match Game, in case there are others who aren’t familiar with the greatest game show that ever was. (Seriously.) Here’s the Wiki link to boot, and as a special added bonus, a clip! Match Game: get to know it.

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