Corporate Outing

Obscuring this photo almost made it not worth using. Or so funny that I had to. I can't really tell.
But if you thought I wasn't going to write about the team scavanger hunt, you have not been paying attention.

So let's have a glass of wine and deconstruct what happens when 20 generally frustrated and overworked Drawing In Girls (including 4 honorary Mill Girl-boys) hit the Hub with 100 pieces of scavenger hunt quarry and 3 Polaroid cameras.

As we were crossing the street to take this photo, Rock Star says to me, "Please don't blog about this." I wet myself a little before she added, "Or least, let me ask, please be kind."

I said, "I am always kind to you. You have your own secret blog name and everything."

This public street acknowledgement of the DrawingIn Room has never been mentioned again. But I am on to you, Madam. And if you are reading this, you are in my house now. My rules. So damn right I'm blogging about it.
Ma'am. if that's all right. If you think that's best, I mean....

Ok, so this photo first. I am in the hat, in case you couldn't already identify my paws

Rock Star is behind me.
The Boss was on another team, and the Lieutenant on a third, because otherwise it is hardly a team-builder, is it? At the rendezvous point, we embraced at the mere sight of each other, and compared headaches.

The sixth member of our team is taking the photo; the seventh is obscured in the green box. Company mascot had to be in every photo for the quarry to count.

Our quarry here is the parking meter -- with 15 minutes left. That was actually the requirement. This was not a scavenger for the weak. It was not a high scorer, but we were already at the rendezvous and had film left.

The game is 3 teams of 6, 100 scored items, 20 pictures, stretch escalades, and nothing at stake but trash-talking rights and a duffel bag we can buy at the company store. And it...was... on.

Our team made its foundation score at a Wal-Mart, where we managed to compile a jigsaw puzzle's worth of items into 1 photo, including the team in matching housecoats and a stranger with a toddler to make the See-No-evil Monkey Pose. This was a 700 pt catch, so we felt confident hitting the road with a solid lead.

I declared that I would not coerce any strangers into doing anything, but I would agree to be handcuffed, pose in a barber chair, or anything else undignified. This is how I contribute. We never did find a cop with prowler, however, and the Super Cuts ladies threw us out, so I did not have to come into play.

We frightened people from the Public Garden to the Public Library. We stopped people on the street and lied about why ("don't say it's because they have a mullet," said our team captain, "Say it's something else."). Two girls who may have been prostitutes almost scored as "funniest thing we saw all day," but we were out of film. I suggested the convention of American Geographers we wandered into, looking for a hotel with a 13th floor. The team did not agree this was funny. (But you should have seen them.)

And then there was this.

As a courtesy, I have obscured his face too. But I don't think he cares. I told him our list said "Guy dressed like a Viking"! That is a fur skirt. Boots. Horns. Notice how chummy we became. I don't usually go for the bears, but it had been a trying day.

Other highlights :

Our team won, of course, by sheer force and attentiveness to the numbers, which is how one gets to be Rock Star, I expect. The Baroness will enjoy knowing that Rock Star was not above producing a 20 to get what we needed. She could have been a Hollins Girl. The Baroness herself taught me how to slip a 20.

The Boss's team won creativity points.

While the Lieutenant's may have achieved Most Bonded.

I hate to give the impression that any fun was had, when I have such a surly reputation.

But I think I do love these guys.