CONCEPT
Also known as Trip to Chicago, Part 9.
Photos here do not represent the most extensive documentation of these events.
For a more comprehensive catalogue, please see the Offical Scavhunt Gallery.
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There are points of coincidence between scavvies, captains, and judges. Even if one doesn’t sleep on Wednesday night, there is a point of emergence into Thursday, and I, at least, always have the sensation of quick, cold shower: waking into a completely new universe.
As overwrought as that may sound [Bud Light doesn’t contain much alcohol, so I must’ve had many (it’s 1:27 AM on Thursday night, one week after scavhunt, and I’m back in Brooklyn)] it’s held true for the nine years I’ve been in Scavhunt, and as I walked toward the Reynolds club last Thursday, what I most anticipated was the moment when I’d happen upon an unusually dressed person, an unusually dressed car, something else that would have been startling and unexpected at any other time of year.
As it turns out, the first glimpse we got of Scavhunt 2006 in action were Quailmen looking for the Meeting of Tomorrow:
260. _____ What lies at the core of your valient Captains? Why, it’s superhero attire of your choice. No wait, of ourchoice. And our choice is Quail Man — at all times. [20 points]
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Rule #7. Scav Captains and the Meeting of Tomorrow. Team Captains (as many as three, please) have a chance to discuss the list with the Judges at 8:30 AM Thursday in the basement conference room of the Reynolds Club. Things like pointing out typos and bizarrely bad grammar is one thing, repeatedly asking us what’s a “Redamak” is another. Furthermore, it’s during Scav Captains and the Meeting of Tomorrow that we give out extra details about stuff we were too lazy to straighten out before the lists were handed out. Finally, it is as (sic) this time that Judges make sure that you are fielding a healthy Road Trip team.
Remember, if any photos are blurred, it’s not because I’m hungover.
During the MoT, we distributed the assigned party themes (based on the theme of The Future) and random (ie. drawn from a hat) determined which Street Fighter character each team would draw upon for Scav Olympics. We ate donuts. Typically (as the item states) this meeting occurs in the basement of the Reynolds Club, but somehow the heating had kicked in overdrive and killed off all the monerans. So instead we had it in Hutch Commons. But I don’t know why we don’t do this every year. For one thing, it’s easier not hanging around waiting for Orcsa or the prevailing judge to arrive and let everyone in. But more, scavhunt is an event that disrupts everything that strikes us as ordinary. If the meeting is a direct straightforward chat with donuts and notebooks, do we really need to sit in some basement conference room with white walls and a flat table? Why not ham it up a little? Why not surround ourself with the Windy City’s best stab at boroque ornamentation and the University’s past presidents? Why not?
After the meeting, I went out with Ian and took high res photos for the “pimp my bike item,” which were never put to use:
252. _____ Pimp my bike! Bring the most dilapidated bike a teammember owns to Scav Captains and the Meeting of Tomorrow. By the time you get it back on Sunday, one of our own semi-professional teams here at Lake-Coast Customs will have made it the baddest, sweetest thing on two wheels. [65 points]
Teams exchanged bikes in conditions ranging from mediocre to broken-down bitch. Then, we inspected the road trips.
44. _____ Only one team of seasoned road warriors can successfully deliver Item #142 to his destination: the Mutant Presidents! Shunned by Beltway insiders because of their monstrous appearance, these contorted commanders-in-chief have taken to the backcountry byways on a trip of Wasteward Expansion. Mutant Presidents, sound off! Jabba the Taft! George W. Bush and Kuato Cheney! A Martin Van Buren that’s more sideburn than man! And of course, Octo-Lincoln! In their trusty vehicle, the President Ford, they travel America in search of adventure. At 9:00 AM on Thursday, they should appear in Hutch Courtyard so that we may Hail to the Freaks before they start out on their latest odyssey. [p points. Mutant presidents must be fully costumed in all photo- or videographic documentation of each road trip item or no points will be awarded]
Snell-Hitchcock’s astonishing President Ford salutes!
Sam Smith was my favorite Octo-Lincoln, not so much from the elaborateness of his costume,
but his expression of regal obstinance.
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And then, food.
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And then, the Maxwell Street Market:
184. _____ In september 1994, Chicago’s Maxwell Street Market was destroyed by the City and the UIC. That Maxwell Street Market was, in the opinion of many, the greatest outdoor urban bazaar ever — a mammoth, diverse, exciting place filled with great food and innovative blues musicians. The City then established a smaller, far-inferior market: “Maxwell Street Light.” We still lament the passing of the old one. Fortunately, Scav Hunt has reinstated the original Maxwell Street Market in all of its former splendor. Bring your vendors, your 2nd-hand goods, your street performers and carnival games, your musicians, your beat poems, and all old-world Maxwell flavors on out to the Quads thursday and Friday from 10:30 AM to 1:30 PM. You set the prices; all proceeds going to directly benefit your Scav Hunt efforts. Make sure to keep track of total exchange and turn in your record books at the end of each day. [s points]
The F.I.S.T.
Snell-Hitchcock
Burton-Judson
Shoreland
Pierce
F.I.S.T.’s Heraldric Shield.
39. _____ Team heraldic shields. Must be wielded at all major events. [32 points]
Despite the icy rain, the Sprinklers are programmed to run a predetermined times. To Shoreland’s misfortune:
I ended up trading some empty bottles of Seagram’s gin for all sorts of crazy things. In fact, I got a hot dog from Palevsky for 3 cents and half-an-apple, but I felt bad and went back to give them a dollar. I traded a gin-bottle for an insult contest at Broover, but I failed at bargaining with fist.
[Actually, now that I’m in blog mode and can speak more freely, wtf, F.I.S.T. They had actually painting that were quite attractive, but I ran out of cash and was trying to barter a $25 gift certificate to Marshall Fields. Which is pretty much equivalent to $25 since you can buy almost anything at Marshall Fields. They were quite skeptical. I bent a little and said I’d exchange the gift certificate for one painting, one empty bottle of gin (1 pt.), and one roll of duct tape. Which I’m sure is the most generous offer they received. FIST wouldn’t bit, so I reluctantly headed off. An hour later, though, I bought the very same painting from Palevsky for $5. It had made the trip across teams at a lower price, it seems. Now I’m stuck in New York with a really cool painting, but no duct tape, no empty gin bottle, and most ephatically, a $25 gift certificate I can’t use anywhere in this state. WTF, FIST!]
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Next, for the third year in a row, All-Stars. This year there was a twist, however: Rookies.
218. _____ Fantasy Scav Hunt and Fantasy Scav Olympics. Bring a team member to the Reynold’s Club at 1:00 PM on Thursday to draft an All-Star Rookie Olympic team. The Rookies will be from other teams, but they will be representing your Scav Hunt team. [o1 + o2 + o3 points]
140. _____ It’s time for the Third Last Annual Scav Hunt All-Star Game: The Rookie Challenge. Bring ten copies of your enclosed rèsumès, completed, to Scav Captains and the Meeting of Tomorrow. Your Rookies should be prepared to compete for items on Thursday and Friday afternoon. Your Rookies should be new to Scav Hunt and to the College (we’re talking first-years, people), so choose your future Scav Stars wisely, as they will work with other Rookies from other teams to complete items. And remember, the future is now! [o points]
Today’s installment featured Rookie All-Star Olympics in four events:
YE OLD SPIN N’ SIT N’ RUN N’ HUG
THE PACKER GAME
(I don’t remember the name but it’s the one where of six people one makes a canue then you make a pyramid that the sixth person climbs over then your piggy-back your way to the finish line.)
(And I only have one photo.)
(And it’s a crappy one.)
2 POUND RICE-KRISPEE TREAT EATING CONTEST
‘Nuff said.
And:
FAMILY FEUD
When we asked our panel of Northwestern Students what the word “sophistry” meant, what did they say?
END OF POST.