I've had this task stashed for a while. I've known what I wanted to do for most of that time, but I was procrastinating. When I first signed up for this I looked over the previous completions and noticed one major thing missing. No one, to date, had yet attempted to convince a complete and total stranger to do this with them. Unacceptable.

Twenty-four hours in physical contact with a complete stranger.

Yea, that's right. I might be crazy.

The text of this proof is lengthy. I tend to be rather verbose in my write-ups. I encourage you to read the entire thing, but if you'd prefer a condensed version, you can just look at the pictures and their captions. It misses a lot of the commentary, but it conveys the basic point.

I ran this idea past a few people and I was met with a few more reasonable responses such as,
"You know, that could actually be dangerous."
"Why don't you use an SFØ player that you don't know instead? It'd be easier to convince them, and it'd be safer"
"Woah. Woah. Bring pepper spray."

Dangerous? Pepper spray? People, people, you're overreacting, or maybe I just really am crazy. For whatever reason I was only mildly, if at all concerned with my safety in this project. As far as using an SFØ stranger instead of a non-player stranger? Well, what is the fun in making it easier? If I was going to do this, I wasn't going to do a downplayed version with an SFØ member. It would be much easier to convince them, and they would probably be more comfortable with the entire situation. I was going for a complete experience, a social experiment sort of.

How does keeping physical contact with a stranger for twenty-four hours affect the way you interact and learn about each other?

My first issue was figuring out how to convince a stranger to participate in this, without meeting them, or giving many details about myself.
Oh Craigslist, how I love thee. Though, it did give me pause, as Craigslist people can sometimes be a little odd.
Now I just needed a date, when should I do this, where should I do this, ect.
Well, when I started seriously getting ready to complete this task, JourneyMN and A&U were coming up, so I decided to set this up not once, not twice, but three times. Once in Minneapolis, once in Chicago, and once in St. Louis. All within a two week period. Sadly, it didn't work out quite that way.
I set to work with Craigslist postings in each separate city. I attempted to lure people in by using phrases such as "out-going, open-minded people who enjoy new experiences" rather then just coming out with the entire thing right away. I wanted to bait in a few replies, and then try to ease in the punch. I didn't expect that it was going to be easy to convince strangers to do this. Seriously, would you have done this? I received responses from Minneapolis, and Chicago, but none from St. Louis. Well, I live in St. Louis, so that wasn't a priority. I could do that one anytime. I set to work attempting to convince my victims in the out of town cities that this would be a good idea. Of all the responses I received to my original ad, only two people responded to my follow-up email. I suppose the idea of keeping contact with a stranger is a little awkward. For all they know I could be a complete creep. One of the people was in Minneapolis, the other was in Chicago. Perfect. We swapped phone numbers, made a tentative date for the time I'd be in each city, and decided I'd phone on the day. I kept contact by email just to assure them I had left, and make sure they were still going forward with this.

Minneapolis was the first one that was planned. By the time I had arrived in Minneapolis, stranger #1 hadn't responded to my email that informed I was departing on my trip, and would indeed be in Minneapolis for the scheduled date. I was starting to get nervous, but didn't want to lose faith yet. As the day neared, I called early to make sure we had a confirmation. My call was never answered or returned. I tried once more on the day of, only to get the same result. It seems my stranger has backed out at the last moment. Perhaps the fact that I was actually on my way to Minneapolis set it to their minds that this was really going to happen and they freaked. I guess I'll never know.

Chicago, oh Chicago. After the Minneapolis set-back, I was starting to worry about the Chicago girl. I went ahead and texted her, just to reassure myself. She responded very favorably, which was nice, but also made me slightly concerned. She seemed more excited about this then I was, and it was my project! At least I knew it was going forward, and if she turned out to be bat-crazy, you know, all the better. It would make for an interesting experience. At this point in time I had decided that good or bad, this would always be an interesting experience for me.

The Day of Tasking

When the day I arrived, I woke, texted her, and we agreed upon a place of meeting. We decided to meet at a park near the Sears Tower.


Before I left to meet her, I went online to reserve a hotel room in case we decided to sleep. I was staying with Dax, and didn't want to inconvenience him if we got tired. I also didn't know the situation with her place, so I wanted a fall back. After I clicked the button to confirm my reservation, the internet came back and told me my card was declined. I was a little surprised. I had a good deal of money in my account the night before. I jumped on my banks site and discovered my account had been completely liquidated.
Account Balance = -14.72
This, was not good at all. Not only could I not reserve the room, but I had absolutely no money for this twenty-four hours, and I had no money for the rest of the time I was in Chicago. At this point I was getting late to meet this girl, so I rushed out the door of Dax's and made phone calls on my way. I had to call my bank and dispute the transactions that occurred. (I had lost a business card that had my name, account number, and banks routing number written on the back of it while I was in Minneapolis. I really didn't think much of it at the time though.) I had hoped they would immediately credit my account and then look into it, but they decided to look into it, and then credit my account. I was still broke! Next phone call was to my loving mother. I asked her if she could Western Union me a few dollars to survive on until I got home and told her that I could pay her back when I got back in town and everything was sorted out. She agreed and had money sent to me within the hour. Perfect! Thanks mom!
After working out that issue, I found my way to the park near the Sears tower and saw my stranger sitting down on the grass playing with some string. As I approached and said hello she barely even looked up. We were in a rush to get started so I placed my foot against her, pulled my camera out and snapped the starting picture. The time was 1:29pm.

She continued making what apparently was a headband as I sat next to her. The introduction was mildly awkward. Normally upon meeting someone you shake hands, make pleasantries, and get on with your plans. When your plans are to keep physical contact for twenty-four hours, it's a little different. We didn't really have any sort of introduction at all. It was like, alright, were touching. What time is it? Great. Yup. Ok. Then we sat there. Conversation was scarce. Mmhmm. After sitting for a little bit, we embark on our journey, hand in hand.

Our first goal was to find a Western Union so I could pick up my money. We had a harder time locating one then I had imagined, but eventually found one. On the journey to find a Western Union, we encountered three interesting things. The first of which was her running into one of her old friends that she hadn't seen in a while. I'm sure it was awkward for her to have some guy in constant contact with her as she was trying to catch up. It was also awkward for me because I knew I was being viewed as the new boyfriend. I wasn't quite sure how to act, and I didn't know how she wanted me to act, so I just remained quiet. At some point I switched to foot touching so I didn't look like a completely obsessed boyfriend that wouldn't let go, and that made me a little more comfortable. The second issue was a revolving door. Seriously, have you ever tried to go through those things with two people in one wedge? It's possible, but it isn't great, especially when you are six feet and four inches tall.

The third issue was when we got on the trolley. Everyone was pushing and being forceful in their attempts to make sure they got on the trolley and didn't have to wait for the next one. I was fearful of being forced apart, but we managed to stay together. I'm sure we were probably a little bit rude to a few people in the process, and I extend my apologies to them now.
We finally found the Western Union outlet which made me happy.

Once inside I started the walk through the roped line towards the counter. I shortly realized the form I needed to fill out was on a counter at the front of the store. Rather then drag her backwards through the line, I reached over the rope and grabbed a form. I continued on to a counter and begin to fill my form out there. I was standing in front of one window filling my form out and she was to the side of me. The window next to me started trying to help her, thinking she was a different customer. At the end of the whole transaction I was handed receipts, a form, and my money. My wallet and camera were both on the counter also. My normal action in this situation is to grab my things and get out of the way for the people waiting behind me. I needed to keep in contact with someone though, so I had to stand there and put everything away first. It was the first thing I noticed as an actual distortion to my normal behavior.
Up until this point, the entire experience felt like I was on a blind date, and for some reason we wouldn't let go of each other. It was a little awkward, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. It was completely manageable. I suppose I could have ended up with someone crazy. Though that would have made for a better completion, it would have made for a hellish day.
Next we decided to grab something to eat. We went into a cafe' style place that had you order food as you went down the line. After we had ordered our food we went to fill our drink cups. I was once again attempting to juggle things as I filled my drink cup. I couldn't help but laughing the entire time, as I was sure we looked completely ridiculous in our refusal to let go of each other, no matter how difficult the tasks at hand were getting. That also become a regular thing. I laughed at us multiple times. Everytime we had to go really out of our way to keep contact I couldn't help but laughing. We finally make it to a table and link our feet together underneath the table, glad to finally be able to relax for a bit.

It was now 3:40pm or so, about two hours and ten minutes since we first started. (and met!) It was seriously at this point that I felt like I was actually meeting her though. Up until this point, we hadn't really been face to face once. From the start I sat next to her, and then we were walking side by side the whole time. I didn't really notice it before we sat down, but I really had no idea what she actually looked like. It was an interesting experience to go through. This was also the first time we actually started talking normally. Most of our conversation beforehand was planning where we were going, and how to get there. It wasn't getting to know each others favorite colors and what type of pizza toppings we like.

From here, we decided to go to a block party/festival that was happening off of Elston St. Neko Case was playing there, so I was mildly excited. I had no idea who any of the other bands were. We jumped on a very crowded train, which required us to once again be rude in crowds by refusing to separate. The other difficulty was getting through the turnstiles. The first one we went through single file, and that didn't work very fluidly. After the first one, we started going through them side by side with our hands linked on one side. Then we would reach through and link them on the other side before going all the way through. That worked much more fluidly. We also got odd looks performing this dance. Odd looks were common this day.

Positioning ourselves on the train wasn't easy. It was very crowded and people don't have a tendency to make room for you. After fighting our way onto the train, we found one open seat and settled into this position for the rest of the ride, making it manageable.

Once we arrived at the festival I wasn't sure that it was the best idea. There were people milling about everywhere, and I envisioned us getting ripped apart in the crowd somewhere.

That ended up not being much of a problem. The Chicago Bike Works were there, and I was quite interested in checking them out. I asked them if I could walk into their warehouse and take pictures of all the donated bikes they had. They happily agreed to let me back there.


They also had bike powered things, such as a TV, a water pump, and lights. I was very amused!

At the festival we begin drinking. It just seemed appropriate. At first I was nervous that drinking was going to prompt the first bathroom issue, but I decided it was probably going to happen anyway, so it didn't really matter. They had a deal for five drink tickets for the price of four, so I opted for that, figuring I'd drink three, and she'd drink two. Three drinks wasn't going to make the big of an issue, right? She ended up only drinking one, and determined not to waste my money, I hurried through four.
What a horrible, horrible mistake.
As the evening progressed I begin to feel the need to find a restroom. Normally I would have just excused myself, went to the restroom, and came back. This was much more of an issue. All they had here were port-a-potties. She wasn't too keen on the idea of attempting to use one of those, so I decided I could wait. Neko Case began playing, and I tried to distract myself with her performance. About half-way through her performance I was getting rather bothered by my need. I seriously hadn't had to go that bad since I was a child in grade school. Never once since then have I ever encountered a situation that made me have to wait and force myself into uncomfortableness. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't looking forward to going with a stranger attached to me, but at this point my physical uncomfortableness outweighed my mental uncomfortableness about that. Since she was opposed to using the port-a-potties I suggested we leave and head up Elston to Dax's house. There we could at least use a private restroom.
The walk up there was excruciating. Every step felt like it was compacting my bladder. I kept thinking of all the different places I could have been done with this. That diner we passed, that alley, hell, the damn sidewalk, I didn't care anymore! But I was stuck, attached to this stranger, and I had her to think about also. She wasn't keen on any sort of outdoors method either. I finally couldn't take it anymore and hailed the first cab I saw.
Best ten dollars I've ever spent in my life!
I probably dragged her into Dax's house and straight to the restroom. If you've ever been to Dax's, he doesn't have the most spacious restroom. It didn't make for the most ideal place to pull this off, but it was the best option we had. We also decided that one person in the shower, behind the curtain made for the best method.


We took our turns, and then sat down to decide what our next plans were going to be. It was starting to get late, and both of us were getting tired. I texted Dax to see if he minded if we stayed at his place for the night, since I was unable to reserve the room earlier in the day. He graciously allowed us to, which I am thankful for. She wanted to change before we left, so I lounged on her and attempted to think of what we were doing next as she changed.

I decided we could go meet Indy and Dax out at the after-party they were at, and it would give us something to do for a bit longer. Before we went, we wanted to take a quick forty-five minute nap though. We were both starting to get tired from walking around all day. We tied our wrists together with leftover ribbon from A&U and had our power nap.

Feeling a little more refreshed, we made our way to the place they were at. By the time we got there, they had all left, but we decided to stay and have a drink anyway. After our drink, we made our way back towards Dax's to get some rest for the night. We didn't have a whole lot else to do, and didn't feel like drinking at the bars till 5 in the morning. Waiting for the buses and getting back to Dax's took a while. I don't think we finally got back there till two thirty or three in the morning. We donned our ribbon again, and attempted to go to sleep. She fell asleep quite quickly. I, on the other hand, laid there for about two hours. I couldn't sleep with my arm stuck in that position, and I didn't want to move and wake her. After a while of this, I couldn't take it anymore, I was really, really tired. I wrapped my leg around one of hers, slipped my wrist out of the ribbon, and put one of my arms over her shoulder. It was mildly awkward being all wrapped up in a complete stranger, but I didn't want to come apart in the middle of the night. I'm a pretty still sleeper, and I wake up easily, so I wasn't worried about her rolling away from me without me noticing. The funny part is, I don't think she even noticed the switch between the tied wrists and cuddling until the morning. I'm not sure if it made her uncomfortable or not, but I was too tired to care at that moment. We slept till around eleven, leaving us two and a half more hours. Feeling that I should add a little more awkwardness to the day, I insisted on taking a shower before we headed out. I have to tell you, it's rather difficult to take a shower when you only have one hand to use. Try lathering soap with one hand. Yea, go ahead, try it. Sticking a foot out of the shower wasn't really an option, as it would have soaked the floor with watering running down my leg. I had to switch hands back and forth often, which was funny. When it comes to nudity, I'm not really a shy person, it's just a human body. I could have cared less if she saw anything really, so I'm sure this situation was more awkward for her then me.

Drying off was virtually impossible while staying in the shower with one hand. I ended up just telling her I was coming out and she could close her eyes or turn her head if she wanted. I stepped out of the shower and dried off in front of a stranger. It made me laugh a little bit inside. She had her head turned the entire time, but I still found it amusing.
From here, we were off to get breakfast/lunch, and we had one little twist thrown into the mix. Her mother needed her to stop by and pick up her little sister for an hour or two. Awesome, I get to meet the parents! To make things even more complicated, since she didn't want to tell her mother what she was actually doing when she left, she made up a story. The story didn't make things any easier. Apparently she had told her mother she was going to stay the night at her friend and her fiance's house. So now, I was playing the part of her friend's fiance, yet I was physically attached to her daughter the entire time. This was going to go well, I could tell. She didn't seem too concerned though. She claimed her mother wouldn't ask questions, and she would be in a rush, so we could just get her sister and take off. To this day I'm not quite sure what her mother was thinking, though I'd love to know. We were able to pick up her little sister and leave without too much incident though. Her mother looked a little bit confused, but she didn't say a word, just like my stranger predicted. We had a little over an hour left when we picked her up, and decided that should would make a nice addition to our project. She linked up with her little sister and we set off to eat!
We walked into a place at random, which happened to be one of those theme places were the staff is rude to you. We shuffled into position at our table, which involved a foot link between us, and hands between the sisters.


Her sister was completely adorable. She was pretty excitable about most things, and it was pretty damn cute. There was a baby at the table next to us and she was completely in love with it. I'm not sure why she loves babies, but she did. Our waiter put crappy hats on us, called me curls, made a few offhanded remarks, and even made fun of us for not letting go of each other. I'm sure we looked like we were faking love at this point. We wouldn't let go of each other, but we were both ready to be liberated and I'm sure it showed. We sat there as the time ticked by and the last twenty minutes was the slowest twenty minutes of my life. It seemed like I would check my clock every ten minutes, but only one minute would go by.


As soon as 1:29pm hit, we separated. It felt sooooooo good. It's not that I disliked her, or the experience. I was just completely ready for my freedom. The entire thing was really exhausting. She went to take her sister back to her mother, and I went to the restroom, alone.

In the end, it was a pretty interesting experience. For the entire time, I had to always consider someone else with anything I wanted to do. It was like I had freedom, if I had permission. Since I didn't know the person at all, I had zero idea of things that would be acceptable or ok. I just had to assume, or guess, or ask. I feel like if I knew the person it would have been a lot easier. I would already have known their likes, dislikes, tolerances, ect. With a stranger, I had to learn all of those things as I went. On a final note, I can't say that I feel like this helped me learn who she was better then just hanging out normally a couple of times. I think the awkwardness of the situation interfered a bit with the getting to know each other part. A good portion of time it truly felt like I was just on a really long date. It was also odd experiencing the physcial part of holding hands, touching, ect without actually feeling a desire to be affectionate towards the person I was in contact with. There were a few times when I would get the urge to be affection, just because it fit into the way I would act in that situation. Normally though, I'd be in that situation with someone I was interested in though. It was interesting to observe my own mental interactions at times during this day.
All in all, it was an interesting experience and I'm glad I did it. I'm not really sure I would enjoy doing it a second time though. As is, I still feel like it needs to be done in Minneapolis, since it was originally set up. I'm working on setting that up a second time for the time I'll be in Minneapolis before and after Puzzle Quest. If that happens, I'll update this praxis with highlights and pictures from that. I may or may not add additional cities as I travel more also. If I do, this praxis will be updated with highlights and photos from every city I recreate this in.
I feel very solid in submitting this as a single city completion for now though, and perhaps more will come...