For this task, I chose to focus on the convenient qualities of a wallet/purse, and searched for something appropriately "anti-convenient." I chose an organic kabocha squash as my primary material. I cut off the top, hollowed it out, lined it with saran wrap, and filled it with my stuff. The squash was about 5 lbs. and smelled funny whenever I removed the top. It was a huge pain in the ass. I had to carry it in one arm, and would switch it whenever it got too heavy. I couldn't do anything well with it; everything required a lot of effort. Answering my cell phone was the most annoying aspect of this "process,"--it required responding to a ringing coming from deep within the squash in the street, taking the top off, trying to balance the squash against my side, and sticking everything covering the phone (keys, money, hair thingy, etc.) in my pockets to get to it in time. One side effect was that, though I was often paranoid about dropping the squash and having everything scatter all over the ground, I was incredibly comfortable with leaving it places unwatched, since, you know, who's gonna steal a squash?

I was proud of the places I took my squash (to which I quickly assigned the qualities of a small pet--I considered attaching googly eyes several times): aside from the usual stuff, I also did some "natural" things with my organic wallet. I took it to see Al Gore's new movie about global warming for free in Berkeley, and to a talk on meditation and ways to keep your kidneys health at a natural pharmacy in Cole Valley. I enjoyed having my squash at those events and imagined all the environmentalist-types thinking of political reasons for me to be carrying the squash.

Most people didn't respond to my squash-wallet at all, though I got some strange looks in the street. The only time I actually had to explain myself was at the natural pharmacy with Becki, when she was talking to some friends of hers after the kidney presentation. They asked me, "What's that?" And I responded, "A squash," as Becki rode over me by saying, "It's her WALLET." Curious pairs of eyes turned upon me. The leader of the presentation told me that this type of squash may actually be good for my kidneys. I opened it and showed them the insides of my wallet. I explained, "Um....it's for a game....an art project...a way to make me think about what my wallet is, you know, making me think more about all the stuff I carry around all the time...I chose something that would be a huge pain in the ass and also decay." They thought it was cool.

If the squash was still okay after the three days, I was going to actually cook it and eat it, but it appeared to be going bad (variously squishy and white can't be good), so I threw it away.