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Myrna Minx
Level 6: 1754 points
Alltime Score: 5577 points
Last Logged In: July 16th, 2015
TEAM: El Lay Zero TEAM: Team Shplank TEAM: San Francisco Zero TEAM: SFØ Société Photographique TEAM: Team FOEcakes TEAM: Public Library Zero TEAM: St. Louis Zero TEAM: Urban Picnic Society TEAM: The Cold War Reenactment Society BART Psychogeographical Association Rank 2: Trafficker EquivalenZ Rank 3: Protocologist The University of Aesthematics Rank 2: Dealer Society For Nihilistic Intent And Disruptive Efforts Rank 1: Anti
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retired



25 + 233 points

To Hit A Moving Target by Myrna Minx

November 8th, 2008 4:51 AM / Location: 40.976783,-73.11875

INSTRUCTIONS: First, check this task's praxis.

1. Locate the most recent completion (careful, they're sorted by score, not date).
2. At the end of the most recent completion, you will find the description of a new task.
3. Complete that task, and submit the proof here.
4. If someone else submits a completion of the task before you, then you may not submit a completion of the same task. If you attempt to do so, your proof will be flagged out of existence by fellow players. You may, of course, include your disqualified proof as an addendum to a valid completion of a new task.

At the end of your proof, you must describe a new task. It should meet these requirements:

1. It can be completed in any geographical region, in 24 hours, for less than the cost of a sandwich.
2. It does not duplicate an existing (active or retired) SFZero task. Un-scored tasks are fair game.

The Funeral Of Scyld Scefing


We got married on a dare and a coin-flip.

I mean, he dared me to marry him-- but i had to check my impulsive alacrity against the chaos of the universe.

Heads, we break up. Tails, we... wed.

and the universe

said "Go"



***

I was leaving for New York. Friday, August 22nd was my last day in St. Louis, and the one day of the week that the Justice of the Peace would be joining couples in holy matrimony at their spontaneous, irreverent, and reckless whims. General trepidation and rational advice had begun to peck away at our confidence in the days since the toss of the coin, and on the morning of the fated day we called it off. Then we sort of called it on... and finally it was oh-so-vaguely stated, with all conscious ambiguity, that any who wanted to marry should go to the courthouse at 1 pm. I sped in borrowed convertible at 80 mph; I was late. Would he have thought that I wouldn't appear? Would he ever have been there? He was late, too. He had the marriage license that we had gotten just 5 days before. We stood in line; we were booked, processed, stamped. We repeated-after-he. We married. I went to my last night of work serving tequila in the same dress in which I'd made my oaths.

Saturday, August 23rd. The newlywed couple packs the rusted '85 Volvo with the material contents of her life, and sets off. We got a flat tire in Vandalia, IL, not yet out from under the shadow of the Arch. Thanks to an open sunroof, we were infested with flying cockroaches while pumping gas near Dayton, OH. And finally we broke down on the Penna turnpike, in the inappropriately-named little hell-hole of Mount Pleasant, PA. But we met all these frustrating set-backs with patience and optimism. I wish that we could have maintained that outlook in the coming weeks.

He went back to St. Louis and I commenced my studies in Stony Brook, NY. To make a gross understatement, the separation was a strain on the weeks-old relationship. By September 23rd we had been married longer than we had courted.

He visited. I got a bigger apartment. He moved in. We struggled and wrestled and grappled to see that the risky bet that we had made would pay off. The chances were slim: new place (more of a non-place, Stony Brook), no friends, no family, no money, no jobs, no history, no confidence, no trust. Unforeseeable and unfortunate events brought new differences to light. The best intentions produced the worst deceits. And the damage is now beyond repair. If I thought there was any way to make that quarter worth more than $.25, I would fight like hell.

My apartment is now empty of his things. But there are still many things around that befit memories of him. He is a candy fiend. Anything made mostly of sugar would do. A cardamom pod for his love of Indian food, perhaps. But these things speak of him, and he is still walking about this spinning rock. The things that I gather must befit the memory of the thing that I've lost: what we were. He+Me.




Objects Befitting the Memory of the Shortest Marriage on Long Island:

  • a 1987 quarter (that one day landed on tails)



  • a wedding ring (not the one he presented to me- but another that I sometimes wore, made of indestructible stainless steel, the same stuff as the Arch, and acquired in Manhattan for $6 just because it matched his)



  • a square of gauzy green fabric (originally held potlatch treasure from Dela Dejavoo, it was recycled in order to present a gift to him the first time he asked me to dinner.  The gift was a lapel pin in the form of a golden arrow.  He said receiving that silly gift made him fall in love with me)



  • a heart-shaped stick pin (presented as a gift to me in response to the arrow.  The heart shape especially befits the memory of the brief marriage; it was the leitmotif of a series of text-message valentines that we traded from the beginning till the end.  A heart traced onto a foggy window, or drawn in water on the pavement.  A heart of bright green grass revealed by clearing away a blanket of red leaves just so.  The shape of the shadow cast by a wedding ring when placed upright in the spine of an open book.  We'd form the clichéd symbol from the ephemera of our surroundings, and send the photograph to the other to say "hi."  Now the transient nature of many of our creations seems a portent...)





.







To send these things off in a dignified fashion, to say goodbye to the thing that I've lost, becomes a difficult task.  The union, which we so impetuously and passionately dove into, was- in hindsight- all but destined to fail from the start.  What send-off can I give my mementos matrimori that would reflect such lack of forethought?  Such impassioned, nearsighted whimsy?

Furthermore, the saying of goodbye is bittersweet.  I am sad, so sad, to see it fail, and I regret playing a starring role in that failure.  But it was clear to everyone but us that it would end poorly.  The difficulties that we had relating to eachother (we never really knew eachother) were beginning to seem almost too great to overcome, when we finally made some headway at the end.  It seemed we might be able to make it work after all, we were finally opening up, when treacheries were revealed that couldn't be forgiven. 

To reflect the blind lack of foresight and utter futility of the entire endeavor, but also to capture some of the spirit of whimsy and the soaring intensities of love that started it all... I am attaching these memory-charged objects to balloons, where they will float off to a place beyond my control (as so many things seem to be).


THE RELEASE:

You need to a flashplayer enabled browser to view this YouTube video


Like my marriage, this ritual did not go quite to plan.  Which is so perfectly fitting.  I walked to the sea, spoke aloud of what the release of these objects meant to me, and sent them forth to an unknown destination- but ironically, the destination was not as far away as I had envisioned.  

Some strangers walked up as I was photographing the results:


You need to a flashplayer enabled browser to view this YouTube video


I proselytized and perhaps they will appear on sfØ in the near future. Gentlemen?







***

Your new task, friends, is ETERNAL --> EPHEMERAL.  Take something that is supposed to last forever, and make it go away.





+ larger

Final Destination
assembling.
quarter, ring, stick pin
Mementos Matrimori
Letting Go
My marriage is stuck in a tree in Old Field, NY
08-01-08
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51 vote(s)


Favorite of:


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28 comment(s)

(no subject)
posted by Lincøln on November 8th, 2008 7:04 AM

You are awesome and I løve you.

(no subject)
posted by Jennifer Juniper on November 8th, 2008 8:06 AM

This is beautiful - you have been often complimented on your writing style, and for good reason! May I be so bold as to inquire after photographs of the actual releasing of the mementos matrimori?

(no subject)
posted by Myrna Minx on November 8th, 2008 8:07 AM

of course, they will be forthcoming.

Sketches
posted by Waldo Cheerio on November 8th, 2008 4:38 PM

Are those drawings of a man, or of a memory?

(no subject)
posted by Myrna Minx on November 8th, 2008 10:01 PM

of the man.

(no subject)
posted by Myrna Minx on November 9th, 2008 3:56 PM

VIDEO UP

Beautiful, all of it.
posted by Waldo Cheerio on November 9th, 2008 6:26 PM

I'm sorry the tree thwarted you, but the people walking by might never have had such a delightful conversation otherwise. Perhaps it is best that things don't go as we planned. Is the bundle still there?

more litter in the name of sf0
posted by Myrna Minx on November 9th, 2008 7:49 PM

The bundle was there when i left...

one of those guys really wanted to take it down, while the other seemed to appreciate the irony.

(no subject)
posted by Jennifer Juniper on November 8th, 2008 8:20 AM

Yay, and thank you.

(no subject)
posted by Ink Tea on November 8th, 2008 8:23 AM

When I met you in person, I asked you what your playername came from, and you told me it was from a character in a book. Your life is often as lush and unique as a character from a novel might be.

(no subject)
posted by Myrna Minx on November 8th, 2008 10:07 PM

and... my memory sucks, but i do believe you are the only one to ever ask after the origin of my playah name.


Toole, John Kennedy. A Confederacy of Dunces. Baton Rouge: LSU Press, 1980.

(no subject)
posted by done on November 8th, 2008 11:16 AM

Thanks for sharing Ms. Minx.

(no subject)
posted by zer0gee on November 8th, 2008 6:44 PM

Beautiful praxis, lady.

I miss you. I think of you every time I log in to SF0 lately - you'll notice my current grouposis and know why. ;)

I MISS YOU TOO!
posted by Myrna Minx on November 8th, 2008 10:08 PM

i know, can you believe i'm wearing red this era??

(no subject)
posted by zer0gee on November 8th, 2008 10:11 PM

Baby, anything looks good on you. ;*

(no subject)
posted by Dopey on November 8th, 2008 6:46 PM

Thank you for showering. It is not easy to let go of things that mean so much to us, and it is a paradox becasue, in a way, they mean that much more to us.

What? +2
posted by Waldo Cheerio on November 9th, 2008 6:25 PM

Showering? Huh?

(no subject)
posted by Mr Everyday on November 8th, 2008 9:01 PM

I vote for many, many reasons, but most especially for the felicitous, and euphonious phrase "mementos matrimori".

(no subject) +4
posted by Scienceguru on November 8th, 2008 10:48 PM

Hey Myrna,

I'm sorry. Not an easy one. Thanks for being brave and honest. Sometimes we do things for reasons even we can never figure out.

Its part of the journey. Even the hurting part. It's never bad, really, to take a dumb chance even if it doesn't pan out.

Have a hug and say hi to Stony Brook and New York City for me .....

SG

(no subject)
posted by rongo rongo on November 9th, 2008 6:51 PM

Beautiful and so completely spot on.

Hearts
posted by zer0gee on November 9th, 2008 8:09 PM

While the wedding ring in the book spine is beautiful and clever, I like the tortilla chip and queso best. The ham is funny, and the hair in the shower is, well... O _ o

(no subject)
posted by Loki on November 13th, 2008 12:22 AM

Wow.

Thank you for sharing this with us, Myrna.

(no subject) +2
posted by Secret Agent on November 13th, 2008 6:54 AM

Wow. The whole thing is amazing. But I've watched the video 3 times now. Excellent. Even more so cause I never expected to be reminded at once of Constable and Winnie the Pooh.

(no subject)
posted by Sundroplets on November 15th, 2008 2:04 PM

The video is captivating! Thank you for sharing this! YOU are captivating. Fantastic writer.

On another note this would surely also count as the 1/10th of "the taking tree" task. :)

(no subject)
posted by Josh on November 22nd, 2008 6:41 PM

Wow... powerful. I share your unfortunate relationship with irony - how it stings sometimes.

On a different note - I went to Greenville College a couple years back and I know exactly where Vandalia, IL is. (not to mention going to St. Louis several times)

(no subject)
posted by Raizekiel Malbrandt on December 29th, 2008 10:27 PM

This is beyond impressive. It's so beautiful. Well done.

The Task Extreme +1
posted by Charlie Fish on August 14th, 2009 2:42 AM

The photo of the balloons in the tree.

And the wedding-ring heart.

Oh yeah, and the fact you did it, you crazy Minx.

(no subject)
posted by Reginald Cogsworth on April 30th, 2010 12:42 AM

wonderful.