Journey has affected my life in many ways,
I was part of SF0 before Journey last year, but it it was that evening that really showed me how wonderful this community of people and the city of Chicago is. It was one of many experiences in the past few years which has changed my perspective on life. to see the city as a playground and a maze. Opening a world of treasures which are there to be discovered if you only take the time to look. So thank you, all of you. Thanks for being, thanks for looking, thanks for doing.
Yes, now that I've nerded out a bit, I can go on.
Last year, Dax asked me to be the bike chaser of the evening, which was so much fun, so when he mentioned he was considering remounting it this year I was eager to help however possible. I was able to help a little bit with the scouting of checkpoints, but what I was most excited about was being a bike chaser again. This year we had a mighty throng of three. Megan, Kid A and myself. we were nervous as originally we didn't have any foot chasers, and its a bit of a crap shoot as to how many you can catch on a bike. but in the last few days before the game, Robingtonn, Knute, and Evan graciously offered to join the chaser team on foot.
So last year, I had chased as Beetlebomb, which was the introduction of this persona, and as much fun as it is, I wanted to do something different. Having obtained a children's chicken suit for my Puns of the naverone completion, I wanted to make as much use of it as possible. the fun part was trying to fit my bike helmet under the chicken head. which was a little tight, but it worked. A few weeks earlier I had dumpstered a ton of fake flowers, and had not yet found a purpose for. I decided to put them in the basket on the back of my bike therefore becoming the "Spring Chicken". Dax assisted me in making signs for the front and back of my bike. As Rob had previously assisted me as dressing as an egg, (and as it is a shame to waste a perfectly good egg costume) he aqueoused and donned the apparel once more and we made a team of it.
we were stationed after check point two, at Roosevelt and canal. which was great, since everyone had to pass though that point we got to see a lot of runners come through and scare the shit out of a great many of them. Some people saw a girl in a chicken suit and realized it was part of the game immediately and started running, while others were rather dumbstruck by the spectacle and didn't realize I was a chaser till I was only a few feet away. One guy I cornered behind a car in a Dominicks parking lot and we stood staring at each other for quite a while. behind the fence there was a homeless man who thought the entire situation was hysterical. The whole time he was laughing and saying things like "she's got you boy!" he made a break for it and I was in hot pursuit. I wasn't letting this one go. I proceeded to chase him up and down the block around buses and back and forth to different sides of the street the whole time the man at the fence busting a gut. He finally ran out of steam and I collected a very well deserved blue ribbon, as well as a high five from our amused onlooker as well as a high five from two security guards who had observed the scene. There was another girl who once separated from her friends ran into a kinkos and stood helplessly at the door as she watched me bike up to the door open it and tag her. she put up her hands and handed over her ribbon as she said " I was really hoping you weren't aloud to tag me if I was inside" One of the best moments of the evening was when a runner darted into Walgreens I feeling particularly stubborn at the moment and not wanting to abandon my bike, just took it in with me. but decreced maneuverability of a bike around tight isles and mirrors which aided him in knowing my location was against me. It did however take the clerk a good minute and a half to ask me to leave the store. My target remained in the store and I was thwarted. I yelled out as I was leaving that he couldn't stay in there forever. While I was waiting for more runners he stuck his head out the door and yelled at me " Hey big bird!" stuck out his tongue and darted back in the store. He made it away when i was chasing other prey. there was one guy who I ended up chasing 3 or 4 times, which I'm not sure how that happened, but he was so damn determined that I gave him a good final chase and sent him on his way. But the best catch of the evening from our team goes to rob, who (dressed as an egg mind you) caught someone in the produce section of dominicks! At the end of the evening I had caught 6 Rob had caught another 3. we decided to go to the rest of the checkpoints and give a good scare to anyone along the way. we met up with many lovely people and got to hear about others journeys of the evening.
At the finish line, no longer having need of my fake flowers I began to distribute them to people I remembered chasing or other lovely people who had gathered. One man came up to me ( I still in my chicken suit) and asked me If I had been the girl with the red cape last year. I don't know how he recognized me, but I was impressed. someone elses came up to me and said " I think this evening is the first time I've ever said ' Shit! Run! It's the Chicken!'" I ended up running into the elusive walgreens runner we had a nice conversation and I gave him a flower.
All in all it was an amazing evening with a lot of really incredible people, so thanks to everyone who participated, and thank you SF0 for facilitating something that has made my world a more beautiful place.