I may have taken a more literal approach to "antiwallet." I wanted to examine the dependance upon wallets and explore what a wallet offers. I tried to break it down into a wallet's defining characteristics:

* compactness, pocketable (and therefore hide-able)
* ease of access to contents
* grants a measure of privacy as to its contents
* lightweight
* protection from the elements

What I wanted to use for my antiwallet, then, was something that didn't have any of the above characteristics going for it. I looked around the apartment and found this cast-iron lantern thing I had sitting around. Usually you put a votive candle in it, but I've never used it as such.

Similar to what Hecherz did, I started Tuesday at noon and would go until Friday's noon.

First night: I had to explain to my friend Patty what I was doing with a lantern when we went out for dinner. No one on the street, nor our waiter, seemed to think anything about it. I became more and more paranoid that stuff would fall out, or that the bottom would drop out, as we left the restaurant and walked down the street.

First/second day: Because trying to dig money out from the lantern wasn't particularly easy, I started planning ahead for engaging in commerce. I went to an ATM way before lunch to get money, and when at the cafeteria, I dug out my money before I got in line to buy lunch. It made me exceptionally conscious of what I was spending. At lunch, I still hadn't figured out a way to keep change in the lantern, so I used up what change I had and mentally added a "no-change" rule until I came up with a solution.

Having lunch with my coworkers, I told them what was going on with the lantern and my observations up until that point. One of my coworkers brought up the abstraction of money, how easy it is to spend just by whipping out an ATM or credit card, without really thinking about how much money is passing through your hands. He made an analogy about Vegas: when he's sitting at the table, he thinks nothing of plopping down two green chips, but ask him to put down $50 cash, there's no way. I also ended up giving the URL to SF0 out several times, but even though everyone seemed to think it was a cool idea for a game, I don't know if anyone will sign up because of it.

Second night: I thought I'd get away with not going out, but I realized there were a few things I needed from the store and it couldn't wait. On the drive home, my lantern shifted and my carefully-arranged stack got shuffled within the lantern. Everything was out of order and the fold of bills (usually held in place by virtue of being at the bottom of the stack) had come undone. I tried a bit to rearrange it before heading in to get groceries, but gave up for lack of light. Again, I dug out money before I got to the checkout line, but I miscalculated the total price of everything in my basket, and I had to try and fish more money out of my lantern in front of the cashier. I was a bit frustrated by that point, so even when he said, "Oh, cool," I replied, "Don't even ask. It's a combination of an art project and a dare." I don't even know why I felt the need to explain, and I'm afraid I said it in a snappish tone. My antiwallet was turning me into a self-conscious jerk. I wanted to give the task up at that point, but my character wouldn't be daunted. The loose change I got from groceries all went into the little "give to high school sports something something something" box.

Second/third day: Started putting spare change into a ziplog bag (later referred to as a dime bag, har har har). Ran into a friend in the cafeteria which prompted another round of explain-the-lantern. She thought it (SF0) was a cool idea for a game and said that I was increasing the fun of her day.

Third evening: Had a departmental shindig in the south bay for work, where I explained the lantern to the bartender and my coworkers. A while after I got home, I went back out to a party for a friend temporarily back from Amsterdam, and once again explained the lantern. I don't think I got ten feet into the apartment before I had explained it at least three times. Everyone thought it was cool. Everyone also kept being asked if it was worth 15 points. I said I was going for bonus points by tackling a harder challenge and giving SF0 all this free word-of-mouth advertising. I was also asked what I would do if someone tried to mug me. I said that you don't usually get mugged for a lantern, and since it's heavy enough to swing around, it's one of the few "wallets" that is its own theft-deterrent device.

Third morning: Thought I'd get away with coasting until noon, but I had to fill my car with gas.

Third noon: Met up with Aynne, emptied out my lantern, refilled my real wallet.

Things I've learned:

* Carrying around unusual objects make for great conversation starters.
* In the act of making the act of spending a process I have to initiate with more involved activity, I found I'm spending more than I thought I was.
* The design of the average wallet has persisted as long as it has because it works.