And lo! There once was a maiden who, having been hit by a car, was forced to hobble around with a cast on her leg. And also lo! her companions had yet to adorn said cast with tokens of affection and get-well wishes. So yon said maiden, whilst limping around at work, came up with a brilliant plan. Since she was planning on attending the great fete organized by Zer0gee, even though she had already completed the Observation task, she would instead find complete strangers to adorn her cast with works of art and complete this task! Her wonderfulness would shine! Stranger art! Strange Art! YAY!

So I got to Mercury Cafe around 6:45pm, after having spent 4 hours cleaning my kitchen (which was because some @ssh0le replaced my door, took 7 hours to do it, did it wrong, and in the process covered my entire apartment in dirt, plaster, and sawdust. My kitchen, being the epicentre, was the filthiest and annoyed me to no end) and therefore smelling eversoslightly of bleach. When I get there Zer0gee was sitting at a table near the front of the cafe. I limp in, set my stuff down, and go to order some food and chai.

I sat down with Zer0gee and we chatted for a bit. I explained to her that I had already done the Observation task and that I had mainly intended on coming out in order to get out of the house and to see if I could complete this task. We chatted aimlessly about SF0 and the SCA and other random things. It was nice, it was the first time I had ever really had a chance to talk with her, and I appreciated the opportunity to get to know her a little bit better as I had seen her around the Chicago scene for years but we had never really talked. As we were talking I made up the sign for the task. It says:

Public Art Opportunity!!
Please decorate my cast!!!!

Why?
1. My cast is dull & plain & the other casts make fun of it....
2. You'll help me not lose my foot in a snowdrift.
3. My friends are slackers.
4. I am a terrible artist.
5. Why not?

The Rulez!
A. No cussin'.
B. No hatin'.
C. No stick figures.
(Unless you're really good at them)



I then busted out the markers, set the sign up, and propped my foot up on a chair. I initially stuck some of the markers into the cast on top of my toes, which caused Zer0gee to laugh and accuse me of having a stinky foot. I replied that I most certainly did not as I washed my toes, but it became the theme for the night. The markers got taken out and placed on the table in front of the sign when my food order came up.



A few people walked by but no one really read the sign and I was still suffering fits of shyness. Inspector Hound walked in and immediately drew what he termed 'the worlds worst flower'.



Zer0gee then came over and drew a skull with stink lines next to my toes, she said that she didn't want to be the first one to draw on it.



I introduced myself to Inspector Hound while Zer0gee confirmed with Dax that he wouldn't be able to make it. As we had no one else's phone numbers they decided that this was all that was going to show and that they would get started at about 10 after. I complained that no one was drawing on my cast and Zer0gee said that I should just start talking to people. She was right, but I was still kind of shy about it. Plus, I was knitting a sock to cover my cast, since no socks I could find would stretch that much. Make sock or ask people for art....hmm.....



They started writing and I asked a guy that was leaving if he would be willing to draw on my cast. He looked kind of nervous about the whole thing, but agreed to and asked me what he should draw.



I replied that he could draw a star, so he picked a red marker and drew a pretty respectable star.



As he was drawing I asked him if I could take his picture, and he said sure, which is when I noticed that he had a Russian accent. Right as he finished a group of goth kids gloomed in and one dressed kind of like a candy raver immediately came over and began bouncing up and down. I asked her if she wanted to draw on my cast and she said 'Hell ya!'



She then drew a stick figure with a heart head.



I startled her by taking a picture (I should have asked first, I later apologized and told her that I would erase the picture if she wanted. She said that it was all good.), and after she was done I complimented her on her hat. She smiled and ran off to join her friends, but said that she wanted to draw something else and would be back.

After this I thought ok, this isn't that hard! I picked my targets carefully though. Some I waited until they had gotten some coffee, others I asked on the way out. The determined ones that wouldn't even meet my eyes and the "Woo!' girls I left in peace.

A cute asian guy was leaving and I asked him if he would be willing to draw. He smiled this wonderfully brilliant smile and said that he would love to.



He asked what happened and I replied that I got hit by a car, which caused Zer0gee to laugh at how matter of factly I said it. The cute asian guy then drew a rainbow with a sun and a cloud which he said represented his wish that I get better soon and his gladness that I was facing this sad happening with cheerfulness and determination.



Next was a skinny guy with a very red beard who I asked if he would draw as he was heading back to his table.



He laughed and drew a pooping unicorn.



At this point Zer0gee and Inspector Hound were finishing up with their task and the cafe was closing. The candy stripe girl came back with her group of friends and wrote I'm a leg along the upper edge with another stick figure.



After that some of her friends drew on my cast as well, in order:

Very large grey shirt guy: Stick figure kitten w/ Fluffy loves you.



Red/black furry hat woman: Zuni eagle and feather plus 'Momma'



Fuzzy black hat/coat woman: Sun w/a T in the center



I chatted with the group for a bit and found out that they were Goths for God. I didn't get a picture of them as the cafe manager had that 'please get the hell out so I can go home' look to her. I packed up, bid goodnight to Zer0gee and Inspector Hound and left.

Attempt #2.

The next day I had to model, so I though that this would be the perfect opportunity to get some art. Hell, I would be in a room packed full of art students! HAH! The class prof (who I love working for and is always a good time) drew a naked woman bending over and 'Good luck'.



A guy who had walked in to class talking about how he had been at a party last night and was drawing Beethovan on everyone's nipples decided to draw Beethovan on my foot, but only got as far as the eyes before the break was over.



After that a few people said that they had to think about what they wanted to draw, but none of them had come up with anything by the time class ended.



Out of boredom I drew a peacock on my heel during a break and the very waify and cute (so I got a thing for waify bois, sue me) Josh, who I was modeling with, wrote Don't Tread On Me on the sole of my cast.



At the very end of class my friend Brian, who is also a model at SAIC and is the one who got me into SF0 even though he's too busy to do anything with it himself, stopped by and drew a generic poster for his art on the other side of my heel.



That's what I have so far. I will keep attempting to acquire art until either my cast is full or they release my foot from it's prison. I will keep this updated as new art appears.

Update 11/18/08

Three more weeks with the cast, so we will try for total coverage!

Went to the second modeling session for class and got Beethovan finished.



I also got "I'm a Leg!' in French. She was worried about having the proper tense.



And Marion decided to draw Lincoln during a break.



After class we picked up Simon and went to kareoke. He drew a really nice dragon doing something not nice to a knight.



I then got parts of a stripey sock from Cristos, because I mostly wear stripey socks and currently I can only wear one.



Another friend who also knits and does kareoke gave me some knitting in honor of my sock.



The next night was Chicago Goth Meetup which is run by Scary Lady Sarah at Mercury Cafe. When it was time for my intro I told everyone what had happened and that I was trying to get art for my cast. At first people seemed wary of it, but I got a guy named TJ to draw and then several other people jumped in.



I don't kick cats, but my ferret is very annoyed by the cast.

I also got a series of smiley faces,



an apologetic sperm from a girl who had never been to Goth Meetup before,



toast from a guy named Toast,



and some weird thing from my landlord.



Sarah drew happy grapes and an ankh/heart/



The woman who runs the Chicago Paranormal Research Society drew a ghost and a spaceship.



And to top it all off one of my neighbors drew a purple bow on Zer0gee's skull.



That's it for now, but I still have three weeks to go for complete coverage. I think I'm doing pretty good so far.

12/10/08 Semi-update:

Cast came off this morning (YAAAAAYYY) which is good because it began to smell last night after I got out of the shower. Let's just say that the new puppy was very interested in my foot and the old puppy was interested because the new puppy was interested. Nothing will lower your self esteem more than having two dogs digging at your foot because it smells so interesting.



I'll finish the update later tonight when I have a chance to get pics of the rest of the art.

Ok, so I'm not going to go through bit by bit with the rest of the art. You can read the captions to get the entire story.

This was done by my boyfriend Reu.



This one by Misteropinion, and he's not happy with it.



Then I ran the door for an event showcasing two bands from Germany. I got the two members of the first band, Conspiracy Theory, to sign the cast. They videotaped themselves signing it and giggled the whole time.



The next day I played Cruel 2B Kind (we were the first team to get assassinated, it's all Brian's fault) and got a whole bunch of art from people. If you did a particular piece please let me know so I can credit you.



And here is proof that I was successful in not losing my foot in a snow drift.



I went to the clinic this morning and they released my leg from the shackle.



I was intensely jealous of the Stryker saw the tech used. It was a very nice classic one and had minimal vibration. *major Stryker saw envy*

I had to go straight to work afterward. My leg is very weak and sore, plus I have to relearn how to walk normally. I don't think I have ever before spent an entire day thinking longingly of the time when I would get home and shave.



There is still a bunch of cuts and a bruise on my leg, but now that they can breathe hopefully they'll heal faster.



And now, everything is sore but visually back to normal.