Context: http://www.livejournal.com/users/claudia_/45004.html



Most of these link to larger images, but you don't need a magnified view of a stack of paper.


Getting ready, with many slips of paper.

The post-its were to give me a rough idea of how many I gave out. I think it was around 100, and I was at one of 5 sites and should have gotten roughly 1/6th of the participants (divided by birth month). I thought I might want this picture as proof that I was a coordinator, but a little interview with Channel 5 took care of that... aired on the 11 o'clock news (with hammercock's hair in the foreground). I'm sorry for the manager who was somewhat upset at the goings-on. He was very upset the camera had been in his establishment. I have no desire to cause Au Bon Pain any distress.

But yay, the cat scratches on my face were invisible!

People loitering outside ABP:


I'm pretty sure they were mobsters waiting for the assigned time to arrive. Then again, they could just have been loiterers. I was scrutinizing everyone a bit more than usual this evening.

Upward bound:


We got into the Coop (the main bookstore entrance) and had no idea where the card section was. But there was a steady spiral of people heading to the third floor. Turns out we wanted the second floor of the Coop Annex--there's a third floor bridge between the buildings.

"It's a madhouse!"


This is approximately the view that greeted me when I tried to get near any actual greeting cards.

Over my head:


I couldn't really see this for myself, but used the time-honored composition method of raising a camera blindly over my head and clicking. I was far from the only one, though I don't see anyone at it just here.

Ah, here we go:


How to get a mob's attention:


Well, bryant's method was to whistle, apparently. I couldn't really hear it on the outskirts. Applause was soon to follow.

"Why are you here?"


I wasn't the only one getting interviewed, though I believe this was for radio rather than television.

As the floods part...


...there's a bit of a logjam...


... as well over half a mob all head for the same exit.

Disperse, everybody!!!


"Jinkies! It's the cops!"




This was fun, though the timing issues perhaps need a bit of work. I dutifully didn't hand anything out until the time I was told, by which time there was a bit of a clot of people at ABP. The area was already full at 6:35, though nobody but me was supposed to arrive until 8 minutes later. And arrival and dispersal at the Coop both happened a bit ahead of time, though the mob mentality seemed to steer a steady course. ;-)