Seek and Ye Shall Find

Hide and Seek at the Legion of Honor will rank up there as one of the best days ever.

So. Much. Fun.

Long-time readers will know that I am a big fan of Improv Everywhere, and that I have threatened to launch something similar in SF. And I'm almost willing to fly to NYC for No Pants! 2008.

It turns out there are several small, cooperative and competing, groups in the Bay Area who organize and sponsor missions, activities, and general adventure; each to varying degrees of success. Herbie Hatman organized this even via SF0 (ess eff zero), which hosts several "teams," and teams and members earn points for completed tasks. The SFZero community is pretty active, but I do not yet identify with any of their teams descriptions, and I may have to create one of my own. The SFZero members also have alternate identities to their real lives, so I have to think a bit about who I might be on SFZero.

So here's the set up:

Alert Readers Shilpa Patel and Jeff Javits met me, Stephen Handorf, and Skot Land at my place at 1:00 Sunday afternoon. We had some pre-nibbles, wardrobe adjustments, and running starts then made our whore's coffees and our way to the Legion of Honor.


There was already a small crowd gathered at the fountain, and I was surprised to see more folks in Dickensian attire than formal wear, but they looked very cool doing it. Herbie Hatman, the organizer, set out the rules of the game:

Pick a team, and it is more fun if you and your friends are on different teams. each team has a color, and you wear that color ribbon on your left arm. The first It is identified by a round of yelling "Not it!" and then it's a matter of who gets tagged next by It.

Team IJS entering the museum

It has to begin/return to the foyer and the naked Rodin sculpture (who is so clearly gay), cover their eyes, and count, out loud, to 23, instering an audible Mississippi or Alligator between the numbers. Then It has to say, loudly, "Ready or not, here I come!"

Jeff Javits, yellow team, counts as It.

That is much more fun than you might imagine. As it turns out, being It is the most fun.

Teams scatter throughout the museum. And of course, being a museum, you must obey certain rule of behavior, such as no (well, limited) running, no rough-housing, and such.

It looks for people on their color team to tag. The goal is hide or to blend in with others in the museum. In my sequined dinner jacket, I sort of stood out. And clearly, I was on the blue team. (And yes, I know sequins are not wise for Hide and Seek, but I have lost so much weight my black blazer, tux jacket, and other formal wear did not wear well.)

The real trick to this game working is (1) unless you got a really good look before play started, you don't necessarily know who is on your team; and (2) after the first It tags someone, you don't know who is actively It unless you witnessed the tagging.

Clark, the handsome man in the morning suit and large top hat, was the blue team's first It.


Stealthily entering and leaving chambers of the museum felt very Thomas Crown Affair, and was amazingly fun, and made the security people so incredibly uneasy. But this is a public place, half of us had Member's badges, we were well-dressed, and while we were acting somewhat cagey, we weren't doing anything particularly wrong. This was hilarious, and only one old guard was upset at the whole "pesky kids" thing and actively gave dirty looks or would intervene with a scolding.

Having your friends on other teams meant you could walk around and dodge and weave together, being pursued by different Its and not game for one another. I had successfully avoided Clark, until I carefully turned one corner and almost directly into him. It was a very stoic, "well, there's nothing I can do but sprint and that's a little out of the question in this room so, you got me." So I was the second It for the blue team, and it was much more fun being the hunter than the hunted.

Javits tags another player.

And we certainly got to know the museum in intimate detail.

It's all "game." Get it?

Over the course of the afternoon, I would say we had 70 or so players.


And I will say this, the participants were awesome. I expect putting out a call for a game of hide and seek in formal wear in a public museum on a busy Sunday during a holiday season attracts a non-random sample of San Franciscans. These were fun people. And quite lovely. Although I do suspect that Team IJS pushed the average age up another bracket.

Oh yeah, participants were also invited to bring a teacup and a flask. A tea party was scheduled on the lawn for after the game. It turns out, tea time was 5:00. With a start time of 2:00, that was a bit late. As much exhilarating fun as the game was (the fun of the game combined with the thrill of doing something you know you are not supposed to be doing in a fine arts museum, and the distinct feeling you are getting away with something) ran strong for a good hour, and abated for most by 90 minutes. And we were all done by 4:00. By then, most of the original participants had congregated in the café with food and wine.


Some had been there since 3:00, needing to replenish their sugar and/or wine levels. (I did cringe at paying more for a glass of wine at the café than I would for a bottle of the same label at the grocery.)


Spending time around a table instead of chasing each other about gave us a better chance to get to know each other, and I'm hoping to run into some of these folks again.

Natalie and Wilson

Wilson and Abby

One player had a particular prophetic cap to her soda:

Click to embiggen.

All the way around, getting dressed-up, enjoying a museum, and having a good game of Hide and Seek was a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon. I am going to have to craft my own group at SFZero, and sponsor some I'm Just Sayin' style adventures.

The core group

My friends and I had had our fun and we ready for the next event by 4:00. The sun was setting, it was getting cold, and we had other places to be. By 4:15 we were on the lawn where Herbie was unloading the large containers of hot water, which would sometime later become tea. We expressed our thanks and piled back into the car.

Jeff invited us to join him at David and Sean's holiday party. Shilpa and I loved the last party of theirs that we went to, but we felt a little bit like we were crashing. I had a Christmas mix CD I had meant to drop by earlier in the week, but we didn't think to bring a bottle of anything until after we had found parting at the top of the hill. Luckily for me, I had something still in the car bar I could bring. Having missed the opportunity to use our teacups at the event, we brought those in as well.

When we found David inside, he said immediately, "I know where you've been! You've been playing Hide and Seek at the Legion of Honor!" I had forgotten that David was a daily devotee of the blog. I feel so pretty!

Also inside were family favorites Jim (Jimbo) Myers and Darien & Timothy (see also).

And Lo and Behold, what should I see across a crowded room, but Eyes Met Across a Crowded Room. Last time I saw him was at the Rodeo, when he told me he was moving to Arizona in short order. In our e-mail exchanges, I had joking referred to his imminent departure as a clever ruse—a morning remorse to not calling me back. Now it was feeling less clever and more ruse.

Knowing what am Alert Reader David is, I started telling him this story, "Remember back at the Rodeo, the guy I referred to as Eyes Met Across a Crowded Room? Well, that's him."

Eyes Met Across a Crowded Room, who was opposite to me talking to Shilpa, turned and said, "You know I can hear you..."

Eyes Met and I talked for a while. I told him that I had mentioned him by code name in the blog, and that David is a daily reader, hence the kismet. It seems that the relocation is still a consideration but just under consideration. He was sweet and sexy, genuine and genuinely contrite. Although I didn't ask, he appeared to still be single, and as an apology he promised that he would be the one to follow up with me this time.


While that has not yet come to pass, it's just as well as the acid reflux thing and the cough thing have completely robbed me of my voice this week, and I wouldn't have been able to talk anyway. He's away for the holidays this week, and he'll be in Palm Springs (of course he will) for New Year's, so he won't be available for the Black-Eyed Pea Chili Party.

David and Sean's party was as lovely as could be, and great fun. We sort of "brought it" with our teacups and formal wear, but friends are not shy and were in the spirit and immensely entertaining. As was Sean's mom. Loved her.


We departed David and Sean's in time to make a late arrival at Sundance Saloon for their holiday party and a long night of merry making and yuletide dancing.

An exhausting and exhilarating Sunday, which, literally, left me speechless.

I'm off to the airport in the morning, and will likely only lightly post from Nashville.

Love and Joy come to you, and to you your Wilson too.

Photos:
Wilson's Flickr set of Hide and Seek
Jeff's Picassa album of Hide and Seek
Shilpa's Flickr set of Hide and Seek
Wilson's Flickr set of David and Sean's (only six photos)
Shilpa's Flickr set of David and Sean's Holiday Party