2003-08-23 - 11:38 a.m. - flash mob = FUN

I was going to type this as part of the my previous entry, but I wanted it to be an entry in and of itself because it was one of the more amusing things I’ve done this summer. I was going to write about it last weekend when it occurred, but other things came up.

I attended my first flash-mob event last Sunday in NW Portland. I had actually seen a little news clip about one that occurred in front of a bookstore earlier this summer, but I didn’t quite catch the gist of it all. Then, after recently joining a list-serve, I found out the address for the Portland Flash Mob website. Basically a flash mob (aka "smart mob") is a brief gathering of people who do something and then quickly disperse.

I got on their email list so I could be alerted of their next event. Unfortunately I couldn’t attend, but what they did was gather around a well-known statue of a man holding an umbrella in Pioneer Square. At the designated time, they all put up their umbrellas (despite it being a sunny and cloudless day). If any outsider were to ask what they were doing, they were suppose to say, "We heard it was going to rain today". About five minutes later, they closed up their umbrellas and then just scattered. It sounded like it was hilarious and I’m sorry I had to miss it.

I was alerted about a gathering that was happening last Sunday. The email list had been divided into two groups – the Sharks and the Jets, and I was a Jet. The Jets were to meet at a designated area promptly at 2:50 to be given further instructions. That is the only info we were given. I went to the designated area at 2:50 but didn’t see anyone. I walked up the street and around the block and saw a group of people. I sat down on a cement wall next to one woman and asked her what the name of her group was. She said she was a shark. I told the group that I was a Jet but I didn’t see any other Jets at our assigned meeting area. I was told that the captain of the Jets crew was wearing a Braves baseball cap and I could find him at the designated area. Seeing the number of people in the Sharks’ crew, I wanted to join the them, but then I came to my senses: "When you’re a Jet, you’re a jet all the way, from your first cigarette, to your last dyin’ day….when you’re a Jet, you stay a Jet!"

So I went back and did find the captain with a few other people now there. "Are you a Jet?" "Yes." It felt so clandestine! In short, our numbers totaled about 10 while the Sharks had over 20. Small for a mob, but it would work. Around the corner from our designated meeting spots and across the street from each other are two coffee places – Starbucks being one and Coffee People being the other. The Jets were to stand in front of Starbucks and yell, "Starbucks", while the Sharks would stand in front of Coffee People and yell back at us, "Coffee People". This was to go on for 6.5 minutes, and then we would clap for 10 seconds and disperse. At exactly 3:02 we left to go to our spot. The Sharks were coming down the other street snapping their fingers so we started to snap ours – I felt like breaking out into a song from West Side Story!

At 3:04 p.m., we started our back and forth yelling of the names of the respective coffee shops. Onlookers stared, smiled, looked confused, and one guy said, "you both suck". Six and a half minutes later, we stopped, clapped for about 5 seconds and then dispersed without talking to anyone.

I felt so giddy and amused – it was such harmless and silly fun that I could not stop smiling and giggling to myself as I made my way back to my car. Next time, I’m recruiting friends so they can join me in these crazy escapades. It was just too funny….

30-something - 2005-03-01
the holding back the the flow of tears - 2005-02-20
song survey - 2005-02-15
song for the day...or perhaps the year... - 2005-01-25
something new - 2005-01-24
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