The Blue Octagon: The Egg has chosen YOU!!! The basic idea of this prank is to get a bunch of plastic eggs and hide them around a large area, each containing a cryptic message of some kind. But it works best if the message is both something very intriguing (without sounding like advertising) and something the person who finds the egg can actually respond to. Include a way for the mark to respond--an e-mail address works best. Put the eggs in hiding places that are far apart from each other and are not completely obscured but not completely in the open--hopefully only fairly observant people will find them. The story below details my several experiences with this prank. On one of our few and far between get-togethers, my friend Jessica and I were playing with some eggs of Silly Putty I'd given her as a welcoming gift. We squeezed all the Silly Putty into one egg and pondered what to do with the other egg . . . and decided it would be funny if we put a message in the egg and left it on a playground or something. Our prank mutated from there. First of all, to make it properly large-scale, Jes and I decided we needed more eggs. We decided to put an odd message in about twenty eggs and hide them all over the UF campus, and leave an e-mail address in the message. But what to say? Here is the final draft of our message: The Egg has chosen you. * Have you ever seen the future in dreams? * Do you often perceive things that others cannot sense? * Are you sometimes convinced that you are not fulfilling your destiny? We may have the answers. BlueOctagon@hotmail.com We came up with the code name "Chloe Aradia" and signed our note with it, and then we copied it twenty times and folded the papers up. Then we put symbols on the outside of each so that we could track where we'd hidden each Egg. We painted the symbols on the papers with dragon's blood ink and a quill pen. After we'd painted a bunch of symbols on the papers, we had to pack them up, gather supplies, and go to Wal-Mart. At Wal-Mart, we couldn't find any plastic eggs for sale by themselves, so we just had to buy ten packages of Silly Putty to get the eggs. We did a mini-prank when we did this; we each bought five of the packages and went through the line right behind one another, and pretended not to be together. Oh well. It was kind of a shame that we had to buy so much Silly Putty just to get their packaging, but it wasn't like the Silly Putty wasn't fun. It was. Finally, we got on the road, went to the UF campus, and began to hide Eggs. It took quite a long time but we kept careful notes on where each was hidden and never settled for a less-than-perfect spot. Every Egg was strategically placed far enough away from other Eggs so that no one person was likely to find two, and so that we could collect people from all walks of life and academic majors. We were still on campus after two in the morning, distributing Eggs, using maximum stealth to ensure that no one would see us planting the Eggs. We did this on a Friday night, so since school is not in session on Saturdays or Sundays we did not know what sort of response we would get. So we were pleasantly surprised when our first mail greeted us Saturday morning when we woke up. It was a very simple mail from a "J.H.," with subject "the egg," saying only "Hi, I found an egg. What is it about? Best wishes." After crowing over how cool we are for a while, Jes and I composed a reply and later sent it: We are glad the Egg found you. There was a symbol painted on the outside of your message; could you please describe it? We are interested in your feelings about the questions inside the Egg. Do you relate to the situations presented in the message? We would like to hear about your experiences. We are trying to find others like ourselves. Chloe Aradia BlueOctagon Yes, this was quite funny, and very tame. We did not receive another e-mail while she was still visiting me, but agreed that if this was the only e-mail we got, it was still worth it. However, we did receive other e-mails; after Jes left on Sunday, we received this one, from someone who seemed to have made up an e-mail address just to somehow match ours. Subject: I have been chosen Date: Sun, 11 Feb 2001 19:53:49 -0500 The egg has chosen me. I knew it would happen. Give me the answers I seek. -Red Square This was hilarious of course, and after consorting with Jes through e-mail I sent this reply: We are glad the Egg found you. You signed your e-mail "Red Square"--could it be that a red square decorated the outside of your message? If so, congratulations! If not . . . could you please enlighten us as to what shape chose you? We are interested in your feelings about the questions inside the Egg. Do you relate to the situations presented in the message? We are quite keen on attempting to track down the others who, like us, have mastered the world of dreams and are currently pinning down what could be the most important destiny to grace the history books. We would like to hear about your experiences. Based on your reply, we may welcome you to the fold. . . . Chloe Aradia BlueOctagon Then it just got strange. Our third e-mail contained the following message: Subject: fulfillment of prophecies Date: Mon, 12 Feb 2001 06:30:11 -0800 Yes my brother, I do forsee the future and feel as if my progress is being thwarted by the machine. This must end. WE have the answers, revolution starts with us. ! Um. He was being weirder than we were, and so we decided the only thing to do was to throw it back at him and see what we could dig up: We are glad the Egg found you. Thank you for your enthusiastic e-mail! Though we are more interested in ruling another dimension than this one, your ideas of revolution sound fascinating. Do tell us, what symbol anointed the outside of your message? Depending on what symbol chose you, you may already be one of our leaders. Praise! Also, feel free to expound on your feelings about the questions inside the Egg. You have touched on seeing the future but we'd like to hear specifics! We, after all, are willing to share with you our "answers": Our methods, our tools, our revelations. Your being accepted into the fold is contingent upon your reply . . . of course, we cannot accept just anyone who calls us "Brother." (We, after all, are not just one brother, but siblings, you know . . . ) Chloe Aradia BlueOctagon Then, about three weeks later, we received one more e-mail: Subject: Kamayamaya Date: Fri, 2 Mar 2001 20:22:34 EST ^^æ You lò§ e ån egg???? After briefly conversing by e-mail, this was sent: We are glad the Egg has found you. No, we did not "lose" the Egg. We sent it on a quest, and now that you have found each other, the real quest begins. Please let us know what you thought of the questions contained in the Egg's message, and enlighten us as to what symbol decorated the outside of the message. This is very important. Chloe Aradia BlueOctagon We thought he wasn't going to write back, but over a week later, we got another one from him: Subject: Masenkou Date: Sun, 11 Mar 2001 20:12:21 EST I shall give no insight until I know something about you and what you stand for... The answer in which i propose may depend on your reply It took a bit for us to figure out how to treat this insolent whelp, but here is what we finally sent: Dear EggChosen one: So you wish to know of our plans, as evidenced by your statement: "I shall give no insight until I know something about you and what you stand for... " Well, friend, you have asked for the truth and now you shall have it. We, the BlueOctagon, are dedicated to finding others like ourselves: People who dream of real futures and use their powers to their advantage; people whose intuitive and clairvoyant abilities set them apart from the "normals"; people who are willing to band together in the face of oppression and acknowledge who we are. Across history and into the modern ages we see evidence that people like us have always existed, yet we are not acknowledged when we could do so much good. (Whether we will be willing to do good for those who have oppressed us is still to be seen.) We are rising up to say that we are not alone and we are not crazy! Should you feel that you have the potential to improve any skills you possess of this nature, and be an asset to our community, we would like to help. You need not apply if you decide we are just playing games. Chloe Aradia BlueOctagon We received no further comment. Guess he has no unusual abilities. Oh well! And our last response was very similar to the early entries: Subject: I have been chosen.... Date: Thu, 22 Mar 2001 15:21:22 -0800 (PST) I beleive that the egg has found me.. What shall I do? What adventures am I now able to embark upon.. enlighten me We simply sent this person a canned reply identical to EggChosen number 2's response. And then, all the way on June 15, we got a response: Subject: Re: I have been chosen.... Date: Fri, 15 Jun 2001 Oh my g, hello. It has been quite awhile since I have checked my email. I do not remember the symbol on the egg, but if I can retrive it, I will let you know. Thank you We were a little hard on him. >:) Dear False Prophet, In your last mail, you say "Oh my g." WHO IS THIS G of whom you speak? And why is he/she/it more important to you than answering our sacred e-mail? We are surprised that an honor such as the one bestowed upon you was not more of a priority in your life. The fact that we have waited over two months for a response from you is proof that you are not suited for the destiny we had planned for you. If you no longer had computer access for some reason, you could have easily sent us a telepathic message; and if you DID have computer access and were simply ignoring us, then . . . may this "g" have mercy upon your soul. You will never know how much you have lost. Chloe Aradia Blue Octagon Out of twenty eggs, a response of five isn't great, but it's better than nothing. So, when the responses trickled out and went dry, my sister learned of our exploits and decided to aid me in distributing another twenty Eggs! This time it was in the summer semester, over a weekend, so even though this was completed on a Friday night it took until the following Wednesday to get a response. Here it is: Subject: lavender Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2001 00:35:58 -0400 The Egg chose me. What answers do you suppose I seek? I discussed this with my sister, and this is the response we sent: Dear EggChosen one, We are pleased to hear you've been chosen by the Egg. Please let us know what symbol was written upon the outside of your Egg Message? As for answers, one must first have questions. Three were presented in the Egg. Did any in particular ring true with you? We wish to know if you are one of our own, in which case we may recruit you to bond together in the face of adversity and learn to get the most out of this world we were mistakenly born to. Please reply if you've decided to accept your destiny. Chloe Aradia BlueOctagon And the last to reply gave us two messages before we replied. The first contains the bulk of the response: Subject: The egg has chosen me, for I am the chosen one. Date: Tue, 31 Jul 2001 15:52:43 EDT i was chosen by the egg, for the salvation of the world. I am most definitely convinced that I am not fulfilling my own destiny. I oftentimes see myself in the mirror and stare at the aura surrounding me; wondering, waiting for the egg to appear in my life again. This "egg" represents my need to save all humanity, and now i know im superwoman. I can see myself surrounded by fog, relentlessly searching for my own spirit within my mind. Relativity no longer has any meaning...please help me in my search for followers. Then she sent another message telling us that her e-mail address was one that differed from the e-mail address she sent it from. This raised our suspicious eyebrows, and we wrote: So, child, you claim to be EggChosen and therefore a "superwoman." Feh! Your attempt to elevate yourself to our level sickens us. A so-called "superwoman" would at least be able to effectively master at least one language and communicate fluently in it, yet your use of capital letters and contractions makes one of our standing laugh. You have the audacity to suggest that your finding one of our precious Eggs is a sign that you are to be the salvation of the world? HARDLY! We offered the Eggs to the world as an invitation to join us, but you seem to exude a megalomaniacal stench which makes you unfit for our purposes, as you wish to grab the reins in your "search for followers" and RUN rather than take your rightful place as a follower of the Egg! Your ridiculous and mistaken symbolism attributed to the Egg, your puny wish to "save humanity," and your slavish devotion to this hallucination of a false destiny causes us to not only reject your wish to join the Blue Octagon, but to also regard you as an annoyance. You are not even important enough to be regarded as an enemy worthy of retaliation. We will let you whine away your pathetic existence, crooning to the mirror that you are superwoman while we, and everyone else better than you, continue to ignore you. Chloe Aradia BlueOctagon Let's just say we didn't hear from her again. It's too bad we never got to find out what would happen if someone thought we were serious. . . . back