Written by The Collectress

Captain’s Log. Stardate 95216.62

We create, therefore we live.

I never thought this day would come.

I never thought I would live in a post-Gishwhes world. I kinda just assumed that I’d be 90, making sculptures with my great-grandchildren of Impalas out of walnuts or something. Now that it’s here, I’m not sure what to say about this post-gishwhes future.

Could I tell you about our zombie-vampire civil war in a graveyard? Should I show you a video of some church choir singers singing “Carry On My Wayward Son” with dental retractors in their mouths? Will I regale you with a tale of what it was like to hot glue a wedding dress together? Sure, I could, and I probably will, but right now I want to tell you about what Gishwhes has meant to the world.

When I started gishing four years ago, I did it because it look like a bunch of weird fun, and it was indeed really weird but fun. During that week of my first Gishwhes, I was completely astounded by how much it changed how I viewed the world:

We have accomplished things that I didn’t think possible (throwing a party whilst collecting litter, for example) and somewhere along the way I lost any and all capability for shame and instead have gained a capacity for compassion and generosity that I didn’t expect. –Gishwhes 2014

The same is true, four years later. The items (and Misha’s varying levels of weird, sorta sadistic, desires) have changed, but at heart Gishwhes is the same: we’re breaking the routine. Whether that is for the weird (I mean, c’mon, what use is it to freeze things in Jell-o???), the beneficial (I would love a machine to catapult jellybeans into my mouth, tbh), or the charitable (we raised $250,000 in a few days for a good cause). We look at the quotidienne and make it more. We look at the world and say, “We can do better.”

And for seven beautiful years, Misha has made it happen.

Thank you, Misha, for taking us on this weird–sometimes (probably) illegal–yet fantastic journey. I sincerely hope that one day, this will happen:

https://twitter.com/dearcollectress/status/896615092883673088

It may sound sappy and possibly trite to say, but I am a better person because of Gishwhes. I am sure that many other gishers would say the same, and I know of nothing else to say other than I will try to carry on gishing long past the end of Gishwhes.

It’s been a long week, gishers. If you’re anything like me, you’ll need 47.82  years of sleep and probably something to treat that hot glue burn. Go, stop reading things on the internet and get some rest. We’ve earned it.

And remember,

We create, therefore we live. 

 

-TC

P.S. Misha…can we say the k-word now?