The Beginning- A Story of Love, Lust, and Betrayal

Well, this is it... it being the initiation of a new project. Today or tomorrow I will be posting up the acts of whimsy site (at the conveniently title domain actsofwhimsy.com) for all the world to marvel at and critique. I can trace the origins of the site back to several projects that I began in college, but I won't do that because... well... I just don't feel like it right now- it will just have to wait for another post.

The goal of the site is to build a community of people who are engaging in actions that are, simply put, whimsical: writing poems on trees, performing 30 second skits during elevator rides, leaving notes mysterious instructions inside library books, planning flash mobs, etc. The site will be broken up into three sections- actions, events, and projects. Although they are currently sadly lacking, my eventual plans for them lie below.

The actions portion will have small things that people can do (we'll stick with the poem on a tree leaf example for now). Actions can be submitted by users, and a daily Act of Whimsy will be listed for people to perform, although it's more of a suggestion than a call-to-arms. Users will be able to rate the actions on a simple scale of 'I've done it,' 'I did it today,' and 'I like it.' Based on this scale, the action of the day will be selected by having the most 'I like its' and the least 'I've done its.' You will be able to see each action's stats, so you can tell how many people have done the action of the day, what most people would like to do, and how many people have done you action (assuming you had the gumption and wherewithall to post one up).

The events portion will allow you to post events for people to attend. Kind of a facebook-esque system, although this will be for specifically whimsical events (flash mobs and pajama parties in the park and what-have-you and who-for). People can sign up, comment on them, share stories and post images.

The projects portion is for those things that are a little larger in scope. Maybe you want to put together a photo-album of people across the country making funny faces: this will allow you to create a project that other users can join or sign up for a pre-existing project that tickles your fancy. I'll be honest with you- I'm an idea person and have 9+or- 2 things going through my head at all times. I'm hoping that the projects section of the site will help me bring more of those ideas into the world, and allow other human beings who are similarly afflicted to do the same. It will also have some project management tools so you can keep track of everything.

I want to make Acts of Whimsy driven by users, and what they want, so go ahead and send me some feedback and ideas. Go on. I mean, just do it... what the heck right? Even an e-mail saying "I hate it" or "Rock on, space cowboy" would be appreciated.

For those of you who want to help, or who may want to help if they were the victims of some form of coercion (red vines is the first thing that comes to mind, but I'm willing to talk it over), definitely contact me. Graham dot Talley at whimhunts dot com.

Heck, give me a call... even if you just want to chat. eight oh five six five seven oh four six one.

I imagine that the next post will be on the theories and motivations behind the site, and the story about my days as Baron von Funstein of the FUN Club. If you'd rather hear about something else, you know how to reach me.

This is Graham Talley, signing out for the day.