Anyway, in case you’re just joining us, here’s a quick rundown of what we’ve covered so far on Op Drop:
- Who Alizée is, who I am, why I’m a fan, and why you should be one, too
- Op Drop’s goals, and why history proves they’re achievable
- What Op Drop actually does to achieve ‘em, and where I got (read: stole) the idea from
- A brief overview of what’s on these disques I’m dropping (and my plea for various parties not to sue me for it)
- A more detailed look at the songs and videos on the disques, and why I felt they should make the cut
- The big reveal of the (rather unspectacular-looking) prototype Mark I Op Drop disques, which were thankfully in rather limited supply
Your mission, should you choose to accept it…
Despite how shoddily home-made the Mark I disques looked, it still took me the better part of an afternoon to burn all ten and get their packaging ready for dropping. Yeah, yeah, I know…they certainly didn’t look like much work went into them, but that personalized message was handwritten on the back of every single one! Believe it or not, I actually felt a flush of pride as I put the finishing touches on the last one…along with a flush of excitement. Like I said yesterday, I felt like Tony Stark completing his first crude suit of armor…and now that it was done, it was time to use it for that which it was built.
For him, that meant taking it out for a spin to put down the terrorist scum who’d kidnapped him and stolen his weapons. For me, it meant dropping me some disques, and converting me some Lili-heathens.
I stared at the pile of completed disques before me, wondering where and how I was going to do the deed, when suddenly the phone rang: a good friend, inviting me to dinner and drinks…at one of the many pubs near her apartment…right on the busiest subway line in the city…on a Friday night. And just like that, the die was cast. Operation: Disque Drop had its first mission.
Objective: To inconspicuously drop ten (10) disques in full public view along the [street name redacted to guarantee security of operative] subway line, to be discovered by unsuspecting Lili-heathens.
Assets: Aforementioned disques; nondescript laptop bag to aid in the carrying and distribution of said disques; fully-charged Sony PSP loaded with DVD rip of Alizée En Concert and the full complement of Alizée’s studio albums and remixes; transit pass.
Obstacles: Suspicious transit security agents; overachieving transit sanitation workers; drunken, rowdy, overly-curious (and, in one memorable case, motion-sick) teenagers and/or college students; “helpful” senior citizens who insist on letting you know that you “dropped something”, then chasing after you with it when you try to ignore them; lack of co-ordination caused by likely intoxication for return trip home.
Notes: Drunken teenagers/college students potentially useful as diversion against transit security/senior citizens. Inadvertently dropping disques in path of overzealous transit sanitation workers may result in irrecoverable loss of assets. Interchange between [redacted] line and [redacted] line is most highly-trafficked stop, and thus best target of opportunity. Wear comfortable shoes you don’t mind getting puke on. Several people will look at you funny.
Missed it by that much...!
I didn’t manage to successfully drop all ten disques that first night. As you can probably guess from the above, nervous and inexperienced in the realm of disque dropping, I suffered a few setbacks in my first fumbling attempts. I only managed one successful drop en route to the pub—a disque that I surreptitiously slid between my butt and my seat on the subway (the better to avoid the gazes of drunk kids and curious seniors) and sat on until the last possible moment, before jumping up and leaving it behind as I burst through the closing subway doors at my stop, almost getting caught between them in the process.
The way back in the early hours of the next morning was easier. Surrounded more by obliviously drunk kids than curious seniors (and bolstered with liquid courage, myself), I managed to double my career total of dropped disques on the return trip. That’s right: two whole successful drops—one on the train again (a little more casually, this time), and another on a bench at the crowded interchange platform. It would have been three, if it hadn’t been for that overzealous sanitation worker who picked up the last disque I dropped at my destination. (Although, who knows? Maybe he kept it, and he’s an Alizée fan now…)
Over the next week and a half, with six disques left and my intial self-consciousness gradually becoming a thing of the past, I embarked on two more operations. The first saw me surreptitiously drop four disques downtown in the most highly-trafficked mall in the city’s core. (Once again, a “helpful” senior tried to chase after me with one, but when I told her with a wink that I’d meant to leave it behind, she smiled and seemed to understand.) And my third operation was an even greater success, as I managed to drop two disques right in plain sight, on either end of a major tourist attraction, completely unbeknownst to my unsuspecting civilian companions…and actually got to witness one of them being picked up, by a guy who seemed genuinely interested! (Never heard from him either way, but that’s neither here nor there…)
Uh-huh. Didn't happen. Instead, I was treated to an image which took the wind right out of my sails, and almost literally made my heart sink to the soles of my feet.
(Wow, now how's that for a cliffhanger ending, huh kids? See you tomorrow...same Lili time, same Lili channel!)
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