Day 178

The Mystery Package* looks weak. Diminished.
Useless.

Empty.

This is the final day of its life cycle. The last offering of its T-shirt bounty will be revealed today and from that moment on the Mystery Package will simply be known as ‘Package’. More importantly, this last offering of the Mystery Package represents the denouement of my battle with ‘Matt The Package Instigator’. This could be the devastating blow he needs to deadlock the challenge, possibly spawning an off-the-wall tie-breaker involving a shopping trolley race.*
Or it could be the last surge of boost I need to secure a clear victory in the challenge, making me a hero and showing Matt up for the doofus he is.

So for one last time, I am going to pluck a T-shirt from the Mystery Package.

Please be a Blink 182 T-shirt. Please be a Blink 182 T-shirt. Please be a Blink 182 T-shirt.



Well, this is not a Blink 182 T-shirt. This appears to be a Circa Survive T-shirt.
What?!
The Mystery Package has thrown a curve ball! It's swan song is a conundrum, a mind-bender…
I like the design but I don't know the artist!

This T-shirt features a beautifully presented illustration of a tree protected by an oxygen bubble, backed against the full-width, vertically-tiled band name in a muted blue/green. I really like the concept – it reminds me of an illustration that I once did entitled The Last Tree - an ink drawing of an oak tree being tended to by astronauts as it orbited in space. That reminds me, I really should upload that illustration to my website with the others…
So the T-shirt is a clear win – but what of the band? I’ve just taken a glancing hit from their MySpace page and I’ve got to say, I’m impressed. Contemporary alternative rock tends to be a vapid expanse of mediocrity and transparent commercialised backing, but this Philadelphia outfit have really caught my attention. Their delivery is quite safe, but their vocals are something to behold – well written and presented curiously. I believe this is a band I need to keep an eye on… and I have the Mystery Package to thank for that.

Well would you look at that. Ten whole weeks. Ten brand new T-shirts. What an epic chapter! The drama. The horror. The relief. Never has a delivery stirred so much wonder and hysteria in me before. I may go on to open all my post in this fashion in future; piece by piece spanning a ten week period, causing my unpaid gas supply to get shut off whilst making tea for the repo men who in turn take my kettle, get scalded, and I sort of win.

The Mystery Package has been an incredible element to my THREEHUNDREDANDSIXTEEFIVE challenge and I am actually sad to see it go. Though words cannot express how much I will enjoy seeing Matt eat the remaining plastic, as I’ve just decided that that is the forfeit for having lost.

See you soon Matt. Oh, and thanks for my fifteen quid back. Sort of.

*For a proper introduction to the Mystery Package, have a re-read of the post just after Day 102.