A Place for My Stuff

Broken Relics of the 1980s

I think younger people might be under the false impression that music was all on vinyl records first, and then we all eventually switched over to CDs.  For most of us though that wasn't the case.  There other mediums available in between, namely the 8-track and then the cassette tape.  I was at the age and time where my music was mostly on cassette tape.  That meant that I went through several Walkmans (or is the plural actually "Walkmen"?).  Here was one of them, with the door broken off.  I tested it.  It COULD actually still work.  But with others that do work, and seeing how dirt cheap you could get an even better one from eBay these days, I figured this wasn't worth keeping around.

Also some tacky jewelry from a long since defunct jewelry store, "The Canary and the Elephant".  I know because I still had the pink bag.  Sometimes the pendant you really wanted for a necklace was only available as an earring, so you got the earring then put it on a chain.  Or maybe vice-versa for some women.  Cheap metal trinkets like this were being sold all over the place, and they often broke pretty easily.  Most of these pieces were broken too.

Well, we're through being cool...

 

Don't Let Clutter Make You "All Wet"

Umbrellas typically come with umbrella covers.  Do you ever use these?  Maybe when it's new, but then eventually you just want to close the umbrella and not have to deal with sealing wetness in.  I don't see any use for this lying around in my hallway closet.

And going back to my old apartment: just when I thought the crap from my sink was already gone, I find this stuff around.  Gross!

 

 

 

Who's Got the Red DeMoulas?

There are probably on a few people on the planet who might get the reference to that joke.  That's fine.  It was something done for one day, in place of the usual green gizmo.  And I don't expect people to know what the green gizmo was about either.

About 20 years ago, I was at Boy Scout camp and they decided to have DeMoulas Day.  Maybe we got some sort of contribution from the supermarket chain of the same name.  I don't know.  I also don't know why I kept a flier for it.  Nor the partially filled out blue card for a merit badge.

I also found the instructions to my first bass amp, which I still own.  I didn't throw them away this time, but just filed them with the other instructional booklets I have in my file cabinet.

(And if you really want to know what the green gizmo was about, I'll tell you.  In camp, every day before lunch, somebody on the staff would secrety slip a "green gizmo" into the pocket of somebody.  It was just some green object; I never saw it up close.  Then during lunch announcements the staff would ask "Whhhhho's got, the GREEEEN GIZMO!?!"  People would check their pockets.  The person who had it would win a prize.  On DeMoulas Day, they just changed it to "the red DeMoulas", which was probably just the plastic cap to a milk jug.  There, now wasn't that a compeltely useless story?)

 

Tom-Wat? That's What.

While going through the old school papers, I found the dreaded Tom-Wat Showcase which I was still using as a storage box.

What's "Tom-Wat" all about?  Who is he?  What is he?  Well I blogged about it all earlier this year.  I just didn't supply the visual until now.  Please do click on that link and go back to read what I read.  You may find it to be a swell set of anecdotes.

Under the Bathroom Sink. Bleagghh.

Before moving out of my old place, I took a look at what I had left under the leaky, not-so-pleasant smelling, bathroom sink.  I don't even want to THINK of what sort of microbes are lurking in these items.  I just threw them out, and as you can see, I'm still alive.

• Bent spoons.  No, I didn't have Uri Geller over to use my bathroom (and if you didn't get that joke, then I'm sure you're ready to move your mouse to the upper right and do some searching on the web for his name).  These were used to temporarily fix my toilet.  Basically, the float cylinder would not sink down low enough to turn on the water after flushing.  Hanging these on here fixed it.  For a while at least.
• Tiny hair brush.  I think they threw this in a buy-1-get-1-free pack.  I don't like it.
• Travel-sized shampoo bottle with a broken cap.
• Emory boards that either my wife or long-since-left ex bought and stored down here, never using.
• Toothbrushes, used but kept "just in case".  You know, with any sort of excuse. "But maybe one day I might step in dog crap outside, and I could use this to clean my shoe!"
• Bottom tupperware piece used because my sink was leaking a little at some point.
• A comb, or at least a comb-like thing for...damn, if I have to take guesses on this, then who needs it?

In Defense of Gallagher

I can't stand comedians who are hacks.  I'm talking about comedians who do the same jokes we've all heard thousands of times: airline food, men leaving the toilet seat up, Jack Nicholoson impersonations, etc.  Once in a while you do find a comedian who can add a new twist or new routine to one of these topics, or at least was doing it decades before other comedians, but it's rare.

One of the most hated comedians in the comedy community is Gallagher.  Why, I have no idea.  People who think he's all props have obviously not taken the time to watch him.  People dismiss him outright as a hack, which I think is unjustified.  Granted he does some material on topics we've heard before, but he's still original and witty in what he does.  How unfunny schmucks like Dane Cook sell out arenas and get all the praise, I just don't get.

I've been a fan of Gallagher since I was a kid.  I used to rent his VHS tapes from one store or another, and always introduce my friends to them.  I didn't get to see him perform live until last month.  The show was absolutely brilliant, and surprisingly he used next to no props.

So while on the topic of clutter, I guess it's appropriate to play his routine about finding things in the couch:

 

Case Closed on Cases (part 5)

Some "cases" and things that aren't cases.  But all clutter.

• Snowman boxes.  These tiny things were set up like Russian dolls, but made to be stacked on top of each other.  I thought I threw them out earlier, but I guess not.  Sure I like decorating for different holidays, but not at the expense of table space I don't even have.
• Case for folding pair of sunglasses.  And guess what?  Yes, the sunglasses have long since been broken or lost.  Did they stop making these by the 1990s anyway?
• Purple plastic tweezers.  These came with some kind of gummy worm candy, so that when you picked them up with the tweezers, a light would shine through them and they'd glow.  I can't remember how I even ended up getting them.  Maybe I bought them for a kid's present then never ended up giving them out.  Regardless, the gummy worms are long since gone.  And so should this cheap thing.

• Box of broken chalk pieces.  From my brother's childhood, judging from his name scrawled on the box.
• Instant towel!  You know, one of these promotional things that you put in water and it becomes a tiny towel.  So I used it.  Now I have a dishrag.  Clutter gone, useful item gained.

 

Closing the Case on Cases (part 4: Hey mom and dad, look what I made!)

I still have personal things from childhood that I've saved.  But you can't keep it all.  Eventually, you have to decide which things to keep and which to get rid of.  If you already have several pieces of memoriabilia for the same thing, chances are you don't need to keep them all.

In this case, I found a box I made back when I was in Cub Scouts, using glued popsicle sticks.  It's practiaclly falling apart, and barely deep enough to put anything in.  I don't think I ended up keeping this one.

Speeking of home-made crafts, I found a sheath made out of cheap leather stapled together, holding a steak knife.  I can't remember if this was being toted around as a potential weapon back when I was a teenager, or ended up being used as an athame in my Wiccan days.  Regardless, I have a extra knife in my kitchen draw now, and a piece of red leather in the trash.

 

Closing the Case on Cases (part 3)

I own many, many harmonicas.  And I've talked about them before.  But for each of those comes a case.

Is there anything inside of these?  No, because the ones that I regularly use I keep all together in a different (and big) carrying case.  I could see maybe saving a few of these in case I want to carry one or two of them around in a little case separately, but I don't need all 40-something of these cases.  And you sure can't return or resell harmonicas, due to health codes.  So, time to ditch the excess cases.

How many more blogs about cases can I write?  I'll do two more.

Cases Just In Case (part 2)

On the subject of containers-as-clutter:

• Baby food jars.  Fortunately I only had one of these, and it was saved by my wife for something which I don't even remember now (no, not baby food).  But I'm sure there are parents with several hundreds of these around the house.  Maybe there IS somebody who can make great use of these, but if it's not you, then get them into the right hands before you end up tripping over them.

• Dish scrubber.  OK, not a container of sorts, but I'm mentioning it here because it was in the same photo.  Great litle invention, but unfortunately this one was always leaking.  I'm stickin' with the pads.
• Tupperware™ tops without corresponding bottoms.  You have some of these in your home too, don't you?  I guess they're to hold on to in the rare chance that something happens to one of the other tops, and you need a replacement.  Of course, they won't always fit.  Yes, clean plastic can still be clutter and ready to be thrown out.  If the guilt you feel for throwing them out is that bad, then take them to the thrift shop.