Registered: Feb 2001
Location: Oakland-ish
Posts: 6032

knickknacks, gewgaws, chatchkas and other assorted crap

I am back at my old job, temping for a few days, and the new girl who took over when I left has really personalized her space.

In front of me I have one Anne Geddes photo of a naked baby wearing a daisy headband sitting in a field of daisies, a ceramic angel, some pink carnations in a vase, a small metal tin with more angels kissing, two daisy shaped coasters, a tiny metal cactus sitting on a glass bead, a magnet taped to the monitor that says: "LIFE HAS TWO RULES: # 1 Never Quit!; #2 Always remember rule #1: (attributed to Duke Ellington), a floral box of pink tissues, and a purple daily desk calendar (written out in a flowery script) that reads for today : Let us all walk our path with gentle footsteps, with kindness and with listening hearts..."


*retches violently*

*looks for a ceramic unicorn...there must be one kicking around here!*

I don't know about you but I can't stand this kind of stuff. It makes my skin crawl. I don't understand its purpose.

This is not to say I don't have collections of things or any knick knacky type items myself. But mine are at least a bit unusual. My old tin lunch pail collection, metal fishing tackle boxes, old bottle that I dug up myself out of old mining ghost towns in Death Valley. I have 9 bikes; a few vintage 70's his and her Scwhinns, a CCM cruiser, a Pashley adult 5 speed tricycle etc. These have taken me years to find, from flea markets and thrift stores and so on.

I know, different tastes and all that but there's something that set the two apart.

Do you collect anything? Does anything make you sick to look at?

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Registered: Apr 2001
Location: Virginia Beach, VA
Posts: 1480

i collect porn

thats about it.

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Registered: Aug 2001
Location: Hilbert Space
Posts: 35561

Have I mentioned that I have all of the dueSouth videos?

I also have a mountain of fantasy and science fiction books that I keep having to take to charity shops.

I have a LOT of Indian spices too.

And lots of houseplants.

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: NH
Posts: 6081

I collect dust and dirty dishes.

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Registered: Jan 2001
Location: California
Posts: 4252

I collect Reference books and gadgets. I like gyroscopes, Little steam engines, all sorts of test instruments, etc...

I have every sort of gizmo, widget, wizbang and framis you can think of.

I hate Precious Moments, Home Interiors, Magic crystals and pretty much everything you mentioned on that desk.

The magnet taped to the monitor will eventually fuck it up. Monitors don't like magnets.

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Registered: Sep 2000
Location: The Bottom of the Toyem Pole
Posts: 9453

I like books and musical stuff.

I like computer toys.

I like legos.

I like regular toys too, if they are cool.

Right now my desk is littered with cds and research papers.

That is all.

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Registered: Sep 2000
Location: Playa d'en London
Posts: 9788

football match programmes. i have one that dates back to around 1920. spurs V everton i think. the others range from 1930 - 2001

also have far too many comics too mention. including every published issue and apperance of 'Groo the Wanderer'.

i defy anyone to claim they have a bigger 'cyber' porn collection than me (sad....very sad - but true) i dont even use them for wanking purposes anymore, i download pictures like i'm stamp-collecting or doing something relatively boring. i should format my drive.

also, somewhere in the corner of my attic is a box full of pratically every 'classic' star wars figure. i use to buy them out of habit when i was a wee kid. sadly they are not in their orginal plastic covers.

i also own all the buffy dvds. but dont tell anyone

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Registered: Aug 2001
Location: Hilbert Space
Posts: 35561

Seeing Dogbreath's post reminded me that I also have a very large amount of physics books. You can often find loads in charity shops as you go in to offload fantasy books; it is often because a physicist has died and they are all given away by his family. In pubs here they sometimes buy cases of books to put on shelves in the pub to look nice; I have swiped a few of the good physics and maths ones.

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: zanzibar
Posts: 10413

Every time I have had a desk or an office I never felt attached enough to the job to lug in a bunch of stuff that I would someday carry out in a box. I never really "personalized" my space.

I don't really collect anything, although I did go through a period of buying some old Detroit things, I have a fairly large sign from the freeway that says "Detroit City Limits" (although I paid $35 and wasn't cool enough to be the guy that stole it, that was probably escapeartist) and some large banner that says 'Welcome to the Motor City" and has a large wheel with wings that is supposed to be from some 40s or 50s trade show. I generally am willing to buy things that are cheap and weird. This is why I own a bowling humidor/pipe holder. I also have a bunch of 1950s-1960s Hot Rod magazines and several old books that relate to my 1946 Ford. I bought an owner's manual at a car swap meet and found an old "Fix Your Ford" book published in the 1950s as well as a Hot Rod book about 'speed tuning' a flathead engine at this used books warehouse downtown.

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Registered: Mar 2001
Location: Minnesota
Posts: 2451

Like Smug (so many posts can start this way, *sigh*)
I also have a very excessive amount of fantasy/sci fi books.
I am working on expanding my collection of mathematical reference books.
I have in excess of 14,000 magic cards.
I started collecting robotech videos, but they stopped making them, unfortunately I don't have the cash to try to accumulate such items now.

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: the heart of an awl
Posts: 3691

DB, you need to stop posting pics of your diseased flesh and start posting pics of your mechanical stuff. I would like to see that.

I collect whatever. Mostly just stuff i can connect with, i think that's the only unifying trait. I'm more concerned about the provenance than the object itself, really. If it's old, that's better. Old bottles and metalwork from around the area, interesting rocks from places i've visited, strange drinking glasses or coffee mugs, usually stolen or snagged from thrift stores.

if i really had to break it down, i guess you could divide my crap-stash into these groups:

- Items owned or autographed by famous people (Caspar Weinberger portrait, Johnny Cash comic book, Patty Duke's etch-a-sketch)

- Old (20-30 yrs+) coats (mostly pendleton wool coats or "gas station spendys," i don't know what they're really called, i call them spendys because they usually cost three or four bucks, which isn't all that spendy, but anyways) One of the wool coats came into my possession through some sort of miracle.

- anything pertaining to Da Vinci's Last Supper (books, postcards, paint-by-number sets, tapestries)

- Stolen or found items that are neat (boss hogg action figure, giant antique framed lithographs, metamucil coffee mug, etc)

everything else fits into the broad categories of "old" and/or "cheesy"

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Location Location
Posts: 26383

You have Patty Duke's Etch-a-Sketch?

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location:
Posts: 4501

I think my crap is fairly tasteful, but one man's castle is another's hovel. I do have a cool pair of bookends that are actually miniature cannons. I collect succulent houseplants, anything having to do with Jane Austen (my video collection is almost complete!), things to add to my wall of shame (bizarre photographs framed and posed around the apartment), horse-related items, books of all kinds (getting more familiar with rare books collecting), and Celtic art in various forms (no, not cheesy goddesses throwing fireballs at trolls).

As for "junk," I like to make things when I get bored or am feeling antzy or useless, so I have embroidery frames, threads, needles, a sewing machine, fabric remnants and whole pieces, quilting materials, glue in various formats (glue gun, spray adhesive, tacky glue), bits and pieces of odd things like wood or metal, and powah tools! Whoohoo! I'm not Martha Stewart--I don't do anything that takes me an inordinant amount of time, aside from sewing and embroidery. I used to paint, but my hands are too shaky for that anymore.

It's funny...writing up this list made me think of what makes home home for people. Whatever our circumstances, we surround ourselves with things we like, or we go minimalist, if that's what we like. My apartment is a collection of things that border on eccentricity for being archaic, but it's what makes me comfortable.

I just can't help wondering what makes people feel comfortable when faced with Precious Moments, Raspberry-colored geese with straw bonnets, or cheesy sayings on cheesier watercolors framed about the house or office.

I sometimes think that offices should be less personal. Then maybe we wouldn't hate our coworkers so much. I rebelled against the kitsch around me by putting plastic insects, demented artwork from students, and Red Meat comics all over my desk and surrounding walls. Had to do something to combat Oprah, whose desk was right behind mine. gah, she still makes me shiver with her feng shui, motivational pictures, and pokemon shit.

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Registered: Nov 2000
Location: NH
Posts: 586

My office has 3 framed photos of Block Island (the place I want to live at and escape to someday), and a Photoshoped pic of my daughter that I took, on the wall. On my desk I have an assortment of unusual picture frames (all containing pics of my daughter) and some odd nick- nacks like a squishy snow globe, glass sun & moon, anything that I find interesting and I want around me to help me get through the day at a place I'm starting to dislike.

I was going to get a fishtank in my office too. I think that may help me be less of a bitch during the day

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Posts: 15123

I like little statuettes and carvings and stuff like you get at flea markets... Here at school, I've got one of a skull with a dagger in it...

At home, I've got a neat-looking blue dragon, and one of a wizard and a dragon... I used to have another wizard/dragon one (big one, too) but it got broken a year or so ago.

Oh, and I've also got a neat looking glass ball with colored sparkly spirals inside it.. Mom bought it at a glass factory for me. It rocks.

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: the heart of an awl
Posts: 3691

quote:

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Originally posted by Paint CHiPs
You have Patty Duke's Etch-a-Sketch?

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: seattle-ish
Posts: 11270

I collect Dali prints, anything snoopy related, faerie stuff(usually little statues.. not cutsy ones. theyre tasteful.), mini disney characters from the disney store(like alice, the caterpillar...with bong, white rabbit, etc), 80s toys(she-ra, my little pony, etc), and miscellaneous weird stuff.
If anything, Id say my house is an eclectic mix of classy and kitsch.

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Bangor, ME
Posts: 10153

like Smug, and Geas

the only thing i collect are science fiction books

hell the first time goat rode in my car, i had a random book in the backseat. and he actually had the book if i believe (halflings gem r.a. salvadore)

then upstairs in his room i noticed alot of books that i had also, kinda funny.

anyways, i have hundreds of sci-fi books. other then that, the only other thing i can think of is cd-roms. but those are accidental

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: aggressivly happy
Posts: 9120

i collect nothing

i own 3 things

books chloths and kinifes

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Registered: May 2001
Location: Louisiana
Posts: 987

I have a ton of scifi books mainly b/c my grandparents gave me the huge collection that my grandfather and uncles had built up. So they are older books, no later than 1970's, but good ones. I've read most of them.

I love watches, journals and stationary, but try to not buy them too often. I can never make myself keep a journal but I really like them. Since journals and stationary are sometimes a bit expensive I often just buy really cool cards that I find. It's nice b/c I always have a card that is just right.

I'm also a real softy when it comes to old things, the older the better. I have a number of books 100 or more years old. I have a russian orthodox cross that I bought while in Russia that the guy claimed was 300 years old, though I'm sure he was lying. One of my favorite things is this field telephone/morse code transmitter that used to belong to my grandfather. It's in a leather case and has a date on it from the early 1900's (it's not here in my apartment so I don't remember the actual date.) All the parts are there, even the battery. I always wanted to try and get it working, but I'm sure they don't make batteries that fit them anymore.

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Registered: Nov 2001
Location: on the move
Posts: 1266

when I had a desk job (those where the days) I decorated my area with various items to amuse myslef and keep others away. I had a few little foam skulls and brains, a little tube filled with red liquid and a plastic severed hand floating in it, a squish bag filled with little eyeballs (it made slurping noises when you squeezed it), and a variety or todd mcfarlin 'spawn' toys. my walls where decorated with a H.R. Giger calander, Gorey prints from a few of his books (the ghastly crumb tinies is my favorite) and a quakeIII poster. I also kept on hand a few comic books like Lenore (cute little dead girl) for when I got caught off guard and had to use the can at work.

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Registered: May 2001
Location: Louisiana
Posts: 987

quote:

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Originally posted by MadLucas
I also kept on hand a few comic books like Lenore (cute little dead girl) for when I got caught off guard and had to use the can at work.

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: zanzibar
Posts: 10413

The one thing I did have on my desk was an old Airguide temperture/humidity gauge from my grandmother's house. It confirmed that the place was so staticy because it was dry.

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