What are some of your coolest prized possessions?
12Not all that long ago I worked for Blizzard Entertainment as a Game Master on World of Warcraft, it was a pretty awesome gig and I have very fond memories of the place. They also happen to have extremely awesome service awards.
This is still sitting on my bookcase proudly on display:
Unfortunately I never got my 5 year sword :(
What cool things do you have laying around your place (with pics if you got 'em)?
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Oh, suuuuure. You'd love that, wouldn't you. You guys have my address! I see right through your evil plot. I post an itemized catalog for you, and you'll come and steal all my awesome stuff!
(Actually, I'm too lazy to bother with this right now. Maybe later. Meh.)
The second shot of the mug looks like it says "0 years of service." How come I don't have one?
@SSteve It actually says "poo years of service", an award for doing an extra-shitty job.
I collect rare antique books. The coolest one I have is an 18th-century pre-Meiji Japanese illustrated novel. I have no idea if it's a good story or not, but it certainly looks cool.
I also look for diaries and other unique pieces. I have a handwritten pocket-sized travel diary of a lady who lived about a century ago, before world travel was nearly as common as it is today. There's something beautiful about keeping a voice from the past alive, forever.
Speaking of voices, back in the WW2 era it was possible to record one's own voice in a telephone-type booth, which was then put on a vinyl record and then shipped off to one of the troops overseas, usually the son or husband of the one who recorded it. When I get one I send it for free to any living relative of the person I can find. I can only imagine what it's like to get a package in the mail and 5 minutes later you're hearing your great-grandmother's voice, thin and distand on this scratchy old record, telling your grandfather how proud she is and how he needs to get home safe. And that recording is the only voice she has, or ever will have, in this world.
Some things are collected because they are precious. Some things must not be, for exactly the same reason.
@Starblind Wow. You've shamed anything the rest of us might post.
@Starblind Is that how Bill Murray's character in Monuments Men would've received a record from home of his family saying hi and singing to him?
@jqubed Exactly right. It worked both ways too, soldiers could also record their voices and send the disc back home to their families. The USO organised it, and the records sometimes had ads for Pepsi or other stuff. 1940s equivalent of voice mail.
@Starblind that is awesome, I got chills.
@Starblind ditto what @jonT said...
@Starblind I bought a photo of a WWI solider that was in a bin at an antique store. He needed adopted. When I took him out of the frame to see if anything was on the back, he had written on the back: {paraphrased} I look fat in this photo. I thought he looked kinda cute. Funny some things like body image don't change. But there is no name, so I call him Reginald or Reggie for short. He is displayed along w/ other family photos.
@Starblind @Starblind Can I ask what your most expensive book is? I just took a course in rare books and we talked a lot about antique book dealers. Man, some of that stuff goes for hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars!
@luvche21 Good question, but I don't really know. Much like with artwork, value on a unique book can only ever be an educated guess because there's no prior auction results to draw from. One can certainly get them appraised (this is usually done for insurance reasons) and get a number, but if the book is sold at auction it might get 10x that number, or 1/10th of it, or more, or less. At auction there's a million factors that one can't control, such as the weather, and all kinds of psychological stuff. For example, suppose you have a rare book under the hammer and someone there intends to bid 100K for it, but another item they bid on goes higher than expected so they don't bid on yours, which goes for the opening bid of 10K instead. You've essentially lost 90K (three years' salary for a lot of folks) over something in which you had no control. Of course the opposite can happen too and it could go for far more than expected over something equally random and trivial. My point isn't that auctions are scary (though they are) but that value on something unique is essentially an unknown variable. I would definitely say though that I'm pretty sure I don't have any individual piece worth a million or even close, unless I find Audubon's Birds of America stashed behind the fridge or something..
@Starblind Yeah, good point. I guess I was curious as well how you have gotten into it--did you buy them? or inherit them? Yeah, good luck on finding Audubon's Birds of America, there was one for sale out here in Indiana recently, but I'm not sure how much it ended up going for.
@Starblind Once I'm wealthy (ok, maybe that's IF I ever become wealthy...), I'm definitely going into rare books for a hobby :)
I've got a flight manual for a naval jet I got years ago from a friend. All but the weapon section is included. Also have some Sim game manuals signed by Will Wright (Simcity games, not the newer Sims games).
I have loads of signed books, thanks to my years in publishing. Showiest signatures are Tim Gunn, Stephen Colbert, Ethan Hawke, Steven Tyler. Most special are Neil Gaiman, David Sedaris, John Scalzi, Gabrielle Zevin, Polly Horvath, Nick Hornby, Adam Rex, Jeffrey Eugenides, Carroll Spinney. Having my photo taken with Oscar the Grouch I almost lost it. There were tears shed throughout that book signing event. Discreetly.
I also own this.
@JonT Also, you totally should have stayed for the sword.
@bluedyn I was planning on it! Unfortunately I got laid off along with 599 other people.
@JonT That sucks. But their loss was our eventual gain.
@bluedyn Agreed. I can genuinely say this place wouldn't be the same without @JonT. Don't worry, JonT, if I ever visit the Meh offices I'll bring you a Warcraft sword.
@Starblind @bluedyn thanks y'all :)
The other item I'm really proud of is my collection of promo/fake credit cards- the ones you get in the mail with various credit card offers. I've got a large variety from all the major credit card providers, in both cardboard and plastic.
@dashcloud I always hang onto those and stuff a fake wallet with them if I'm travelling to an area where I might be more likely to be mugged or have my pocket picked. Keep a few bucks of the local currency in it, not enough to worry about if it's stolen but enough to use in public areas like buying transit fare or food from a street vendor.
probably something from my modest mouse collection. I got all their records and a few of their rare cassette tapes and a Wicks custom Guitar. I also have some other strange records that are p. hard to find, so anything else would probably come from that.
@CowboyDann Wow, never heard of anyone with a mouse collection before, modest or otherwise.
@Starblind That's 'cause they're so modest about it.
@ardgedee +starred for hilarity
My three most prized possessions. Pretty much everything else I have can be replaced.
Yeah, they're fat & furry, but they love me and I love them.
@bluedog =,)
@bluedog the dogs are cute too
@bluedog I don't see the third dog.
@SSteve He's the one wearing the sneakers.
@bluedog You win.
I have one of Dave Letterman's ties. He gave it to me during a show 5 years ago. It was from Barney's in New York.
I got the blue one.
My friends and I posed in the lobby after the show with our new ties. We were forever known as Tie Brothers.
Mine are small tokens of great memories. The flyer from a street fair where I got to hang out with 2 of the Beach Boys. The silly rubber snake that Branscombe Richmond put around my shoulders when he called me up to sing in front of about 6,000 at a NAMM show when I was 14, (I didn't know that was going to happen.) The SuperCross tickets from the first time I was in Vegas. Little things like that. They are huge to me.
I do have some fantastic things, but those reminders mean more.
Except this painting, I would risk fire for this painting.
I commissioned it from a friend of ours. I couldn't imagine having a home and having that painting up.
@Thumperchick That's a really cool painting.
He-Man Talking Toothbrush
Some of my dad's photography. He was a pretty cool guy in general, including helping to invent speech recognition and speech synthesis in the '60s (for which I was a guinea pig, in fact), but his photography was exhibited around the country and in Europe in the '50s and '60s. We couldn't rescue it all, and a gallery in Boston that ended up with four pieces has since sold three of them, which I think is kind of cool.
And, like Thumperchick, memories of being in the right place at the right time. An evening spent dancing to surf records in the living room of one of my favorite singer-songwriters, an afternoon hanging out with Abbie Hoffman. Chatting about glassblowing with someone who's unknown outside that world but a rock star in it, and becoming friends with a favorite dioramist.
@editorkid You know someone who makes these? Sweet!
The photography sounds cool, too. Any images you can share?
@bluedyn He calls himself an "artist of sculptural landscapes" because his work isn't designed to fit into a regular confined space, but "dioramist" was the best quick word I could think of to get the idea across. As for my dad's photos, he worked in pretty large formats and I'm still trying to figure out a way to afford putting 'em online.
@editorkid Think about the Internet Archive if you can't find anywhere else. Also, I'd love to see any of the speech stuff.
@editorkid Chihuly?
@Bingo No, he's definitely known outside the glassblowing world. I'd have to prod my memory to think of his name... it was at an event at the SOFA exhibition a few years ago.
A photo of my great grandfather with Einstein. They look alike.
@KDemo that's awesome! We have an entire meeting room at Mediocre devoted to Einstein (who was anything but).
@JonT - agreed. Lest you think my great grandfather was another scientist, there's a pretty funny story behind the photo.. Since they looked so much alike, some friends convinced my g g to impersonate Einstein at a big movie premiere in So Cal. Einstein arrived later and luckily, enoyed the joke.
@KDemo I was born where Einstein lived. My mom said she'd be walking me in the stroller and Einstein would be walking down the street muttering to himself, basically ignoring everyone. Too bad no photos...
A key chain very similar to this.
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I have had it for over twenty years. It has hung in every car I own. It is my good luck charm as I have had two cars stolen yet the cars have always been recovered with the key chain in it.
@conandlibrarian
@conandlibrarian Maybe the keychain keeps stealing your cars...
@Thumperchick could be, he does have a pretty sinister smirk on his face.
I have a great great great ( not sure how many greats actually) grandfather's civil war papers. {union army) Lists his battles -- wounded at Gettysburg. It's kinda cool.
I have an old photo of him too.
I have a good friend with an incredible wine cellar. We have drunk some very nice wines. I save the empties of the really good ones. Like these. If you know good Bordeaux wines, you will know these.
A framed, dried sunflower from my great grandfathers high school herberium senior project. My dad's drivers license.
Plus, dinosaur magnets.
My cats, carillon practice keyboard, some original art work and some photos of the family going way back.
@Kidsandliz You play the carillon? Awesome! It's not too often you meet a carilloner. How often do you actually get to play?
@luvche21 Where I live now there isn't one in the entire state. When I go visit my mom I play. Played christmas eve there almost every year since 1972
@Kidsandliz It's some intense stuff! I got an awesome tour of the tower in Naperville, just outside of Chicago, and there's one here on campus too. How did you get into it?
@luvche21 Grew up by one, though it was cool, played it in college (and it was the only legal way up the library tower - was up there a bunch of other ways too though), went to Ann Arbor got lessons, went to the Netherlands got lessons (worked in exchange for room, board and lessons) and realized no real way to earn a living doing that in the USA (except for a rare few and most have at least a masters in music, if not a PhD) so started working with adjudicated youth canoeing across the state of Florida (grew up camping so this was actually a logical step), working on tall ships (have a master near costal license with sail, tug, etc. endorsements…). Go tired of being broke, went back to school and got MBA and PhD… currently unemployed due to illegal layoff due to cancer… my go fund me account is about all that has kept me going. I have a kid I adopted at almost 10 and the adoption community is paying it forward (my kid is really troubled and I have helped a lot of folks over the years and they have paid it forward although that community is about tapped out - need to figure out how to get national attention to get more funding - a freaking job would help although my financial hole is deep now. At least with meh $3 flashlights for christmas for 3 people… getting christmas done before I run out of money and doing it cheaply). Oh, have an NGO in Cambodia, worked in 6 countries and a pile of states. Lots of employers don't like such a mixed background and I am over educated for a ton of stuff I am applying for. Recently spent 10 weeks in the Walmart parking lot flogging plants (that was the job from hell with sweat dripping off my eyelashes in good ol southern heat). There is a nice cluster of carillons in the midwest and several really, really good carillonneurs around there too.
@Kidsandliz Wow! That was the whole story too! :) I hope things take a turn for the better for you, best of luck!
A full-sized non-fake blowgun my mom brought from the Amazon long ago. Paintings my kids did when they were little.
Don't have many prized possessions but I did have one of these in my house all throughout college and about 10 years after.
I loved that game. Even had MKII, UMK3 and Killer Instinct PCB boards mounted in it with a custom control panel. I was the man for a while. Everyone wanted to play. I sold it to some dude on Craigslist a few years ago. Someday I'd love to get a big 25" cabinet like that and wire up a MAME system so I could play all of the awesome games from my childhood.
I have a plastic container, a little bigger than a plastic shoebox, and it is crammed full of, what I call, "My made in China crap." A few years ago I started getting emails from Meritline.com, home of cheap Chinese goods, specializing in printer ink. The emails come everyday and they list a bunch of daily specials with free shipping. I'll go through the list and see what's cheap, under a dollar cheap, and I'll often order it. From funky little screwdriver sets, to finger puppets, to blackhead removers, to all kinds of cheap ass flashlights, to wind up toys, and on and on. And when I have company and there's a lull in the conversation, I break out the box and just let them go through it. Everyone loves it! And half the crap is a guessing game as to what it is or does. The box is good for entertainment for easily a couple hours.
It's not valuable. It's not anything I'd save from a fire. It's just so weird it's cool.
@Teripie I'm speechless.
@Teripie Ah Meritline, I haven't ordered from them in ages. My $2 digital cooking thermometer has lasted a few years, so I'm pretty proud of that one!
@luvche21 I love their little puzzle boxes. I give them (w/money in them) instead of birthday cards. Just wish they had some different ones.
@Teripie this sounds like the beginnings of the next crap exchange
@marklog I'm not sure if I could bring myself to part with this stuff. I mean, how could I give up a whistle that has a built in compass and thermometer and only cost 69 cents?
@Teripie For me, it would depend on if the whistle was an oral or a rectal thermometer.
I have a sweet possum skull
@matthew Really? You should document how you came across it. Maybe make it into a 9-part video series. Call it, I don't know, The 'Possum Head Chronicles. People will LOVE it!
My dad managed to find one of these at a garage sale:
Way cool. You can even do square roots if you know the process.
I have been into mini bikes for about the last year. I've accumulated quite the collection, but I have to say this one is my favorite:
I have looked everywhere for parts for it, with little luck -- except here. Anyone know where I can get parts for a Gilson mini bike? How about a Rupp Chain guard? :)
I've actually started to restore this one now, but I don't have any updated photos right now
@capguncowboy How many do you have?
I guess my prized possessions is the saved art work from the kids. My oldest did a portrait of me on wood and man that thing has seen a lot over the last few years.
@xarous Yeah that would go into your "save if there was a fire" box