The last throes of unpacking.

[nenena]

I can't find a stapler. Anywhere. I have staples, and I have two staple removers. But no stapler.

I can't find my nail clippers.

However, I did find, mixed among my office supplies:

1. A rainbow slinky.
2. A Hanuman lunchbox.
3. Two kitchen debate timers.
4. A box of scented markers that are still scented despite three years in storage.
5. A lightsaber spoon. The handle lights up. It still works. The battery is still good.

I'm pretty sure that last one was actually a cereal prize.

Alas! The lightsaber spoon does nothing for my hangnail. I suppose I'll just have to suffer in silence until tomorrow.

Oh, and a zip disk! I found two zip disks in my last box. I have no idea what's even on them. Or if I'll ever be able to find an actual working zip drive in order to, you know, check and see. Hey, does anyone still remember zip drives? I recall that they were actually cutting edge technology back when I was in high school. This was of course before the invention of USB flash drives. Hell, that was even back from before CD-writers were common. No wait, that's not quite true. I remember that when I was a sophomore in high school, external CD-writers went on sale at Best Buy for the first time, and this was like a Huge Freaking Deal. And yet, by the time I graduated high school I think that pretty much all computers on the market came with built-in CD drives. That's only a difference of two years, but two years is like *forever* in technology terms.

Random: The last time that I had dinner with my mom, she waxed poetic about electric typewriters. For like, fifteen minutes. Someday I will be old and drunk on Argentinian Malbec and waxing poetic about the joys of my first external CD-drive, too.

Comments

[neocloud9.livejournal.com]

Isn't it funny how that always happens? And by "funny," I mean maddening.

[amish-queen.livejournal.com]

Oh lord, I remember when I was in 8th grade and I tried to bring a floppy into school... I was looking around the towers thinking: "WHERE DO YOU PUT IT IN?!"

...I was a very sheltered child.

But yes, I can see where you're coming from with the finding of random crap-- I just cleaned my holycrapwhatthehellisallinherethisissofuckingdirty room several weeks ago and found my 4th grade journal filled with horrible grammar and lulz as well as a creepy music box I'm glad I will never have to see again...

[sagemuraken.livejournal.com]

I remember zip disks! I also remember floppy disks that were actually floppy. XD

When I got my current desktop computer (now some years old and way outdated) I was disappointed to find no slot for the small floppies. :( The thing I find the most amazing/good nowdays though is how much data can fit on a disk/computer. My first computer had a spectacular HD of 3mb! XD

[atelierjoh.livejournal.com]

I remember zip drives!

I find kids nowadays who don't even known what a Super Nintendo is. I find that fact sad.

[steelehearts.livejournal.com]

a hanuman lunchbox? wow! post a photo, will you? and what were you doing with a rainbow slinky?

[nenena.livejournal.com]

Hanuman!



That's Hanuman, next to a beanbag puppy, sitting on top of my road atlas. Don't ask.

Um, I really have *no idea* what I was doing with that rainbow slinky. I don't even remember how or when I got it.

[steelehearts.livejournal.com]

supercute! look at the expression on their faces... the puppy is very impressed by mr. hanuman. 'ooo, mr. 'man, ooo's that on your chest?' :D
but it's a lovely pic. typical, but lovely.

[orthoflame.livejournal.com]

My goodness, you're a desk ninja, aren't you? Or should I say desk jedi?

I second the notion of taking pictures of that Hanuman lunchbox. I must see this!! :O

And heeey, slinky! I love slinkies, especially the rainbow-colored ones. I heard they're kinda old-school. But hey, having a slinky walk down a flight of stairs is awesome.

[nenena.livejournal.com]

I just posted a photo in the comment above you:
http://nenena.livejournal.com/238864.html?thread=1619216#t1619216

[orthoflame.livejournal.com]

OMG, Hanuman-ji!! That lunchbox is awesome beyond words! Mind if I ask where you got/received it from?

Oh, and thanks for the pic!

[nenena.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure that I bought it in St. Augustine, FL, from one of those "hippie knickknack" stores where they peddle a bunch of fake fairy, crystal, and vaguely Asian-flavored goods to white people who want to be all mystukal. So in short, it's not authentic in any way - I'm pretty sure it was made by white people, for white people - and the only Sanskrit writing on it is a giant "OM" on the side. But I still think that that painting of Hanuman is lovely, so that's why I bought it.

[orthoflame.livejournal.com]

I didn't think it was an authentic item in the first place, but the Hanuman painting on the lunchbox is quite lovely! I think that's the charm of the item.

Heh, hippie stores. I don't understand the appeal in Asian goods, especially in stores that like. Though to be fair, I did get some rather stylish kurtas at a local one...

[steelehearts.livejournal.com]

*having a slinky walk down a flight of stairs is awesome*

you've done that too? watching a slinky flop down with a delighted goofy grin on your face?

[orthoflame.livejournal.com]

you've done that too? watching a slinky flop down with a delighted goofy grin on your face?
Yep, sure have! Delightfully goofy grin and all (I don't have a picture, sorry). Rain or shine, that was always fun to do. A shame not a lot of kids these days see the beauty of slinkies. I remember there used to be a few TV slinky ads that had kids being all giddy from seeing a slinky flop down a flight of stairs.

Speaking of which, I should probably try to find my old rainbow slinky.

[miss-breeziness.livejournal.com]

Ain't it weird...I have a rainbow slinky. Sitting on my desk as a pen holder. :D

[nenena.livejournal.com]

Cool! Are they really that sturdy, though? Mine is plastic and it can barely stand up on its own, let alone support a bunch of pens. Unless you have one of the metal ones...?

[miss-breeziness.livejournal.com]

Mine's plastic too! I never said it worked that well. I just put it in that role because I didn't know what else to do with it. :D

[corinn.livejournal.com]

I remember when I moved back in with my mum after living in a dorm with a person I actually got along with; for about a year, the two of us kept finding random things that belonged to the other. Shoes, shirts, office supplies, pillowcases, knick-knacks, books, art supplies... Ah, packing.

I actually had never heard of a zip drive/disk until my (ill-fated) stint at a design school in 2004, when a few teachers required us to have a zip disk. Ugh. Hated them.

I never know whether to be amused or embarrassed that my PC actually has a functioning A:\ drive. I have to go through my old floppies someday and figure out what's on them... I was always annoyed with them because they only held 1.44MB, and even in my computer infancy I was an image fiend.

I also still remember doing SATs through IAAY as a seventh grader, and getting the test prep materials on floppy disks. SAT prep on floppies! LOL!

[nenena.livejournal.com]

I remember that one of the very first things that I bought for my family's very first computer was a Star Wars screensaver. It took five floppy disks to install!

[corinn.livejournal.com]

Five floppies?! LOLOLOL How far we've come!

I remember when I wanted to transfer my image collection from the old family computer to my (then-new) personal computer; it went a couple images at a time, and some had to be diced into pieces in MS Paint and reassembled on the new computer because the old family PC didn't have a CD-R drive. ( ﾟ ヮﾟ)

Of course, this was before I ever heard of the .png, which I loooooooove. I hated the lossiness of .jpg-- and didn't have something like Photoshop with which to make HQ .jpg-- so I saved files as .bmp.( ﾟ ヮﾟ)

Regarding old computers... I still miss SimCity 2000, which was on my first computer. I spent hours on that game.

[meiousei.livejournal.com]

Occasionally, I pull out my trusty Sony Vaio from 2000 and use its floppy drive. Because whenever I clean my desk out I just find more unlabeled discs. I think they're breeding in there.

(In every archive I've worked, we've always had a functioning typewriter. They way more useful than computers for some things.)

[nenena.livejournal.com]

Yep, Debbie said the same thing. She said that the law department at Deere *has* to keep a typewriter around because they are apparently still required to be used for certain legal documents. And they really have no idea what they're going to do, ten years down the line, when they finally use up their last typewriter ribbon. To which I said, "Hopefully by ten years down the line your paperwork will have evolved past the need for typewriters." But you never know.

[corinn.livejournal.com]

LOL, I use a VAIO from 2002! Has yours ever had a catastrophic meltdown?

[meiousei.livejournal.com]

I actually haven't used my VAIO regularly since about August 2007, when I got my Macbook (which I use every day and love). It hasn't had an epic meltdown or anything, but it takes FOREVER to do anything (Windows 98 FTW!). It got me through college and 1 year of distance grad school though, so it did okay. Even though it only functioned when plugged in during the last 2 years of its life (I was too cheap to get a new battery).

[cykstar.livejournal.com]

I remember zip disks. We kept using them up til middle school ('91 kid here). As a kid, we HAD to get multicolored ones. After they became obsolete, I just did the abysmal act of pulling on that metal thing that covers the important innards. Back when we had our first computer (and I was like...5) my dad had all these real floppy disks and zip disks and I used to play with them like toys. I would say I miss zip disks because I'm more used to storing info in them than CDs (and thus the lovelyness of USBs as all you need to do is click and drag).

We have an old laptop (that we still use even though we shouldn't because it malfunctions time to time. Someday I'll be getting a desktop and my mom will take my laptop since she mostly uses the old one) and you can interchange the CD thing with a zip disk thing.

[sdrose.livejournal.com]

Yeah the lightsaber spoon was a cereal prize...sad that I know that. Even sadder I think that's why I bought the cereal, oh well now I use it for my cat's food.

[nenena.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure that's the only reason that I bought that particular cereal, too. ;)

[corinn.livejournal.com]

And that's why the cereal companies do marketing partnerships like that. xD

[sno-oki.livejournal.com]

We still have floppy disks. AND we still have a floppy disk port on TWO computers- the desktop and my mother's laptop

[kalium-kx.livejournal.com]

Aaaah, ZIP..seen em' around never used em'..think my folks still have them..I'll be reminiscing the 90's when i'm old for sure~

[lefthandpenguin.livejournal.com]

I saw this as I was creepin' on your old posts (creeper, ftw)

I suppose the debate timer thing means that you used to debate??? OMG you win so much for that!!! *fellow former debater!* :3

[nenena.livejournal.com]

Yes, debated and coached!

You too? High-five!

[(Anonymous)]

Yep, I did policy all four years of high school. Never coached, unless you count whacking novices in the face after judging them... >_>;;;

[lefthandpenguin.livejournal.com]

whoops, LJ logged me out ^^