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The best things in life
November 20, 2007
“Oprah’s Favorite Things” was on today. I hate those. They make me jealous. Uncharacteristically jealous. I was the kid who ignored the toy and played with the box. And then delivered both to orphans. On foot. In the desert.
Here are some things I really like that I paid little or no money for, and that Oprah didn’t hand to me.
I’ve never been one to wear much jewelery, but I saw the top ring in a $.25 vending machine at a grocery store and have been wearing it since. My finger has yet to turn blue or fall off, so I consider it a successful purchase. The black band is made of some sort of stone, and I like it more than diamonds. I found it in the grass as I watched a joust at a Renaissance Festival. They’re both the perfect size.
My first English class at my first college was American Literature. The professor was horrifyingly strict. Our term paper topic was open, and I decided to focus on Hawthorne’s short stories — the one’s we hadn’t covered in class. When I nervously showed up to his office one afternoon for guidance, he gave me this book. He’s still my favorite professor. They’re still my favorite short stories.
I was socially clueless during my years in the dorms, not that that’s changed much. On the first occasion I attempted the party thing, I dug through my closet for something that wasn’t a t-shirt. I didn’t even own a purse. A girl down the hall stumbled upon my impediments and let me borrow some sparkly shirt thing. She also gave me this bag.
Did you know I coached a lacrosse (”lax”) team? Last year was my little sister’s first time playing. She made me this lamp in her middle school, asexual wood shop. I have yet to hook it up. Not that I’m scared of it burning my apartment down, or anything. Yep.
Categories: Daily
November 21st, 2007 at 12:21 am
I guess I’ve not heard a class called ‘asexual’ before.
What, are things your sister is involved with that apt for trouble? You should hang around my siblings…there’s trouble for sure in one form or another.
November 21st, 2007 at 12:24 am
The dessert? :)
What a good idea for a blog post … I may steal this …
November 21st, 2007 at 12:39 am
Michael - They try not to call it wood shop anymore, because that’s too manly? Or something? It’s called “life lessons” now. Or something?
Ashley - AH! Thanks! Can you proofread all of my posts? Please?
November 21st, 2007 at 1:10 am
This is a nice collection.
And my favorite Hawthorne? Rapacinni’s Daughter.
November 21st, 2007 at 1:36 am
Aww, this is lovely. I’m fighting the urge not to steal it as well. (I fight the same urge with intensify.org’s entire design, by the way. The music! The bite-size movie/book reviews! Be still my heart, but I will not copy it because that would be wrong.)
November 21st, 2007 at 1:37 am
what a cute homemade lamp! i made a pig for my mom in woodshop. ah, yes. the dorm partying. i still think its lame we all get dressed up to go to a house party. but i still do it anyway heh. I like how the two rings look together.
November 21st, 2007 at 1:38 am
I’m fighting the urge to steal it, I mean. Not “not to steal it.” Apparently I’m also fighting the urge to write appallingly bad English.
November 21st, 2007 at 2:50 am
That ring looks pretty similar to the hematite one I wore until I snapped it in half when I took it off for the first time. They’re nice…looking.
And if that lamp is anything like the one I was forced to make in middle school - it probably won’t burn anything down without giving you advance notice.
November 21st, 2007 at 2:54 am
The story behind your ring makes me happy… especially the black one, I like it the most… but I also like RenFests XD Best ring evar!
And lol @ the lamp burning your house down haha!
November 21st, 2007 at 6:54 am
Lovely things - the lamp is great. My other half made a wooden lampstand in school and we still have it by the bed and we are not burnt to cinders yet. Have faith!!
My favourite things are my silver bangles. Whenever I go to a different country I try to buy one from a market or whatever. Not only are they pretty but they are useful when I am out running and someone is in the way - I can just jangle them. I don’t have the breath left to say “excuse me”.
November 21st, 2007 at 9:03 am
I love that top ring, I can’t believe you got it out of a machine! And… the lamp definitely looks like fire potential. :)
November 21st, 2007 at 9:09 am
At least your collection is original and heartfelt…..although I couldn’t bring myself to watch Oprah yesterday as I, too, was feeling a wee bit envious!
November 21st, 2007 at 9:38 am
heh, at first I was going to say that last pic was a sweet lookin beer tap. Still cool it’s a lamp :)
cheers!
Oh and I hate Oprah also for giving out the friggin Kitchen Aid Mixer that my wife has been asking for 3 years now.
November 21st, 2007 at 9:51 am
I still sometimes where I very bizarre/ugly necklace my sister made me in middle school. It gets lots of comments/glares.
November 21st, 2007 at 11:33 am
I want to do this and with pictures too! :P And god, how I love your rings and they really look cute/ nice in your finger… I’m enviious!!! :D
November 21st, 2007 at 11:52 am
De-lurking to say hello and let you know that the black ring is Black Onyx. I worked for a Rock Shop in Branson, MO..we sold those. They’re great and will hold up to a lot more than a Hematite ring will, as someone else mentioned.
November 21st, 2007 at 12:53 pm
Kendra - Thanks so much for the info!
November 21st, 2007 at 1:21 pm
For a moment there I was thinking, “Hey, wait a second.. LAX has a gift shop with quaint little handcrafted wooden things? How did I miss that?” And then I read the description. I think your sister should call the airport with the idea. They might buy the design off of her ;)
November 21st, 2007 at 1:58 pm
I made a beer-can lamp in eighth-grade wood shop (still called wood shop back then), and it never caught fire even once. It did get crushed in one of the moves between college apartments, and it didn’t even explode or anything. So go ahead and plug that lamp in…
November 21st, 2007 at 3:55 pm
Come now, I thought the dessert thing was intentional! Hi, you’re a genius.
November 21st, 2007 at 4:26 pm
Christina- it’s okay, I rip Rachel off all the time!
Those rings would have made my fingers different colors by now since I have problem skin and am allergic to everything. In the future when I have a boyfriend if I think he’s going to propose I’m just going to tell him that I’m allergic to everything that isn’t platinum.
November 21st, 2007 at 5:05 pm
i wish i could find awesome, abandoned rings in the middle of nowhere…
i think i am going to steal this idea too.
November 21st, 2007 at 5:41 pm
I was supposed to make a scoop, a spaghetti strainer, and a birdhouse for my IA (Industrial Arts) class in middle school.
The scoop and spaghetti strainer I produced could have been made by Pablo Picasso, and the birdhouse never made it to completion due to “structural inadequacies.”
To me, that lamp looks like the Leg Lamp from A Christmas Story. Beautiful to behold, gleaming in a window somewhere…