100 Things (or so)

[melannen]

I spent the afternoon working on cleaning out the attic (this is an ongoing process subject to weather conditions, but the section I did today really needed it). Our attic is very small - it's over the whole house, but the area between the downstairs ceiling and the current roof (which was added post-purchase by Dad) is pretty low, about 4' at the highest and rapidly sloping down to both edges, so you have to crawl. Also the floor is slanted because it's the original roof, and the sharp ends of nails from the roofing poke out of the ceiling every six inches or so.

In short, it's the most fun place in the house!

I did maybe 1/8 of the whole attic today, and was inspired to do an inventory while I was at it. So for pure anthropological interest, here is the current contents of Mom's attic :

Attic contents: area straight ahead from trapdoor (counterclockwise from left):

old phones and answering machines
violet wand
antenna control box
tv digital converter
2 ceramic turkeys
3 boxes christmas cards stuff
old small wall hanging pictures from kids' rooms
clip-on lamp

1910 Harvard Classics
Sweet Pickles books
Berenstain Bears books
assorted v. old kids' books
bright & early books/beginner books
small bookshelf
mysterious square brown flat thing on the floor

picture frames
easel
folding lap tray
small computer/printer shelves
attic ventilation fan (not installed)
soapmaking trays
motorcycle helmet
window fans
bowtie antenna
old mailbox
carpet & carpet underlayer scraps
box of random toy stuff
4 boxes of dad's puzzles
2 boxes of wind-up toys
box of building blocks
box of articulated dinosaur bones
box of spare corelle dishware
small rubber mats
trunk cover for subaru
box of cookie tins
box of asst'd jars and tupperware
box of antique wool cards
box of smoked glasses
box of fondue pots

2 boxes empty bags
spare sunhats
box of rainbow brite comforters
box of globe mugs, other mugs & kids' dishes
folding wheeled cart


Taken down to go through and either get rid of or integrate into downstairs life:
pile of buckets and colanders
bag labeled "fleas"
box labeled "fleas"
kids' games and puzzles to get rid of
box of baskets and ass't'd packing material
bag of dad's old shirts
box of disposable aluminum cookware
leaf for kitchen table
big box o' perler beads
weaving loops and frames
Spirographs, map puzzles, paperdoll set, Memory, trivial trivia cards.

I say "anthropological interest" because home inventories are some of the most fascinating documents I ever got to look at while doing research.¹ And in general I find the stuff we surround ourselves with, and the emotional capital we invest in it, fascinating! There's a reason I have a hoard-brooding tag on my journal.

I actually thought about doing the "100 Things" meme when it was first going around, about 100 Things - or to put it in BBC terms, A Personal History in 100 Objects - but I decided it's not like I needed *more* ideas for journal entries.

But hey, anyone want to do a variation on that? Several things that would have been on my 100 Things list are in that inventory anyway. If anybody leave a comment asking about something on that inventory, I will tell them a story about it! (Either in a comment or a new post, depending on how much I have to say.)

¹And also learning the term "provisionally discarded" in an archeology class has actually helped me a lot in the ongoing 'don't turn into a hoarder' battle - I can "provisionally discard" things without having to decide now, and then if a year later they're still in the 'provisionally discarded' storage - either because I didn't want them or I forgot I still had them - they go.)

Comments

[marginaliana]

Because I am secretly 12 years old, I had a moment of amusement at "ass't'd packing material," but I think I'm more intrigued by "perler beads." What are those?

[melannen]

THAT IS THE CORRECT ABBREVIATION OKAY! :P

I thought everybody in the US under forty knew about Perler beads! They're the best way ever invented for making RL pixel art (if you don't have the patience for cross-stitch.)

They're these little colored plastic cylindrical beads, maybe a few millimeters a side. While you can string them together for ugly jewelry if you're desperate, what they're designed for is that they come with these little pegboards, and you place the beads on the pegs in a specific design. And then if you apply heat with an iron over it, the beads melt together at the tops and form a single object, which is removed from the pegboard and can then be used for hundreds dozens ... a coaster.

(Okay, you could do other things. I think the last time we had them out, when I was in high school, we made a whole bunch of pixelated X-Wings, Y-Wings, TIE fighters, and blaster bolts, put magnets on the back, and had dogfights on the fridge for the next several months. The downside is that the objects don't hold up to wear very well - it's easy to break the seams where the beads are melted together, especially if it has a lot of protruding bits, and then your object falls apart.)

They were a huge fad when I was a kid! You could go in a craft store and buy the beads by color, in any quantity. They're less popular now, but you can still purchase them. My friends at Interrobang Studios who go to all the comic/anime cons tell me that there's somebody else on the circuit who has a GIANT pegboard (like, a couple hundred pixels on a side) and sells really elaborate Perler bead art suitable for framing - she did portraits of the two of them, and they really do look like RL video game sprites.

The more standard pegboards are only about 15X15 pixels, so you can't do much with them. I thought we'd got rid of our remaining collection, actually, because we had enough coasters. I haven't decided yet if there's anything I want to do with it (other than attempt some Commander Keen sprites) but it's going in the craft room so I don't forget about it again.

[marginaliana]

I had those! I fear that my mother may still have some of my creations coasters, even. I just didn't remember what they were called and had, in fact, forgotten all about them until just this very second reading your comment. OMG, wow, a wave of the early 90s just swept right over me.

You should definitely make something with the ones you found! The world needs, like, a little pixelated David Mitchell eating pizza or something. (I have just horrified myself with this sentence. But in the best way.)

[melannen]

Going up into our attic is like diving into a great ocean of the 70s, 80s, and 90s, really. :D

Unfortunately I don't think I could do a recognizable David Mitchell with a 15x15 grid and only about 16 colors. :P My skills = not that strong. I will have to consider the possibilities. (There is supposed to be a way to make something using more than one pegboard put together, but I never learned how. And I'm definitely not buying any more beads, no matter how much having more blacks would help.)