finding things among (ugly) things and taking them out and looking at them

My friend works at Salvation Army and I often go there on Saturdays. On the counter there are plastic boxes full of assorted STUFF that the people who work at the thrift store probably hate to organize and don't want to bother so they just dump them into these boxes. Dollar store throwaway cheap labor trinkets, handmade stuff (that might have been gifts for someone?), also just bits and pieces and strings, rocks and sticks.

Some words we could use to describe the stuff in the box:

plastic
assorted
mixed
cheap
junk
cluttered
ugly
colorful
useless

If you have a box like this at home you know. Even the thought of having to dig into those boxes and sorting them out is pretty depressing. You'd probably rather just not have them around, you'd rather throw them out. So why do you have them? Maybe you don't. I know I do.

At rare times I atill become very interested and start to feel attached to them. This saturday was one of those rare times I was digging the box and feelin' it.



Throwing away useless stuff and bringing it to be sold to other people at thrift shops are two completely different things. Think of what use could your junk be to someone else.

Like these wedding candies that have aphorisms written on the back.

Stuff like:

"Happiness is a matter of digestion for me"

"Lucky the man who has a wife to tell him what to do and a secretary to do it for him"

Ancient Chinese secret, huh.

They reminded me of HyiHyiHyi* which is a d.i.y jewelry project I had with Mirkka some years ago. We also had an idea of making jewelry that comes with an aphorism, fortune cookie style.

Conceptual jewelry design, bless you.











Here is Johanna presenting one of the wonderful snake charms from the box.





Oh rock.

I'm feelin it...



Heartshaped wooden earrings.

Johanna feelin it...



I'm taking this home:



How would children describe these boxes? Maybe as treasure boxes. My mom was a dentist and she had a box like this at her work. To calm her small patients she would ask them to pick out something from the box after the appointment. I was always in awe that my mother could provide kids with this stuff. Maybe it somehow made up for the sad fact that your mom is a dentist and all the kids in school would rather not visit her that much. I dunno freud. But box was cool! The sensation of putting your hand amongst all the trasures and picking something for yourself.

So I realize I'm still fascinated and I recognize that and I don't completely know how to feel about that. What does that make me?

Growing and growing up are two completely different things I guess.

I could say a lot more about the things in the box. Now I'm going to eat with my friends and thus must leave the box.

Let's end with the conversation with that drunken American girl at the party on Thursday:

"I'm so angry!"
"Why are you angry?"
"Cuz of my things.... I lost my things..."

Love,
Elina

* HyiHyiHyi is a Finnish onomatopoetic phrase you say when you disapprove of something, a cross between a NoNoNo and a YuckYuckYuck.