Seaport Duckie

item#: 085
material: plastic
date acquired: 2001
status: taken (1.26.08)

I was working for the Department of Residential Education at NYU, living in the East Village. I knew if I moved downtown the commute would be longer, but the apartment would be big, new, and possibly have a nice view. So, I moved to the Financial District. NYU @ the Seaport was an attempt to create solidarity among the staff of four residence halls: the massive Water Street dorm, Cliff Street, 99 John, and The Exchange. It was pretty short lived. A few months later Water was considered one staff, and the smaller staffs of Cliff, John, and Exchange were grouped into another.

This time as a member of NYU @ the Seaport was marked by a lot of frustration, confusion, and a lingering feeling of helplessness that made me bitter. I guess it paid off a bit in the end though. As a result of 9-11, the shifting staff, and the simple fact that I stuck around, I got the chance to reside in quite possibly the most fabulous place I’ll ever live–RENT FREE. When I look back at the two years living at the Seaport, it was great working there. That was reason enough to hang on to the duck. It’s also pretty cute.

I recently passed this on to a woman in Philadelphia who thought it was adorable. I had a moment of hesitation. Second thoughts were shooting through my mind; I didn’t want to let it go. What would she do with it? Was I a making a bad choice for the duck? Abandoning it for no good reason? She wrote me reporting, “[I] took a bath with my rubber ducky last night. LOL I have about 5 different duckies. I’m so silly.” I had some mixed emotions at first to hear this, but resolved that I was happy to know that the Seaport duck will now have friends, be among his kind, instead of collecting dust on my shelf next to a pewter figurine of the peeing sculpture in Brussels.

item#: 067 & 068
materials: plastic
status: taken (2.01.08)

These two are quite the pair.  I can’t recall when or how Giraffe lost a leg.  The monkey, however, is the perfect height and is more than willing to lend a hand (leg?) to his dear friend.  They go everywhere together–art openings, fancy dinners, the occasional opera or show–and they truly enjoy each other’s company.

Over the years I’ve grown quite fond of this couple, and I look forward to seeing what life brings them next.

Star Locators

star locator & instruction book
item#: 034 & 035 (I have two)
materials: paper
status: taken (1.26.08 & 2.13.08)

My mid-term project for my physical computing class was lots of fun. The concept: a tent that had little lights under a layer of fabric. When you touched the walls you could “light up” stars and create your own constellations.

At the time I had a tent set up in my apartment. I slept in there sometimes, my friends came over and slept in there sometimes. Later, I turned it into a womb. Anyway, I made a model, and then I constructed tent panels out of shower curtains. I did all the circuit stuff, but couldn’t get the sensors to function properly. Like many of my physical computing projects, it never worked as I hoped.

These materials and left over pieces of this project have a bit of a sad history. I was sorting through all the panels, the LEDs, the circuits I had spent hours soldering, the patterns for the tent model, and the sketches I had made for the design, and I just started crying. I loved making this, I still think it was a fun idea, but all these things represent a lot of failure, a whole era of creative projects that just never worked… so, it’s time to let these things go.

The pattern, made from paper, I recycled. I dumped the model with all the electronic bits. I will probably make envelopes out of the enlarged star locator maps and shower curtain panels. As for the original Edmund Scientific star locator (and instruction book), I’d like the next chapter in their history to be more positive, much better, and brighter.

The Star Locator was listed on Philadelphia’s freecycle network. Freecycle, as they state on their site, is all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of landfills. I like that. The woman who came to pick it up wanted it for her grandson. I hope he’s enjoying it.

update (2.12.08): Just yesterday I found yet another star gazer and an instruction book (How many did I buy???). SO… maybe you are reading this now and you want to star gaze. Maybe you want to make a star tent. Maybe you just want to attach better memories. BUT, maybe you don’t live in Philly. I can mail it to you.

updated (2.13.08): A lovely woman at the First Person Arts Salon took the second star locator. She couldn’t stay for the whole presentation, but she was very cool. I hope she finds lots of stars. They’re hard to see in Philly, but still easier to find than if you lived in Seoul (where the pollution is so bad that you can look at the sun in the middle of the day).

sorting

I’m still slowly sorting through the things in my closets, on my shelves, in boxes, etc. and figuring out what to do with them. I released books I don’t have extreme attachment to into the wild using bookcrossing.com. My old glasses, watches, and costume jewelry I sent to New Eyes for the Needy. I went through my closet and found enough items I’ll absolutely never wear to fill three big bags. I took them to Buffalo Exchange. But they didn’t want any of my stuff, not even the Anna Sui skirt or the three pairs of heels I never wore. I ended up buying a few items and hauling my bags across town to drop off at Philadelphia AIDS Thrift.

Some articles of clothing I can’t even give away, for example a pair blue flannel pants with torn hems. I have about 20 pairs of comfy pants to sleep in, and 4 pairs of jeans with breezy knees, so I’m going to cut the salvageable material into long one-inch strips and crochet a bag or something. Stay tuned for my reuse craft projects.

Cell Phone

item#:013
date acquired: spring 2007
status: donated (2.06.2008)

My cell phone from Korea wasn’t anything close to the flashy superphone one would expect , but I like the story behind it. My first Korean phone died when I dropped it in a gigantic puddle. My second phone wasn’t that notable, and strangely enough (for me) I can’t even remember what happened to it. I do remember when I got the phone shown above though!
My job in Korea was just about the most ideal situation one could ever ask for. Of course I still complained from time to time, but it was great, particularly for the random perks. One of these perks came at the ten year anniversary of Samsung’s sponsorship of the university. They plopped 700 bucks in my account and a brand new 500 dollar pda cell phone on my desk. It had everything, it could do anything. In an iphone-less world it was like discovering sliced bread. The only thing it didn’t do: English. I asked my Korean tutor if he could help me sell it. And he did, for 450 bucks! Then I bought my co-worker’s old phone, but discovered that I couldn’t use it with my phone service, so I sold it to my student who wanted it for her mother, and in the end I got my final Korean phone from the friend of my tutor, who gave it to me for free, so I took them both, and my tutor’s girlfriend, out to my favorite vegetarian restaurant. Great fun.

Now I have no use for this phone, or the other old ones I’ve come across laying around in my house. I wasn’t sure if anyone could make use of my Korean phone here in the states, I’m so out of the loop on whether people even activate used phones. I wasn’t going to just throw them out, particularly after recently discovering how nasty these rechargeable batteries are. So, I decided to recycle it with T-Mobile per the recommendation of my dear friend Rose. Apparently, “100% of the net proceeds from handset recycling now benefit the charitable efforts of the T-Mobile Huddle Up program.” From the info and pictures posted here and there, it looks like they are doing some good stuff for kids and communities. Fabulous.

I do have one complaint/comment regarding this recycling program adventure. From the site, I found a bunch of T-mobile locations near my home, but only the corporate locations accept the used phones for donation. In all of the three locations I visited, including the last one where they finally took my phones after consulting managerial staff, employees were all surprised that T-mobile even had a recycling program. None of them had even heard of it.
Disappointing.

Kinder Egg Toy: The Chariot

item#: 012
materials: plastic
date acquired: no idea.
dimensions: 8 x 2.5 x 2.7 cm
status: taken (2.01.2008)

I have a thing for Kinder Eggs. I find it amazingly entertaining to put these things together following mini-instructions. The more pieces the better. Oh my god, I’m such a nerd. WARNING: These are very small and probably NOT suitable for small children. That’s why Kinder Eggs are difficult (though not impossible) to find in the states. There is concern that the toys or parts might be “swallowed or inhaled” by some crazy child that likes to eat “plastic candy” and/or snort playthings …joking, I like children! Anytime someone was going on a trip out of the states I’d tell them to pick me up a couple Kinder Eggs. That left me with a ridiculous collection of toys.

This chariot as originally had a warrior that rode in it, but somewhere along the road he went missing. He wasn’t cute anyway. He was flat. The exciting bit about this and some other kinder toys is that you can make it move. When you push the wheels along one horse moves in front of the other then back again.

The car was far too easy to put together, but cute. As a side note: I’ve noticed a decline in the quality and intricacy of the toys over the years. What a disappointment–just like the lame Cracker Jack prizes of my lifetime (they were significantly more worthy of the word “prize” back in the day).

Kinder Egg Toy: The Car

item#:011
materials: plastic
date acquired: no idea.
dimensions: 6 x 2.1 x 1.8 cm
status: taken (2.01.2008)

I have a thing for Kinder Eggs. I find it amazingly entertaining to put these things together following mini-instructions. The more pieces the better. Oh my god, I’m such a nerd. WARNING: These are very small and probably NOT suitable for small children. That’s why Kinder Eggs are difficult (though not impossible) to find in the states. There is concern that the toys or parts might be “swallowed or inhaled” by some crazy child that likes to eat “plastic candy” and/or snort playthings …joking, I like children! Anytime someone was going on a trip out of the states I’d tell them to pick me up a couple Kinder Eggs. That left me with a ridiculous collection of toys.

The car was far too easy to put together, but cute. As a side note: I’ve noticed a decline in the quality and intricacy of the toys over the years. What a disappointment–just like the lame Cracker Jack prizes of my lifetime (they were significantly more worthy of the word “prize” back in the day).

The Plane

item#: 010
dimensions: 10.5 x 5.5 x 4 cm
materials: plastic and metal
date acquired: 2002ish
status: taken (2.01.2008)

In the early ohs, whenever I used to wander around town with guys I knew, we’d often end up checking out toy stores. I picked up this plane somewhere in Chinatown. I’m pretty sure I tried congee for the first time that night, but didn’t really like it.

The Alumni Truck

item#: 009
dimensions: 8 x 4 x 3.1 cm
materials: plastic, paper, and metal
date acquired: 2000
status: taken (2.01.2008)

The Alumni Truck was made by my boss at NYU when I lived at Alumni Hall. He was crafty and fabulous. Later he went on to become an interior designer, which suited him much more. He was always making something that looked just adorable, or like it came right out of a Pottery Barn catalog.

The Oscar Mayer Wienermobile Whistle (#008)

item#: 008
dimensions: 5.5 x 2 x 2.5 cm
materials: plastic and paper
status: taken (2.01.08)

Oh, I wish I were an Oscar Mayer wienerThat is what I truly want to be’Cause if I were an Oscar Mayer wienerEveryone would be in love with me.Oh Yeah! The best sound comes from this when you hold it sideways and there is a hole on the top that you can leave open or put your finger over to create a higher pitched sound. I couldn’t help but love this little thing when it came into my world. It’s so heavy with nostalgia. What would a transportation series be without a weinermobile?!

The Transportation Series was listed on Philadelphia’s freecycle network. Freecycle, as they state on their site, is all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of landfills. I like that.