Friday, May 25, 2018

I Am a Sorting Hat

Taken with my fuzzy laptop yesterday--me sorting donations at the thrift store. (I'm working on my laptop in a corner of the break room.)

BELOW: A good example of what  I'm doing. Someone put this high-schooler's acrylic copy of a Frida Kahlo portrait in the Mountain of Valuables. It'd have more charm as a "thrift store find" (kitschy) if it were more poorly painted--it's just mediocre. I priced it 99¢.

I pulled this old gooseneck lamp with a cast-iron base from the trash (metal recycle bin). It has a light socket but needs cleaning and a cord. Even bunged up, these lamps sell on eBay for around $20. 
Also, it's cool in the way futuristic things of the past can be... I love the catch-all well in its base.
BELOW: A 45 record from Bobby Kennedy's funeral--the performance by Andy Williams at Bobby Kennedy's funeral. 
Not super valuable ($6), but an amazing bit of history, and we're coming up on the fiftieth anniversary of RFK's murder in a couple weeks (June 6, 1968).

BELOW: This "Royal Sno-Flake" stationery cracked me up, since "snowflake" now has somewhat replaced the term "bleeding heart liberal" to mean someone super-sensitive but ineffective. 
Originally from Fight Club:
"You are not special. You're not a beautiful and unique snowflake. You're the same decaying organic matter as everything else."
This is more Etsy (snowflake-y) than eBay (garage sale-y)--maybe I should set up an Etsy account for the thrift store too?

I have four days off now---to clean my own room! And to toy photography! I meet with the manager on Tuesday to get the details of my new job, then start working alongside the woman who's been sorting the donated books for the past couple years. 

It'll be her last week. She's 75 and says hauling books around has become too physically tiring. 
I feel it too! Once again, I didn't keep up with the gym and have been happy to get the naturally occurring exercise of moving stuff around.