Day 20: I passed out on top of my computer last night mid-writing the Day 19 post. It was 9:30pm. I guess lack of sleep does catch up with you. I awoke to find Medium auto-save has done it’s job. A sleeping Jessica is very prolific, but prone to run on words and sentences.
Woke up at 5:30am and immediately began to finish the post, but midway through I’m exhausted again and wrap it up to go back to sleep. When I consult Joshua he mentions he needs to read Day 19 again since it was so complex. I re-read it to myself and realize, I’m not exactly sure what I was saying either. It might just be too complex for a completely conscious self to understand as well. After work I went back to rework some of it.
Later this morning I realize, it’s be 20 days of shop-stinance. Reaching the midpoint I’m actually feeling pretty good. Have been spending much more time catching up with friends, on eBay, lifting weights, and making sous vide noms via the Nomiku.
When I get home from work, I realize that eBay is doing their free insertion fee promotion again. Spend the night hulled up in my office looking at items while watching the latest episode of Game of Thrones. Rummaging through my Sanrio collection I re-find the below previous gem and instead being productive in listing items, I began a nighttime stroll down memory lane.
Gems are made from
binder paper, staples
and colored pencils.
Fun Fact: Mint condition Sanrio toys from 1985 to early 1990s are worth nearly 10x their original price on ebay when sold as vintage.
I had forgotten all about designing this passport, and I use the word “design” liberally. A young Jessica thought her most precious stuffed animals needed passports. This of course was decided just after I received my first passport, at the age of 6. Young JC also tried to match her passport by using serif fonts for the the main headlines. The staples I remember doing fairly clearly, trying to get close to the edge to appear seamless, while still being able to keep the book together. My dad used to have us help him staple tax returns in exchange for allowance whereby we learned that at minimum staples had to be perpendicular to the edge of the paper to connote an elevated business professionalism. Corner stapling was for lazy commoners.
Within the Kitty Passport was standard info of the passport holder:
Name: Middle Sized Kitty
Address: Our House in Alameda
Birthdate: 07/05/86
Photo: Hand drawn representation of Middle Sized Kitty
Signature: Written in cursive, different from the other font within.
Within the pages there were 3 “stamps” of where Middle Kitty had been each hand drawn in a stamp that looked like a kitty head silhouette. Kitty didn’t travel much, but she did manage to go to:
- Hong Kong
- Marine World
I’ve actually been trying to work on both ebaying and digitalizing all my paper content, so that I can keep the memory rather than the physical item. With this Passport, I just don’t have the heart to toss it, and I end up moving it to a memory box.
By the time I was 6 my parents had saved enough so that every so often we were able to have a couple toys. Each time I wanted a Hello Kitty. I had 3 main kittys. Big Kitty, Middle Sized Kitty, Little Kitty. Little Kitty was lost to a war with grandma and a trash can, and then was replaced by Tiny Kitty. Only Middle Kitty was deserving of a passport.
Middle Sized Kitty
She also was deserving of a handmade two piece red felt ensemble that a 6 year old me designed, as I felt like her yellow overalls didn’t do her regal justice. Everything carefully constructed from the pleating details, to the solid reinforcing stitch at the button holes and delicately feminine cap sleeves! My mom’s contribution to the outfit with the idea to reinforce the buttons and explained it’s practicality in clothing design. Items that were frequently changed needed to be reinforced, especially for a flimsy fabric like felt.
Middle traveled everywhere with me as a child, and is in a plethora of photos. However, much like the characters in Toy Story, for the past 10 years she sat on a shelf at my parents house collecting dust until about a month ago when my parents decided to convert my old room into my dad’s junk room. Am suddenly wondering if Middle needs more stamps in her passport, but am worried with how she’ll fair in the modern world. A mild panic seeps in at the thought losing her abroad… will think on it more, but this day is over, no shopping occured and I’m going to bed.
Bought: 0
Pinned: 0
Sold: 0
Returned: 0
Gifted: 0
