memory storage
Push it along
Next week is the 4-year anniversary of my mother's death. My mother died 4 years ago, as of next week. My mother has been dead for almost 4 years. I do not know how to articulate this milestone smoothly or gracefully.
I've written here before about how much she loved her work, but I don't know how much I've written about her actual job. She was an energy economist and professor at the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, which is part of National Defense University. Her students were members of the military, people who needed to complete a bunch of coursework in energy economics and other things before they got promoted to the next military level. Cynical translation: These army/air force dudes should at least know WHY they're killing poor brown people on the other side of the globe before they start dropping bombs.
Every year, my mother took her students on field trips to learn about how energy is harnessed/created. Tours of nuclear power plants, hanging out on oil rig platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, that kind of thing. She loved that shit. The highlight of her year was the annual trip to the West Virginia coal mine. I do not know why she loved going down into a coal mine. That sounds like my worst nightmare. But she did. She even had her own hard hat and safety vest.
Yesterday, in Frederick MD, I finally went to Great Stuff By Paul (store site), a place that is hard to describe. It's like 20,000 square feet of antique salvage from all over the world. (Lots of photos on their Facebook page.) In the back warehouse, I found the thing pictured above. It's a wooden cart for ore, including coal, from a West Virginia coal mine, probably from the early 20th century. It's on wheels, with a handle, and probably weighs a couple hundred pounds. There are a few others like it in the store. It costs $425, but because Paul is closing up shop forever in 6 months, it's buy-one-get-one-free.
I do not need two ore carts.
I do not need one ore cart.
Except I kind of need an ore cart.
My 100-day project (Instagram) has stalled a bit because these old family photo albums are literally falling apart. The plastic sheets no longer stick, the photos fly everywhere when I turn the pages, it's a goddamn mess. So I've ordered archival paper and acid-free sleeves and special two-sided tape, and am about to start recreating the albums, one at a time. (New band name: Anal Masochist.) Once I'm done, I don't really have a place to store the albums. I hate the idea of dumping family memories into giant rubber tubs from Costco. The ore cart would be kind of perfect.
Family memories can be heavy, metaphorically. It kind of makes sense to put them in something actually heavy, something that might require two people to push around. You think you have "baggage?" Hold my beer, etc.
Plus, I think Mom would get a kick out of it.
Links
New scientific paper examines the aesthetic appeal of the scrotum. "Ultimately, the researchers concluded thus: It was barely possible to identify a 'beautiful' scrotum; we must instead speak of the least ugly." (Boing Boing)
51 tips for shopping on Etsy. Here's #52: Filter by U.S. only, and whatever other categories, then sort by highest price first. More than half the time, the ads/sponsored results disappear and you only have to scroll through a few pages. (NYMag)
Montgomery County, MD (just outside DC) has 3 of the most diverse cities in the country. (Wallethub)
A personality test that tells you what personality test is right for you, or something like that. (Atlantic)
Last weekend I volunteered at a pop-up vaccination event, where I learned about the HOPE project and met Shakela or "Shak" from this video. Everything about the event was organized and well-thought-out and impressive, and DC is lucky to have people like Shak and her team. (YouTube)
Your email does not constitute my emergency. (NYT)
Portraits of punk bands and their vans. (Huck Mag)
I will pay money to have this dude tell me the plot of all my favorite movies. (Twitter)
I watched Hari Kondabolu's new comedy special last night. A+++ (YouTube)
And my current favorite comedian's full special, which I've probably seen most of in TikTok form. (YouTube)
Finally, TikTok link dump: Unhinged email signoffs. Car horn of my dreams. Aging goals. This entire story. My new hero. Backeth thou ass up. Clever doctor humor.