Weird Things I Collect- WWII Edition

If you remember from the old blog's Band of Brothers saturation,World War II is an interesting subject to me. My grandfather served in occupied Japan in 1946/47 (he was too young to enlist during the actual war), and though he never really spoke about it, he was very passionate about history- something that trickled down to me! I was really interested in the Holocaust from a pretty young age- I remember getting a book in fourth grade from the book fair called something like "Behind the Bedroom Wall" about a German girl who's family was hiding a Jewish family behind a wardrobe and I was hooked. I was a weird kid, I don't know what else to say. Ha! 

 Then I promptly forgot about it when I got way too into the 1960s and the Beatles in fifth grade and didn't circle back until a few years ago. I've collected some stuff over the years related to the war and that time period, and I thought it'd be a fun way to kick of this new series on this blog.

I finally got my hands on a Raggy Doodle! I found him on Ebay last year for only 99 cents. He's in pretty bad condition, but... 99 cents!!!! He needs to be mended on the bottom and has a pretty big hole in his parachute backpack, but those are both fixable. Plus a wool garrison cap.

I. Love. Handbooks. I have a few more in my collection, but I grabbed both my WAVES/SPARS guidebook and "My Life in the Service" journal. This service record is mostly blank, with only a name and address, but it's still great! Also pictured here is one of my Victory pins and this photo of my grandpa Max in Japan (on the left).

My WAVES/SPARS (women's Navy and Coast Guard services) handbook. I'm a creep and researched the name written inside and found a photograph of her from this time period online! Also pictured are  sweetheart bomber plane earrings and non-period repro lipstick Victory Red by Besame. It's a direct reproduction of the color created by the military to go with uniforms in 1945, I believe. I barely ever find old cosmetics packages, though I wish I did. They're another favorite of mine! This is close enough. 

I love this lady! I've got another photo of her with what looks like her sister. I used to collect photographs way more than I do, but then I "inherited" a stupid amount of actual family photos from a great aunt and cousins (my pictured above grandpa's sister, actually) that my dad and I split up. Now it's kind of like, I really don't need any more pictures of people who I don't know (though I still dig through piles when I find them. You never know!). Another one of my victory pins. I just realized I didn't get any other up close photos of the others in the top picture, even though sweetheart/victory pins are what I have the most of in my collection! Aaaargh!

C'est La Vie

My new *~Life Career Path~* towards being a less miserable schmuck and selling vintage stuff quasi-full time means making more trips to the Goodwill Outlet, aka the BINS.  And it is a trip, as it's located on the complete other side of the city by some sketchy train tracks, and by bus, which adds its own level of adventure.  The Bins are an all encompassing, total sensory experience in glorified, legal dumpster diving. I mean, I literally found a bag of dirt the first time I went. A. Bag. Of. Dirt. I've also found great stuff, so I keep going back because I am a trash bandit.

WHAT IS THIS

I went early today hoping to beat the inevitable rush, but it was nuts anyway. Two people literally got in a shoving match over a broken child's keyboard (the instrument) and some lady yelled at me for "being judgmental" about someone's parenting choices after she engaged me, complaining about a screaming kid and saying she'd never bring her kids there. I agreed, then made a joke about "unless I had a baby hazmat suit or something" and she lit into me about how some people don't have help like SHE does and that it's very sad how some people make their money (?????).  Smash-cut to me backing away slowly as she continued to complain about the loud kid to no one in particular. 

It was looking like that was going to be the tone of the entire outing until I stumbled on a second set of  book bins. That never happens! Goodwill is insane for how they price their books these days (I totally remember when they were like 50 cents, I swear), and they run pretty high for what they are at the bins too, BUT I usually can find some good stuff. I had to pass on a 1950s Elks Lodge handbook since hardcover books are pricey (for what I'm about) but found some good kids books.  I stupidly put down a 1990 New Kids on the Block UNOFFICIAL (it made that clear) biography and then couldn't find it again. Why?!

FOR SALE YALL

FOR SALE YALL

FOR SALE YALL

I found this one back in October with the intention of putting it in my space for Halloween, but totally forgot and re-found it last week. Noooo! 

ALSO FOR SALE YALL

I need to get my act together and start taking photos of some stuff, because I really want to do a series of things I collect! So stay tuned for that, maybe.

What's Been Going On

Hey gang! Remember me?

   I blogged off and on for about four years (though more off than on in recent times. I think my last post was in summer of 2016) over at My Nickname in High School back before I changed the name to reflect my etsy shop, Blind Cat Vintage.  I had gotten very busy and started a new job within the same company that I was at which I blogged about here.  For all the relief and elation at getting out of a customer service job, the reality of working in the new location only took about two months to set in, particularly after I was moved into a different department than I was initially put into. I hated it. Hated it more than I've ever hated a job before, and that's saying quite a bit.  Being isolated both physically and inter-personally really took its toll. My anxiety and depression had reverted back to how bad they were when I was in high school. You know, back when I had mapped out the school security guard's route and time schedule so I could leave campus before lunch without getting caught because I just couldn't stand to be there any longer! Yeah, it was that bad.

   After a lot of thinking and stressing and worrying and missing huge amounts of work dealing with horrendous anxiety migraines, I finally had to start getting real with what I really wanted out of a job. I've worked exclusively in retail for all of my working life, and it's pretty much a drag... but there are aspects of it that I enjoy. I really love working with gift items, doing merchandising, organizing- the creative aspects of a retail job.  Basically, what I was doing in store when I worked for the gifts location of the bookstore, minus working the register.  I realized that my "dream job", if you can call it that, would be to expand my vintage shop space into a full time job- or at least as much of a full time job as that can be.  Running my space over the past year has been very fulfilling and joyful for me. The only problem is it doesn't come with a steady stream of income or any of the other benefits of a full time job like health insurance security. My dream plan would be to find a part time job that pays well and offers benefits (yeah right), that would allow me to devote more time to getting my business off the ground and expand to more of an online presence.

   After reaching my near breaking point with my job, I started applying like crazy to basically anywhere I could, just to get out of the environment I was in. I interviewed for several jobs to no avail, until I stumbled upon what would basically be the "unicorn" job. Doing gift merchandising part time, being paid almost $3 an hour more than I currently make, plus full benefits.

   Well gang, I was able to not make an idiot of myself, mention weasels or any other long rodents and got that job!  I am in the process of juggling finishing my "two weeks" at the old place and doing orientation and training for the new place, all while ramping up my time spent on my side business. I'm hoping to get back into blogging at this address and focus on both my new business ventures as well as just writing about stuff I like. I realized while working at my current location how important it is to stay connected to friends and people, especially when you don't have a job with built in companions, like when I worked at the gift store, and I'm hoping that getting back into blogging will help me do that.

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