4 April 04

Archeology of a Car

blue.jpgInspired by Jenny and Tvindy, I made an inventory not of things that were in my fridge (nothing really interesting in there except a whole drawer full of walnut ink), but of things that were in my car. Here is a partial list from March 27, 2004. The photo at left is the little flutter book I’m in the process of making of the same subject.

A bottle of generic Ibuprofen that doesn’t expire until 2005. (This seems miraculous.)
An envelope, empty, from the Registrar of Voters in Fairfield, dated November 2003.
A press clipping on Sicilian puppeteers and Osama Bin Laden (Charlemagne’s betrayed again).
Half a ream of orange cardstock.
Denise’s green marble. It’s lain in the tray where it was since she sold me the car back in 1995.
A black umbrella I found on a train from Berkeley to Davis.
A broken #2 pencil.
A plastic bottle with SPF 40 sunblock from 1998.
A tube of Boots Lipsalve from England, long melted into oblivion.
A light that’s supposed to come on when you open the door; it just dangles from the roof instead.
A glass Venetian egg given to me by Rachel as I set out on my western quest.
The draft program for a peace ritual Karen and I held outside Mrak Hall on March 17, 2004.
Two jumper cables. They lie on the bed of the hatchback, which is where they’ve been for eight years.
A first aid kit I haven’t opened since I bought it in 1996.
Some Yolo Audubon raffle tickets from 2001.
An empty green Delorme Atlas bag.
Two inscribed art books, on Burne-Jones and George Watts, given by my great-grandfather to my great-grandmother for “her birthday, September 6, 1906.”
The Chicago Manual of Style, 13th edition, faded to pale pink in exposed patches.
A few dessicated pads: alcohol and Wash ‘n’ Dry.
A green Irish stone to put in my pocket, given to me by Gail.
An art book in German, ca. 1899. Condition poor.
Marian’s copy of Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight. I still haven’t read it.
A blue blanket with yellow stripes, the “donkey blanket.” Slept on in Spain, France, and Michigan.
A black flowered Spanish fan bought at the Corte Ingls on the Castellana. This is our only air conditioning.
A pasta spoon, white plastic with prongs.
Five assorted Spanish earthenware dishes.
A Japanese travel blessing, the string now broken, given to me by Cora, best massage therapist in Cambridge.
Exam questions for my 1981 Birmingham B.A. Combined Honours [sic] finals (French and Spanish).
My Latin linguistics exam taken in Montpellier in 1980 (in French). (I got 18/20.)
A day parking permit for UC Davis from early August 2003. Price: $6.
A receipt, type faded into illegibility.
A box of Rose Pastilles we bought in Santa Barbara in 1999.
A calligraphed “Poets Against the War” pin.
A Davis Bike Club T-shirt for the July 4th, 2001, Criterium volunteers.
A gallon ziploc bag containing traces of Skippy peanut butter.
A French orange Rhodia notebook where we write down our gas mileage.
A purple coolmax shirt from REI.
A bag of plastic styrofoam peanuts that needs to go to PDQ for re-using.
Owner’s Manual, 1986 GL Subaru 3-door.
A Giants cap with Jeff Kent’s name on it, won by Numenius in a baseball trivia contest.
A few strips of balsa-wood veneer, used as nibs in a March 2004 calligraphy workshop in San Francisco.
A pair of pink dreamcatcher earrings, given to me by Chris the day Medea Benjamin came to Davis.
A receipt from Arco, Russell Boulevard, dated March 20, 2004. Gas cost $2.19/gallon on that day.
A Bic pen that doesn’t work, and another one that does.
A brown paper bag with only one functioning handle and another one with none.
AAA maps: Davis, Woodland, Northern California. Bike map: Yolo/Solano counties.
A yellow plastic funnel and an orange plastic trowel, neither of which has ever been used.
Empty plastic bottles: Odwalla Soy Chocolate, Aquafina 16.7 oz, two nalgene water bottles.
A UC Davis L permit, good only for Lot 11, and a disabled parking permit. Both expired.
A wire coat hanger from the Santa Barbara Cleaners. I think I went there twice.
A strip of Velcro that held a trash bag, now lost, given by Auntie Kit in Cohasset for our westward trek.
A whole series of Yolo Audubon Burrowing Owl newsletters from the mid-1990s.
Two unopened bottles of brake fluid. They’ve sat through two or three stifling car-summers.
A pair of sandals I last wore while gardening at Barbara’s in April 2003.
A pair of psychedelic sunglasses I bought in Santa Barbara for the boat trip with the island scrub-jay and the red-footed booby.
Framed photos: my sister and me in 1962 (Tiburon), us with our brother in 1973 (Madrid). The frames are disintegrating.
A pair of blue shorts and a brown ponytail holder, both belonging to Numenius.
An orange plastic rain poncho, $1.99. Never been opened.
Some Windex in a blue squeezable plastic cologne bottle.
A blue cotton sheet for a twin bed.
A length of pink tulle, part of my going away present from my former job, and last worn at Code Pink.
An Aramis umbrella I found at a bus stop in Harvard Square.
Assorted socks and parts of trousers that are now officially rags. (Actually, now officially trash.)

Posted by at 04:27 PM in Design Arts | Link |
  1. This makes me feel I should go and check my car – it is an absolute mess. What did you do with all these items after so carefully cataloguing them? Did you put any of them back in the car?

    Geoff    5. April 2004, 12:04    Link
  2. What no sweetie wrappers?

    Coup de Vent    9. April 2004, 10:49    Link
  3. Actually, no sweetie wrappers. (My mother’s car, on the other hand….)

    Very little food or ex-food items at all, meaning we/I don’t spend the hours in my car most of my friends do. They have vast meals in theirs.

    Pica    9. April 2004, 13:36    Link
  4. I have about 16 different aramis umbrellas… I collect them. May I have yours? PLEASeeeeeeee

    Greg Mccloud    4. February 2005, 18:21    Link
  5. I see the making of a neat freek on the verge of anal actitus. Towels folded in order, socks paired up and together in draws. same colored shirts hung one way in the closet.
    May I have the umbrella?

    Greg Mccloud    4. February 2005, 18:29    Link
  6. I collect Aramis umbrellas because I need a life. (I added the “I need a life” because if I hadn’t… it would have been someone’s comment) And I was wondering if you’d give it to me.

    Greg McCloud    7. April 2005, 15:25    Link

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