New Blog Address!

Hello everyone,
I've recently started blogging again over on a new address

http://personalitypotential.blogspot.com/


Feel free to follow me over there!

Top 5 Thrift Store Holy Grails

 I think everyone who is a vintage collector/hoarder/whatever you want to call it has a list in the back of their head of Holy Grails. It can either be those items that were bid out from under you (by like fifty cents!), or things that you will never ever find in the local antique store, or things that are outrageously out of your budget. I'm always hoping I'll stumble on that one store or vendor that has no idea what they actually have- it hasn't happened yet. Hell, even Goodwill has brought in people who know what they're looking at (and it's terrible! Argh!). Here are my top five Holy Grails that I'm desperately hoping to find in pristine condition at the Bins one day untouched by old soda and other general grossness that is the Bins. 

Raggy Doodle Paratrooper Doll

SycamoreVintage

 These WWII era dolls are ADORABLE and I've been taunted by them ever since I saw one in person at a trendy antique store here in Portland for $150. Obviously, as the one I posted here is about 85% less than that, that's a bit extreme especially since it wasn't in good condition and didn't have it's parachute. They come up on eBay pretty often in varying degrees of condition and I almost got one for super cheap, but was over bid by fifty cents in the last three second of the auction that I was hiding in the backroom trying to get while at work. There are other versions I've seen called Pat the Paratrooper, but they aren't as nice as the Raggy Doodles I've seen.

Jack and Bobby Kennedy Swivel Charm

eBay

eBay

Another one I almost got, but figured it was pretty common and let it go- jokes on me, because I've never seen another for under $30. There are ones with just JFK and the "ask not" quote that I see every once in a while but the JF/RFK seem to be a lot harder to come by. 

1920s Pig Lipstick Holder

eBay

It's a pig, and then you pull of the head and it's a lipstick! What the hell is even going on here, I'll never know, but I want it so desperately. These things are always super expensive, though I missed out on one recently that ended up just going for $15. Damn!

  

Boudoir Dolls

eBay

These things are super amazing and super spooky at the same time. Popular in the 1920s, they are quite large in size (usually over two feet long) with spindly arms and legs that could be made out of felt, plastic or composite material. I keep hoping that I'll find one in the piles of dolls at a Goodwill somewhere! In good condition, they are pretty expensive, but bits and peices of them, or ones with cracked faces come up for semi-reasonable prices from time to time. I keep thinking I should just get the head, arms and legs separately, since I could easily make the body and clothes. 

Biba. Anything Biba.

omgthatdress

Holiest of Holy Grails because I will never find it ever in the entirety of my life. Ever. 

8 quick qs

Here's a little survey I ran across on a couple different blogs recently, featuring antique/vintage "nevers".

1. What is one antique/vintage/retro item you’d never want to receive as a gift or would never think of purchasing? 

I'm typically kind of anything goes, but things that really bother me are usually race-related, like things that fall under the category of "black americana", ect.  As a white girl, there's no reason for me to have it in my house whatsoever. The fact that it exists is very important, and it absolutely should be discussed more than it is, but it's something that belongs in a museum, or in the collection of someone who is actually connected to the culture and appreciates the weight of the subject matter. Same goes with WWII anti-Japan items- I am interested in Militaria and Sweetheart items of the period, but I'm not interested in any harmful Japanese stereotypes or portrayals.  Also, swastikas  and Confederate flags, gross.

2. What are three movies made in pre-70’s Hollywood you’ve never seen and want to see? 

I rarely see movies, new or old, and haven't seen quite a few of the "classics" that everyone is supposed to see. I would like to see The Girl Can't Help It .  When I was in junior high school and in high gear rockabilly phase, my dad tried desperately to find a copy of this to rent locally, but we never could (This was 2003 pre-Myspace times, people, the internet was wild and non-streaming.). I mean, it's supposed to be terrible, but hello it's featuring practically everybody on the non-pop music scene  at the time! Eddie Cochran, Gene Vincent, Fats Domino, pre ministry Little Richard! 

this guy though

3. What are three movies made in pre-70’s Hollywood you’ve seen and will never watch again? 

I honestly don't have an answer to this.  

4. What is one antique/vintage/retro item you own, but never imagined you would? 

I don't have anything that I never imagined I'd own, but I think some of my favorite things I own is my collection of "Charm" books. I don't even really know what to call them! Etiquette, advice, how-to, poise, make women feel bad about themselves, whatever. They are amazingly offensive, but such an incredible time capsule of our recent past and culture. 

WAIT- I used to be really afraid of taxidermy when I was a kid. I don't own anything that's stuffed, but I do have some old fur guys from the 40s, and a fox from probably the depression that was given to me by a friend. He's in rough shape and missing a limb or two, but I really do love him!

                                     

5. What is one thing you do relating to vintage you never pictured yourself doing? 

Going to the Goodwill Outlet, or the Bins. The first time I ever went, I found a literal bag of dirt. It is truly disgusting, and I've seen some dark stuff go down there, but I did get a 1970s Christian Dior scarf there for a nickel, so that's that. 

6. If you could never dress outside a specific decade of the past again, what decade would you choose? 

I don't know, it depends on what my circumstances are. Am I rich? I'd probably say 1960s, but if I were rich and skinny, probably 1930s, and I'd wear completely impractical beach pajamas and furs all the time. 

literally 1930s me, all the time

7. What is one thing you could never bring yourself to do to an antique/vintage/retro item? 

I cringe when I see people "upcycle" vintage or antique items into something terrible and holly-hobbyish. Uggggggghhhhh it's the worst and makes my inner historian rage about preservation.

8. Is there an antique/vintage/retro item you own that you would never give up? 

I don't really own anything of importance or value. The only things I have have sentimental value, like letters and photographs, along with my great grandmother's wedding dress and some of her jewelry items. I also have some glass pigs that my grandpa gave me when I was a kid that he'd had I think since he was a kid and raised pigs for the FFA. 

I had to come back into this post and add this. I wish this was me!!!!!

Customer Service is Like Whistling

After 2.5 months of radio silence, I'm coming in hot with news- at the beginning of the month I got a new job.  It's within the same company, but it is not customer service. 

I normally don't talk about this kind of thing because it's personal, and frankly kind of boring. But I also like being square with myself and those around me. This is all stuff I've touched on here over the years, but never really went into detail with.  

I've always known that customer service is not my deal, but I also figured it was my only option until I get a degree. I have no idea when that will be, but I do know it is years away. So, in my mind, customer service was my only option in order to be able to survive for the unforeseeable future. I honestly thought that I would be miserable for probably the rest of my life. I thought that was just my personality- a miserable asshole who hates everyone and thinks babies are a waste of everything (still half true).

I have worked in customer service exclusively for my entire working life, over ten years. And, as I'm sure most everyone knows, I hated it. Most people don't like it, but for me, it was awful.  It is often said that every job would be great if it weren't for the people, and I'm always on board with that sentiment one-hundred percent.  Over the years I have developed a curmudgeonly, grouchy or even outright mean persona or attitude that has been pointed out to me multiple times, whether in a joshing way or negatively in countless performance reviews. I was constantly told to 'just be more friendly', to smile more, or be more open or natural. I understand these things fundamentally, but when it came to my trying to actually do these things, I couldn't. It was often interpreted as I wouldn't, that I didn't care, or was grumpy, but I just could not make myself function the way that was expected of me without tremendous effort. 

Here's the thing- for people that this comes naturally to, it seems stupid or lazy or weird.  But for me, something that seems a simple as making small talk with a customer is incredibly difficult. I don't have the same problem when in the opposite situation- I don't find it excruciating to talk to a cashier. However, behind the counter, I feel as though I cannot judge a situation at all. So every encounter with a new person makes me feel as though I am having to guess how this person is going to react to how I act, how I talk, how my face looks. That level of anxiety makes it feel like I'm on a spinning wheel with knives being thrown at me. I know this comes of as melodramatic whinery, and I often felt as though I should just be able to deal with it. If I were to just get over it, whatever "it" was, I would be fine. If I just improved those unfriendly parts of my personality, I'd be able to make people happy.  If I could just try harder to blah blah blah. Well, guess what? I tried harder for ten years and it never got any better.  I finally came to realize that customer service is like whistling. It's something you can either do or you can't. Those who can do it naturally find it easy. Those who can't can try to learn but it's never going to be as easy for those who can just do it.  

I've dealt with depression and anxiety for the greater part of my life, and it's not something that's going away any time soon- or probably ever. What is most frustrating about my particular brand is that I'm not an Eeyore. I don't have the recognizable symptoms of not being able to get out of bed, ect. I actually had never heard someone put my experience into words until several months ago, when I read this blog post (do yourself a favor and spend the next four hours crylaughing at all of her other posts).  Instead of being a sad stuffed donkey, I'm actually a high-strung maniac who thinks people who ride their bicycles down the sidewalk kind of deserve to be shoved into oncoming bus traffic, or that people who don't buy all the the things they bring up to the register should have their money-spending privileges revoked until they learn how to shop like a goddamn human being, but that doesn't necessarily read as "depressed". It reads as asshole. Which I totally get. The person who is enthralled by the tiny colored pencils at the register is not a bad person. But for me, every time I had to pretend like it was the first time I'd ever heard about how cute they were was like that person was shoving those tiny colored pencils into my eye sockets.  I know everyone is like, they're just colored pencils, chill on the freak out, but I'm on the spinning knife wheel, remember? I'm so anxious already, that everything that is just a minor irritant to the rest of the world is titanic.

The reason I'm bring all this junk up now is that since I started this new, customer-free job, I have felt like a different person and it is significant enough for me to be actually, honestly shocked.  I'm still a crotchety ass who thinks that people who talk on cellphones indoors are the worst, but where I was constantly running at easily a 130 percent stress level, I'm now at about 60 percent. And that happened in two days. Two days and I didn't want to slap everyone I came into contact with. My new job is stressful in that it's a new job and I still don't really know what's going on, the usual first months at a new job stuff. But, to remove one element of a job and have a new outlook, or whatever you want to call it, has been incredible.   When I learned I had gotten the job, I had hoped I would be able to be less stressed out, but I imagined it would diminish only slightly. The fact that it has changed so dramatically and so fast is so mindblowing to me, I can't really believe it. 

Part of me is annoyed that I didn't go out and get a non-customer service job sooner, but it's easy to think that in hindsight. I have often times tried to maneuver my way into back-of-the-house positions in  nearly all the retail jobs I've had, but I'm always stuck in the cashier or service position. It's something that I don't really understand- why would you make someone who's clearly not very good at something do that job? Why make the gardener perform brain surgery? But that's on those terrible mall job managers, not me.  In a world where not being a people person is seen as a personality flaw, I'm so thankful to have found this position. At one point I found that I wasn't worrying about if my face might come off as angry to others when I was concentrating on the computer monitor, and I realized just how many layers there were to my anxiety and how so many of them frankly didn't matter any more. In this work environment, no one cares if I look grouchy.

So to the guy who told me I had a bad personality in 2009 because I didn't share his enthusiasm for a "world famous hazelnut latte", go fuck yourself. I'm a happier person, and you probably still go to the Starbucks where prostitutes broke the sink off the wall in the women's bathroom.

hey remember me

hey remember like nine years ago when I wrote my last post on here? 

I've been very busy the last couple months, working on (but not finishing) several sewing projects, getting sick twice, watching and rewatching RuPaul's Drag Race, Mostly though, I've been preparing for the booth space I was able to get  in a vintage/antique/resale shop, Found on Fremont. 

 It's something I've been wanting to do for a long time, and the opportunity came out of nowhere at the beginning of February. I had a little less than a month to get everything together for moving in at the start of this month, so I spent all of my free time trying to get enough stuff together to fill a booth! I only had a handful of things that were left over from my etsy shop, and absolutely no display shelving. I was able to get enough stuff to get it started, and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out for this first month. 

At the start of the next month, I'll be having a partner move into my space (she already has a successful booth in the same store, and we have a similar aesthetic, so everything should blend in really well together) which will plump it out a bit, and save me from having to try and haul shelving on the bus.

These are from the day I set up. It's pretty sparse, but this is just the first day!  As someone who works on weekends, it can be tough to find really good vintage items, since those are usually found at flea markets, yard sales, estate sales- all events held on weekends. Luckily. I really enjoy digging for treasures, and, especially when it comes to clothes, not having to just find my uncommon vintage size opens up a lot of options.

Since it's not specifically a "vintage store", I can add some of my handmade items, like the felt pennants and brooches based on vintage celluloid brooches I've been working on recently.

I decided just to keep the name Blind Cat Vintage from my etsy store, and made a small felt banner that matches the stamp I ordered from an etsy store years and years ago.

some examples of the felt brooches, along with the paper dress I wish was my size. 

Four Things Meme or whatever (PS I'm Not Dead)

Hey remember like nine years ago when I said I'd be posting a gift guide?

This holiday season turned into a nightmare for me, so here I am, months later without a gift guide. But I do have a blog tag thing.  I found this over on Chronically Vintage!

Four Places I've Lived

(still looks the same)

Eureka, CA

Portland, OR

Eureka, CA

Portland, OR

I've bounced back and forth a few times.

Four Jobs I've Had

appropriately miserable sales associate at Hot Topic

 mildly miserable barista at Starbucks

even more miserable photo specialist at Walgreens

resident grump at bookstore 

Four Foods I Don't Eat

mayonnaise

spicy foods

tomatoes

salmon

Four Favorite Foods

Biscoff spread

tacos

cheese

ice cream (let's be real)

Four Movies I've Watched More than Once

Monty Python and the Holy Grain

Blazing Saddles

Star Wars

Marie Antoinette (the Kirsten Dunst one)

Four TV Shows I watch

Parks and Recreation

30Rock

Broad City

Empire

Four Celebrity Crushes

Dita Von Teese's cat Aleister Von Teese

 Brian Wilson circa 1964

Andy Dwyer

 JFK? I don't know

Four Pet Peeves

 (PLEASE, park this directly in front of fire exit)

people using open mouthed cups outside of a restaurant/home environment

people who talk on the phone when at a register

people who use giant strollers for one child

people

Four Things I Wish I Could Do

not be annoyed by people

be better at pretending to be chipper

move to another state

have a therapy chinchilla

Four Subjects I Studied in School

er, the ususal

english

math

science

getting out of PE

Four Things Located Near Me Now

embroidered portrait of Robert Goulet

cat

sewing machine

empty applesauce container

Four Things I'm Looking Forward to

 

seeing Noel Fielding in April

 the leak in my ceiling being fixed

SNOOTYCAM being fixed!!!

honestly, eating dinner

 

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