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Draplin Design Co., North America
June 09, 2003
Weekenders
Posted at 10:49 AM

The weekend was a good one. (They always are, suffice to say.) Lots of little projects completed. Tons of organizing going on…refining the presentation, storage and cataloging of my vast archive or irreplaceable belongings. Melissa’s whole life can fit into a glove compartment (except for those shedding beasts) so she takes it upon herself to ridicule me for my various collections of treasures, reference materials and “items that I just plain won’t fuckin’ throw away.”

“That dad of yers instilled something in you that won’t let you get rid of things.” Is what she had to say.

Girl, you are hitting the nail on the head. Honey, this gene goes wayyyyyy back, farther than you’ll ever comprehend. My Gramma Josie had orange juice in her storage cellar from the ‘40s, and this anomaly was discovered in the late ‘80s!

So yeah, the apartment is tight, and the items in it plentiful, but, I’m not gonna throw shit away that will come in handy later on. “Later on” is when I, have a home of my own, or, a larger apartment. My little dream is to have a full on studio, complete with a mean reference library, work station, projects desk, sound system, etc. a space separate from the living room and the sleeping quarters. A space with a door.

Right now the living room doubles are an entertainment nook and the DDC Factory Floor.

Hey, rent is cheap and I’m close to work. Plus, the joint stays nice and cool when the Portland summer temps soar. I like the place. My only gripe is the opportunity for mold here and there. Portland is a wet place, and the shit just sort of gets to breeding/sporring. You gotta watch the dark, dank spaces. My “only” other gripe, the big one, is those goddamn cats. They have free reign over EVERYTHING, leaving a trail of dander and hair that never ends. I love them and their mother real hard, but fuck, enough already.

Melissa’s little sister Angela is moving out here in a month. Hobo Kris is ‘riding the rails’ out here from Minneapolis with a hobo friend. (The girl has balls, goddamn.) They plan on getting a place together. Perfect. The girls can have their joint and I can have my own castle. No scurrying rodents, no muff balls wafting to and fro, no explosions of falling gear over frisky window sill expeditions.

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Other highlights of the weekend include seeing Rod, Katie and TC native Missie Holmes (of Trica Holmes lineage) downtown at the Rose Festival. Gigantic rides, festival food and scantily clad Portlanders.Good times. We walked the stretch a couple times, taking in the night air, chowing junk grub and reliving fond memories of pizza cart follies from way back in the summer of ’94.

We capped the night off with a brisk four mile hike back home. (Melissa read the bus transfer wrong and we were stranded downtown…cashless, hot and worn out.) We made it home some time later.

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“She’s got a voice like the last day of catholic school.” –Paul Westerberg

There Are 4 Comments

Glad to hear you hooked up w/ my close girl Missie. Sent her on to you when I heard she was movin’ to Portland. Many good times have been spent with her, livin’ in New Mexico, traveling the United States, shootin’ the shit and drinkin brews in the greater Northern Michigan area. Miss her.

All is well in TC. Other than gettin’ the 4-color screen printer up and running in the new art department, some people call it a garage, things are somewhat melow. Send me your home address and I’ll get some stuff off to you!

Peace and love to all in Portland… even those poor folk who are dander challenged. Hope to be there in late summer early fall!?

Posted by: Jonathan "Street" Dayton on 06/09/03 at 11:38 AM

Sounds like you had a great weekend. Our temperatures are 20 degrees cooler than yours, but it was nice, as Michigan goes……

Don’t let Melissa taunt you into getting rid of any treasures, you have a lot to live up to……your dad is living the legacy of pack-rate extraordinaire (actually it is a syndrome of sorts: obsessive-compulsive, whichever you chose to come first)….he spent a lifetime perfecting the craft of ‘collecting’…..you know, he could fill another room for you with all the Star Wars stuff he has hoarded away…..not to mention the many boxes of draplinania you still have here in our storage area.

When you build your dream house, you will outfit a storage room in heavy-duty shelving, always making sure there is not one inch vacant (like your daddy.)

Oh yea, just an announcement: We are going to have the bi-annual garage sale Saturday, June 21; it would be worth the drive home……fights will ensue, words will NOT be spoken between us for days, as we fight over each item: to be displayed or not to be, that is the question.

All’s well here in paradise…..

Posted by: momma d. on 06/09/03 at 11:44 AM

Dude. A man must have his treasures. Don’t let Womankind snuff the flames of Manly pillage. Not to say this is the case will all of the Estrogen-driven, but it is certainly far more common amongst the ovulators to desire spare, lifelesseness in the living quarters (as you have already indicated - dense curatorial inspiration runs through all x and y chromosomes in the Family Draplin. Good for y’all.)
A Pirate’s Quarters should be rich with booty. They should also be rich with cool stuff and little lucky treasures. That is the way of Mankind.

Posted by: Ryno the Relic Raider on 06/09/03 at 11:58 AM

Draplin(s),

I hope you realize the potential worth of some of that stuff Jim has squirreled away. I recall perusing some of it on one of my many trips to the Draplin lair.

Don’t just sell it at a garage sale. Start taking photos and selling it to the highest bidder on eBay. You’d be surprised at how much some people will pay for something you might consider worth very little.

There are thousands of people who do this full-time as their jobs and make a respectable income from it.

Posted by: Cam on 06/09/03 at 12:09 PM