I often think about Mark Hamill when he’s chastised by interviewers for giving his vintage first edition Star Wars figures to his children: “They’re toys, they’re meant to be played with!”
Honestly, being played with by Marks kids probably increased their value more than original packaging.
Preach.
My girlfriend does this (or at least used to do this) all the time.
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When she was young, she was gifted a bunch of hand-embroidered clothes of the very traditional ‘old country’ style. At the time, she literally thought she wasn’t good enough to wear them (she’s a bit of a tomboy) and saved them away for later. By the time she finally found them again, safely packed away decades later, her style had evolved and she didn’t even like that old-fashioned stuff anymore, and she had to just get rid of it because she knew she’d never even want to wear it.
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Some time ago when she was poor and MP3 players were fairly expensive, she’d been using a really old gnarly and busted one every day. For her birthday, her brother got her a fancy new one with a lot more storage and a screen, really the latest and greatest. But she was afraid of losing it or breaking it, so she never took it anywhere and never used it. She kept using the old one. The new one sat on a shelf, safe in its original factory box for years and years. Nowadays, it’s completely obsolete and pointless because she can just play music from her phone. She never even loaded any music on it.
Sometimes (even often, maybe?) saving nice things for later just ends in the tragedy of those nice things never being enjoyed at all. She would have been better off if she wore and ultimately wore out and ruined those fancy clothes. She would have been better off if she’d used the fancy MP3 player for a while and it did get lost or broken. Sometimes, keeping precious things safe is the worst thing that can happen to those things. It’s like not having them at all – worse than not having them at all, because now you also need to dedicate storage space to them.
When ‘cheap’ RC helicopters came out in the 2008-ish time my girlfriend bought me a fairly large and somewhat expensive one for my birthday. I knew that it was going to eventually end up broken, but I didn’t want to break it right away… I put batteries in it and fired it up while I was holding on to its skids. Basically enough to feel the power of it (which was incredible), then I put it back in the box. Its been in the box, now in my basement, ever since. I really should get it out and fly it and crash it into tons of pieces the way it was meant to be.
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Took me a while but I got there. I have fabric that my great-grandmother grew as flax, spun, dyed and wove on her loom, over 100 years old now. I’m using these pieces as wall hangings and sofa covers and even on my market stall - it’s a simple and pragmatic ancestor practice and in a sense I uncurse her life by carrying these pieces as I walk through my life way more undisturbed, unafraid and freely than she could.
Is coffee from Texas somehow special? Or just part of the joking…
They might be referencing some specific HEB coffee. My wife gets it from a friend sometimes when the friend brings it back, and she says it’s really good.
My ex had brought me whiskey coffee from her trip to Scotland. I decided to save it for a special occasion, and then it expired and I had to throw it. Never again.
Did it actually expire, or was it just past the date? Plenty things have expiration dates but are still just fine to use for months afterward
I kept it past its date, at some point it grew mold.
Yeah that’s properly expired 😂
Why? What did you think happened to it? It’s not clear what you are describing, flavored dry coffee beans, flavored ground beans in sealed bags, a drink in a can?
Ground beans.
While I completely agree with this sentiment. On the flipside, I’ve seen it in people who grew up poor that they really want to save things and preserve them for longer use even if it causes temporary inconvenience. I think it might be hard to get out of this mindset
I never drank the sake I was given for my 30th because I was saving it for a special day. We sure as shit drank all the champagne my missus got for graduating.
I have a shitload of stickers that I need to finally stick somewhere.
Go to a college campus and hand sheets out at parties
Fun fact: there’s marginalia collectors, people who collect pieces of media which contain handwritten scribbles and notes on them
Use it or lose it.
Reminds me Uncle Iroh. “Sharing tea with a fascinating stranger is one of life’s true delights.”
That’s great wisdom. We shouldn’t keep stuff in a jar out of respect, or out of some fear that the memory it carries dissipates. Everything decays. Using that stuff is the best mark of respect and remembrance you can pay to whomever left you it. I’m writing this message to myself
i’ve taken to documenting where and when i got things written on the things.
that table saw? ch max 2021
these scissors? mel mcg 2025
that sewing machine? kitty 2020
So apparently, coffee from Texas is the shit, yes?
I’m not sure I’d trust much grown in Texas. Business profits seem to be the top priority for the government there rather than food safety or factory inspection. I mean they’re letting Musk’s SpaceX pollute at will. I’d be afraid the plants growing there might draw up any number of industrial toxins and consumers wouldn’t know until people start getting sick from it.
It’s like kopi luwak except it was eaten by a Republican.
I remarked at this as well. It sounds almost like buying a Pinot gris from Newark and sending it to San Francisco.
In a place where Jamaica and Colombia are still places, can Texas coffee even register?
I have nice matcha bowls, I alternate between them, I still have a favourite but if I don’t use them all I might as well sell the ones that don’t see the light of day.
