Have you ever lost something, but didn’t know you’d lost it until you found it again?
This past rainy Sunday, I got the urge to clear out some junk in my storage locker (down the hall from my apartment). I had a couple of old boxes in there labeled “DON’T UNPACK, KEEP IN STORAGE” that weren’t from my last move, or the move before that—but when I moved out of my first apartment in the city 30 years ago.
Opened one box full of paperbacks and various Star Trek books, digging thru it’s musty contents—and at the bottom was a flat, taped brown paper bag. Inside was this manila envelope with 40 Star Trek enamel pins. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I hadn’t seen these since 1994, when I moved across town to Bellevue.
Unlike today where you can probably buy the whole kit n’ kaboodle on Ebay, back in those pre-internet days I got these colorful pins one at a time—from ads in Trekker fanzines or sci-fi shows at the convention center. Each pin always felt like a little victory.
I think I know what happened to them—at the time, I’d been seeing a lovely girl named Renee who was helping me pack up my place. (She was a very organizational person.) I’m guessing she put these in that box with the Trek books.
Here’s Renee bringing boxes to my place for moving, I lived on the second floor above. (A nosy neighbor across the way took this photo, to remind me the parking lot was for tenants only.)
This was Sept 22 1994, the same night the tv show Friends premiered on NBC.
I wanted to take a break to watch the new show, NBC had been running promos for it all summer; but Renee said no, let’s keep working. I don’t like watching tv shows out of order, and wound up putting off Friends until it premiered on Netflix—in 2016!
Back to the pins, I can’t believe I used to collect these things, let alone wear them in public. I often pinned one to my coat, even one to my trenchcoat in my early professional working days.
That’s all I got—but now that I’m older, silver on top and less inhibited, I’m thinking of getting a denim jacket and pinning the front with ALL of them. What do you think?
Well, if you do it I will be interested in the looks you get while wearing it! :-)
ReplyDeleteHaha--well DJan, maybe I'd get the attention of a nice middle aged nerd :^)
DeleteThat's a lot of pins! If you did do that, you would probably get a lot of interest at a Star Trek convention... (do they have those?)
ReplyDeleteRian that's where I bought half of them in the early 90s. Trust me, if I wore them to a Trek convention, I'd be the least noticed one there! I was thinking more along the lines of Sunday brunch, or church... 😉
DeleteLove the pins! I would wear them but probably not all of them at once. I'm sure you know that my favorite one has the black cat on it! ;) Have you already told us about Renee and what happened with that. I'm curious!
ReplyDeleteThanks Margaret! And yes, I did mention Renee once before, in a very old post about my dating days. But I never went into any real detail. She was very nice, and to be honest tried harder than me to make things click. We just had zero things in common to be honest. 😕
DeleteI would have them professionally mounted and displayed on a wall. They are lovely 'objets d'art' and should be viewed.
ReplyDeleteThank you Florence! That actually sounds like the logical thing to do, very Vulcan of you. 😉👍
DeleteI think this may be a good idea too.
DeleteHa, ha, "very vulcan"! Perhaps I'm becoming logical in my old age. Good one!
DeleteThanks ladies, live long and prosper. ✌️
DeleteNot sure I'd wear them all at once but I bet if you even wore one, you would be surprised at the people who would come up to you, smile and say--"Me too". Let us know if your do.
ReplyDeleteFunny about Friends. I only found them in reruns.
Thank you Patti--well, you're one of the wisest people I know. So I will take your advice and wear one pin when jacket season comes around and see if anyone notices. If they don't, maybe I'll shoot for two. ✌️😉
DeleteHi Doug, what a great collection of pins!! I love the black cat one too.
ReplyDeleteFlorence has a fantastic idea. They would look great mounted and framed.
As you know I am a Star Trek lover too but have never purchased any pins . I do have a Spock T-shirt with him giving the live long and prosper sign.
Go ahead and wear your pins too Doug. You may start an interesting conversation with someone. But I could tell you a story about a time I was in a laundry mat 35+ years ago and saw a guy with a Star Trek T-shirt on. I will say he was VERY enthusiastic about Star Trek!😳
Enjoy the rest of your week.❤️❤️
Robin
Thanks Robin and hey I used to have that same shirt. In fact, Spock hung on my bedroom wall too, in groovy black light. 😎. Well, I was going to ask what it came of the guy with the T-shirt at the laundromat 35 years ago, but I have a feeling he's now watching the show on occasion on his tablet at your breakfast table! Thanks for your input my dear friend, hope your week is good too. 🙂✌️♥️
Delete😆😆Actually Doug that wasn’t Chuck! It happened a couple years after we were married. A gentleman had a Borg T-shirt on and I complimented him on it. Then he preceded to give me a half hour lecture on the Borg!😳 Luckily another person came in the laundromat and he pounced on them.
DeleteEnjoy your Wednesday Doug.❤️
Robin you just made me bust out laughing! I can't imagine someone giving me a lecture on the Borg--I'm sorry about that. Thanks for the early morning cheer-up, I needed that. :^)
DeleteAnytime Doug!❤️
DeleteI'm glad you opened the box. When WERE you going to open it? Not sure your family would wait until you were gone....
ReplyDeleteYes, I like the idea of mounting them for display. Wearing them all at one time is asking to be robbed at a Trek convention. I put my various nursing pins on a velvet covered cardboard piece that was easily framed with a deep edge frame. If I ever want to wear one, I can unpin it from the back. Your's must be placed with the cool light-up Star Trek model! Or, you should wear them all, attend a convention, where you'd hopefully meet a lovely female Star Trek devotee, and have a nice chat. "Do you want me to show you all of my books and the rest of my pins?...." What's in the other box in storage? Linda in Kansas
Haha thank you Linda, and that sounds both nice and respectable about your nursing pins. I don't think I'll be attending any more Star Trek conventions, so more and more that mounting sounds like a good idea. As for the other box, I'm glad someone asked! It contained a bunch of old printouts and very old computer textbooks, a Batman magazine with Michael Keaton and a plastic case of giant floppy disks. I took it all downstairs to the dumpster! 🙂
DeleteInteresting collection of pins. I think DJan has the right idea - I'm sure it would spark a conversation with those in the know.
ReplyDeleteThanks Maebeme--well, with fall coming I think a couple of these should make a comeback. :^)
DeleteI like the denim jacket idea, but the weight of all the pins might make it uncomfortable to wear. I used to have a denim jacket with cloth badges from all the football clubs stitched onto the back. I don't even like football! Eventually I took them all off and sewed them onto a piece of strong fabric and made a wall hanging for my younger son. I wonder if you might consider pinning the badges to a square of black felt and framing them behind glass to hang?
ReplyDeleteRiver, your own jacket (and what you did with it for your son) sounded pretty cool. I was mostly kidding about my own idea, but your suggestion about the black fabric sounds like the popular one. PS Thanks for the tip about spam mail on Arkansas Patti's blog, I just saw it this morning. :^)
DeleteI admire Renee for helping you. Very sweet of her to do that. As for those pins, maybe a wall hanging would be appropriate.
ReplyDeleteThanks Gigi, and yes Renee was a very nice person. I have nothing but nice things to say about her. :^)
DeleteI bet you could get a lot for those Star Trek pins on Ebay. And hmmmm.... What happened with Renee? She sounds like a very nice girl.
ReplyDeleteThanks Kay, but I think you can get these pins a lot cheaper than what I paid for them all those years ago. As for Renee, she was very nice we just didn't have enough in common I suppose! 🙂
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