On Buttons (Pack Ratting, Part II)

Last night I spent a good half hour sorting through piles of little zip baggies of miscellaneous buttons. You know, those extra buttons that some of your clothes come with, in case you need spare buttons in the rare instance that you actually wear your items long enough for the buttons to pop off. Sure, once in while, a button can get snagged in the wash, and it'll be either a button you critically need for either functional (i.e., pants button) or aesthetic (i.e., third button down your shirt) reasons. But really, how often do you need such buttons to justify having overgrown piles of spare buttons?

I was thinking about this last night, as I stared at the buttons and struggled to figure out which blouse or coat or pants they were for. It's not too hard figuring out a shiny silver button or a lime green one, but what about the endless supply of clear or white buttons? In some cases I was smart enough to include the clothing tag inside the baggy. Which helped, for the most part. And then came the sudden realization that perhaps some of these buttons have outlived the article of clothing they were intended for. Gasp!

9 & Company, Size 4, Clearance $25.98.
My mind drew a blank. ?

Even more perplexing, a plain envelope where I hand wrote: "white peasant blouse."

White peasant blouse? That didn't even ring a bell. I took the button out and inspected it and it didn't even look familiar. Then I went into my closet and flipped through articles of clothing (through what little budge room I could get in a jam-packed closet). Nothing closely resembled something that would complement the small round white satin button.

I racked my brain, when slowly, a vague memory starting seeping back.... of the 11th grade. National Honor Society. We had to buy all white outfits to stand guard for the 12th graders graduation. Yep, thirteen and a half years have gone by, the blouse long gone, long forgotten, yet the little button still remains.

I stuffed it with the rest of the buttons in a large ziplock bag and stuffed the whole thing in my closet.

All things 2007

2007 Albums I've Listened To, by release date

The Shins - Wincing the Night Away (01/23)
Elvis Perkins - Ash Wednesday (02/20)
Albert Hammond Jr. - Yours to Keep (03/06)
Arcade Fire - Neon Bible (03/06)
Amy Winehouse - Back to Black (03/13)
Bright Eyes - Cassadaga (04/10)
Patti Smith - Twelve (04/24)
Elliott Smith - New Moon (05/07)
Travis - The Boy With No Name (05/08)
Rufus Wainwright - Release the Stars (05/15)
Wilco - Sky Blue Sky (05/15)
Interpol - Our Love to Admire (07/10)
Radiohead - In Rainwbows (10/10)
Neil Young - Chrome Dreams II (10/23)

2007 Ticketed Concerts I Attended, by date

My Morning Jacket @ The Wiltern (01/06)
Mountain Goats @ El Rey (03/11)
Joshua Radin @ El Rey (04/21)
Arcade Fire @ Greek (05/29)
Morrissey @ Hollywood Bowl (06/08)
The Decemberists @ Hollywood Bowl (07/07)
Peter Bjorn & John @ Henry Fonda (07/31)
Wilco @ Santa Barbara County Bowl (08/26)
Wilco @ Greek (08/29)
Arcade Fire @ Hollywood Bowl (09/20)
Air @ Greek (09/21)
Bright Eyes @ Hollywood Bowl (09/29)
Neil Young @ NOKIA (11/02)
Travis @ The Wiltern (11/21)**

2007 Movies I've Seen, by release date

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (05/25)
Knocked Up (06/01)
Ratatouille (06/29)
Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix (07/11)
The Simpsons Movie (07/27)
The Bourne Ultimatum (08/03)
Superbad (08/17)
The Darjeeling Limited (10/05)
No Country for Old Men (11/09)
Persepolis (12/25)


**have tickets to

Substance Abuse in the Workplace

This morning I went into the office kitchen and noticed an empty vodka bottle was tossed into the recycling bin. Vodka! As if someone was hitting the bottle at work, and then stopped to do the right thing by recycling the empty bottle!

Perplexed, I walked away. A couple hours later I went back to the kitchen and noticed that the bottle was gone. Gone! As if someone had decided it was perhaps not prudent to leave evidence of substance abuse in the office...

De-Pack Ratting

Today I'm suffering from massive allergies and a sinus headache, and I'm wondering if it's because I spent two and a half hours last night raising dust all over my apartment.

The slow, but sure process of de-pack ratting began last week when I found an abandoned Ikea shelf on the lawn (clean and practically brand new!). I finally had a chance to re-arrange my shelves, replacing an old collapsible plastic shelf with the newfound wooden Ikea one. Then I thought it'd be a good opportunity to consolidate books from other locations, re-organize, and at the same time, get rid of some books.

I used to save all the books I read as some sort of trophy of accomplishment. Like, these are the books I have read! Because I am well read! And look how smart I am for having read books like Crime and Punishment and Pride and Prejudice! Okay just kidding I kept those. But some books, you read them once, and you are never going to read them again. So get rid of them. Or books I've picked up used or were given to me by other people - some I'll never read. So why keep them?

The local library is getting picky. I had one tell me, "Sorry we have too many books right now" and another one tell me "We'll take them only if they are in mint condition." Harumph! I'll take the "mint condition" ones there and dump the old crusty ones in my office. Someone will likely take them....

De-pack ratting continues...

Dali Exhibit at LACMA

If you are in L.A., you might have heard about the new Dali: Painting and Film exhibit going on at LACMA until January 6.

Word of advice: Go on a weekday. Or wait a few more weeks. And go early in the morning. I went last weekend and it was jam packed with people. Not only was there a line trying to buy tickets, there was a line to get into the exhibit, and once inside the exhibit, you have to be in line just to move along the wall!

Tickets are $20 a person. The exhibit features a lot of his earlier works (pre-1950s), including perhaps the only really famous painting they had was the Persistence of Memory:

Much smaller than I expected! But nice to finally see the real thing after years of seeing imitations made for dorm walls.

Probably the best thing about the exhibit is all the films (or excerpts) showing. Including Destino, a 7-minute film 58 years in the making!