I had a friend (still have the friend, though we don’t have regular access to each other anymore) who liked to “show off” how obscure some of his possessions were, possibly to achieve the “wanderlust effect” (i.e. the reaction of “how did you get these here”). Something about the anticipation that his inventory was alien to whoever he showed.
One day, he was asked to bring games and a console and he brought one of those extremely rare knock-off bootleg gaming consoles they sell in Asia, which we’re not even remotely near.
“What the heck is that” asked my other best friend?
“It’s the Mega Duck. I brought CFGP with me too.”
“Why can’t you be a normal Upstate New Yorker? We literally got Playstation.”
“What fun is that?”
It wasn’t some small quirk either. One day he took a long walk and came across a part of the area nobody had been to in decades and took pictures with my camera which he happened to have. Also having hyperthymesia, he came back and was all like “I took these photos of a place that seems like it was out of a fantasy painting and also recognized someone there who was on the missing persons list when I came back”. Like a boss.
In contrast, alas, ever since moving, my possessions have become overwhelmingly mundane enough you’d expect most of it to be in an 18th century post-colonial American home, the exception (if you could call her that), ironically, being my dog who is of a rare breed.
What’s the most wanderlusty thing you own, something that would be the absolute opposite of mundane if in your possession?
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A Lutheran book of Lithurgy written in Lithuanian and printed in Tilsit (Now Sovetsk, Kaliningrad) in 1914.
I got no idea what exactly it is besides some sort of decorative mask thing that I got from my Grandpa’s house after his partner passed and their house had to be sold. No idea on backstory or anything.
Was your grandpa a member of the court of owls?
Don’t think so. Never heard of it or anything related if he was.
Edit:
I may be an idiot but are we talking a real thing or the DC Comics thing? Looked it up and that’s the first thing that came up.
I have a kaleidoscope for the blind.
One of only 150 or 250 made (I forget which). The artist (Reinhold Marxhausen) got Alzheimer’s in his final years, and is probably dead now. It looks like a metal blob, but the inside is hollow and it has are springs that vibrate and make tones to the slightest touch and heat change. Just shake it and hold it to your ear. It makes different and unique sounds depending on who is holding it, the weather, the air temperature, and so on.
I got it from a kaleidoscope collector, who sold it to me because the small handmade box it came in was damaged in shipping, and it wasn’t worth as much without the box. I keep it in a handmade suede bag.
Edit: I made an Imgur post about it: https://imgur.com/gallery/kaleidoscope-blind-Ab8Xz
I have some computer memory I’m still learning the the right terms to describe. It’s a criss-cross of wires with spinning ferro magnetic beads. I also know it’s not only volatile (the information gone on power down) but destructive (information gone on read). It’s about the foot print of an index card, with a ton of connections on every side, maybe 1.5-2cm thick.
Neat little bit of how it used to be.
Magnetic core memory?
Signed copy of “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” by Ian Fleming. Not really worth much. Maybe $60? But as kinda a James Bond fan I think it’s cool.
I have a container of spring water that was left to me by the shaman that collected it
A round wall plaque of Mao Zedong. My Dad found it buried in a garden he was working on here in the UK. It was in great shape. No idea if it’s Chinese or a copy.
Can’t think of anything too outrageous. I have a 24U server rack in my garage which fits with mm perfection under the stairs.
I have a coprolith.
It’s part of my bathroom’s decoration.
I’ve got a small volcanic rock from Mt Vesuvius, a Polaroid Land camera 95A from the late 40s or 50s, and I built a magic mirror (which isn’t that obscure, but lots of people find it fascinating).
I’m currently building a Guzheng out of wood from the cherry tree I used to hang out in as a kid that got destroyed in a fire with only part of the trunk remaining. Maybe only 4/10 interesting but if this were a fantasy setting that’s at least a +2 magic instrument right there for the backstory its got.
I went to the Ghibli museum and watched a short while I was there. The ticket to the short was a film strip from one of the movies. I have it framed.
i have a replica PDP-11 that i built from a kit. i think it’s very cool looking.
i also have the first version of the espruino. it’s a tiny microcontroller (a computer on a chip) that can only run javascript (the thing you build websites with). and not modern javascript either, the wonky 2010 kind. it’s completely useless.
1998 sun micro system graphics workstation with complete driver set and user Manuel’s, original monitor and keyboard
Manuel will be so glad you kept his monitor and keyboard
I won’t even edit that. It’s golden
It’s really great and conjures up a very different story than what you want for.
Chefs kiss
A pre-prohibition bottle of creme de menthe shaped like a giraffe.
It’s a bit higher proof than creme de menthe typically made today, not that you should drink it because it probably has dangerous chemicals coloring it green.
