Every day I look at the world from my window

[austin_dern]

There are some days that are easy to remember, that stand out for being extraordinary. Having an easy-to-remember property about them helps. If it weren't for the rarity of the date I couldn't tell you that on February 29, 1996, I bought a new wallet from the campus bookstore. I'd had a lovely billfold, a gift from my parents, but it was far too large to carry in my pocket except in the winter months when I could store it in my jacket pocket. A replacement wallet I'd got was nice enough but fell apart badly, and after years of putting up with its broken seams --- seams I even tried patching using a hot wax machine, which never worked but if you've never used a hot wax machine to do newspaper layup you've missed a great joy in life --- I figured it was time for a replacement.

I'm not so sure what I did February 29, 2000. I'm sure I was still recovering from the shock of Charles Schulz's death, but it couldn't have been all that was on my mind.

February 29, 2004, I remember going down to Bugis Junction particularly; it struck me if there were ever a time to buy a wallet to replace that of 1996, this would be a good day for it. But I couldn't find one I liked, so I just kept the one I had. Besides, 2008 would come soon enough and surely I could get something suitable then.

February 29, 2008, I didn't buy a wallet. But I did embrace a silly little thing bunny_hugger declared, something hopeful and a little scary, and such the right thing for us both.

It's going to be hard for any February 29 to ever live up to that. But it is our real anniversary, whatever our marriage certificate ultimately says.

Trivia: Herman Hollerith was born 29 February 1860 in Buffalo, New York. Source: Jacquard's Web: How A Hand-Loom Led To The Birth Of The Information Age, James Essinger.

Currently Reading: Colonial New Jersey: A History, John E Pomfret. Wouldn't you figure? Here I run across a colonial land-use charter grant which would have been perfect as a problem for my Algebra class's first exam.

PS: An Overused Intermediacy: I do some pouting that an example I wanted to used has been used by a lot of people who were not actually me.

Comments

[xolo.livejournal.com]

if you've never used a hot wax machine to do newspaper layup you've missed a great joy in life

I loved those things! It was so wonderful running your article through the rollers, then sticking it on and seeing your layout emerge. There were so many wonderful, Rube Goldberg devices in use before the advent of computers and Ye Moderne Dayes.

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

We were envy of the whole student center, including the other newspaper (which had their layout done off-site so they didn't get to see it done) on the strength of the wax machine and the burnishes. I miss both.

For a brief stretch we had a metal envelope for laminating and were poised to rule the world, but then we ran out of the plastic sleeves to wrap the laminated-to-be object in.

[xolo.livejournal.com]

I now have my own laminating engine :)

[porsupah.livejournal.com]

I'll admit that the use of hot wax has different connotations for me. ^_^ Is that manner of beast related to the organic aromatics I recall emanating from the freshly copied handouts, in glorious pale blue, cranked out using a device similar to a mechanical cash register?

(I only wish I still had my mechanical calculator! It was for pounds, shillings, and pence, too. Enter the amount, pull the handle down to add it to the current tally, and it'd obediently - nay, magically! - print the running total up on the paper roll. Inside, of course, it was thick with levers, and would probably damage a tank if one were to attempt to roll over it)

I'm still using the wallet I picked up while visiting you in Singapore, though it is, admittedly, starting to show its age somewhat. I'll replace it when I see something that appeals, but there's no desperate hurry.

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

11 years is not bad for a single wallet, although it's losing out to my current one.

The hot wax machine was pretty straightforward. In the bottom was a reservoir of, er, wax, warmed up to melting. There was a roller which dipped into the wax and pulled a thin sheen of the fluid stuff up. A piece of paper or something else you wanted to stick to something was put on too of the roller, and it'd be pulled through, with a reasonably uniform layer of molten wax on the bottom and an unburned top. Then we'd set the page on the layout boards, and with the wax cooled the page would be locked solidly in place, but still be removable with effort. The pasted-up boards were sent to the printer for photo offset printing.

Say, I failed to mention, but you had a hand in my modern happiness. When BunnyHugger put out her proposal to all comers and I leapt at it, you were among those who endorsed giving me a try. I can't say that you clinched the relationship for me, but, I wouldn't want to do without any of the help I got, so thank you.

[chefmongoose.livejournal.com]

I've had my current wallet for about 5 years now, I think. My needs are fairly specific: 'Man's wallet with a change pocket'. And yet it's a tough criterion to fill.

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's weird how the nice simple needs are so hard to get filled. I use the change pocket for loyalty cards, but definitely need it. Add in a credit card slot high enough I can slip one card out or in and somehow this is a problem.

[chefmongoose.livejournal.com]

Oh I hadn't *thought* of keeping the keychain loyalty cards in there. They've been buried behind my work time card int he credit card slot where they need to be fished out.

I've kept the gym one on my keychain, begrudgingly, because I'm using that thrice a week and it's inordinately sensible to.

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

I don't put the keychain loyalty cards on my keychain for ... well, not much reason, actually, except that I'm marginally more likely to have my wallet than my car keys on me. And the keychain cards take up less space than the regular-sized cards, so therefore, it makes more sense to keep those around.

[xolo.livejournal.com]

Is that manner of beast related to the organic aromatics I recall emanating from the freshly copied handouts, in glorious pale blue, cranked out using a device similar to a mechanical cash register?

That's a Ditto machine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirit_duplicator). I'm surprised you're old enough to recall those. They used those when I was a child.

[bunny-hugger.livejournal.com]

They used them at my elementary school also. This would be circa 1980. Dittos and the Buggles, wasn't life great back then?

[xolo.livejournal.com]

I saw my last one around 1975 or so, IIRC, when the school got Xerox machines.

[bunny-hugger.livejournal.com]

I don't think I started seeing Xerox copies at school until we moved to a different school district in 1984.

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

We were on Ditto machines at least through the early 80s. I am not sure whether we-the-school moved to Xerox before we-my-family moved to another school district. I think we didn't, if my memories of my earliest writing for a student newspaper are reliable. I am pretty sure the copies were that ditto purple, but would have to find the back issues to be sure.