primitive gets all excited

[franksolich]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=403x3910

Oh my.

Vinca  (1000+ posts)      Sat May-14-11 05:54 PM
Original message
 
So I got all excited today . . . it was my first solo yard sale outing since the hip replacement. I went all over the place, but ended up at a "regular" tag sale some people who buy storage units hold on Saturdays. So I picked up a few neat smalls - nothing great - and was standing there chatting with 2 other dealer/pickers when a vase caught my eye. It was clear and frosted and had fake flowers in it, but somehow I spotted etched writing through the foot of it. I grabbed it and turned it over and could only make out "France." But, it was heavy and looked to be of good quality, so I added it to the pile. Total money spent: $10. When I got home I joked to my husband that I might have found a piece of Lalique. Eventually I got around to looking at it with a loupe and nearly fell over. Lalique! On further inspection it turned out to be made by Marie Claude Lalique (last of the family) and not Rene. Still probably worth $150 and it felt really good to know I've still got "the eye."

As mentioned in another thread elsewhere here--the "Mrs. Alfred Packer does Memorial Day" story--this weekend franksolich is going to work on a new story about the primitives stalking franksolich up here on the roof of Nebraska.

But it's going to have an unusual twist--for one, the vindictive primitive, this one, is going to be the main character rather than Mrs. Alfred Packer.....among other things.

It's going to be about the primitives going to a flea-market while stalking franksolich.

This story, I'm looking to be a double challenge; I have to improve on my dialogue, so that the primitives don't come out sounding all like Nebraskans rather than representative of other parts of the country.

And two, while flea-markets are a popular cultural phenomenon, franksolich has never been to one, and so the challenge there is to make the description and events at the flea-market credible.

With all due respect to decent and civilized people who like flea-markets (because it's a recreation, a harmless pastime), franksolich has never attended flea-markets because it seems the people there are very much like the vindictive primitive, and franksolich doesn't like hanging around greedy people.

Ever since he was a little lad, franksolich has noticed that flea-market dealers imagine themselves as being "sharp;" but actually they're a peculiar sort of people who think everybody else is out to cheat them, and so they have to cheat the other guy first.

[Boudicca]

Frank, do you anticipate perhaps branching out and casting various DUmmies in forthcoming stories?  I could TOTALLY see you composing an opus about greedy grubbing greenbrier, or Stinky the Cat, or Doug's Stupid Ex-Wife.  Mayhap you could incorporate several of these Dummies into one story, and have something explode.
Anyway, keep up the good work of entertaining us.   After all, we have no other lives to live.

[GOBUCKS]

standing there chatting with 2 other dealer/pickers

Did anyone use the term "pickers" before that TV show?
I had never heard it used that way, but I've never attended an auction or (shudder) yard sale.

[DumbAss Tanker]

Did anyone use the term "pickers" before that TV show?
I had never heard it used that way, but I've never attended an auction or (shudder) yard sale.

Well, my better half has dragged me to the odd yard sale over the years, but no, I hadn't ever heard that word until the current series hit.  "Pickers," no, "Burglars," "Thieves," "Vultures," etc., yes, because in rural territory they're notorious for cleaning out unoccupied buildings under the pretext that the stuff in them is abandoned, whether the owner thinks so or not.

[franksolich]

Did anyone use the term "pickers" before that TV show?
I had never heard it used that way, but I've never attended an auction or (shudder) yard sale.

You know, there's so many primitives trying to make a quick buck in used goods.

It seems to me their lives would be a whole lot easier, and much more financially secure, if they just took a job at the local factory instead.

[franksolich]

Frank, do you anticipate perhaps branching out and casting various DUmmies in forthcoming stories? 

I could TOTALLY see you composing an opus about greedy grubbing greenbrier, or Stinky the Cat, or Doug's Stupid Ex-Wife.  Mayhap you could incorporate several of these Dummies into one story, and have something explode.

Anyway, keep up the good work of entertaining us.   After all, we have no other lives to live.

I dunno, madam; we'll see how it goes.

I'm just flailing and flopping aimlessly around at the moment, idly and randomly doing this and that, while trying to figure out a way to observe the primitives without the primitives being aware franksolich is observing them.

This is one of those things, those random things; if it bears fruit, sure, more stories, but if it doesn't, I'll find something else.  Unlike the primitives, I don't spend all day on the internet--having to work for a living and all that--but the times I'm off the internet, dealing with real life, the creative juices flow.

[Paul Heinzman]

Did anyone use the term "pickers" before that TV show?
I had never heard it used that way, but I've never attended an auction or (shudder) yard sale.

Only time I recall hearing it was in the context of "trash picker." I would imagine it emerged out of that subculture for the TV show to pick it for the title. However, the media are wont to create folklore and other cultural phenomena. I worked eleven years in retail (from '84 to '95), and don't recall ever hearing the term "Black Friday" until the local TV stations started covering it. I could be wrong about that, though. Sometimes jargon becomes such a natural part of one's vocabulary that they don't even notice it until it is picked up by an "outsider."

[miskie]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure it comes from the phrase 'trash picker' - I suppose they got rid of the 'trash' part because it was offensive or somesuch nonsense..

[Tucker]

Did anyone use the term "pickers" before that TV show?
I had never heard it used that way, but I've never attended an auction or (shudder) yard sale.

I never heard of used in that context before today. I've never seen the TV show. First thing I thought of was a banjo player.

[Ballygrl]

Total money spent: $10. When I got home I joked to my husband that I might have found a piece of Lalique. Eventually I got around to looking at it with a loupe and nearly fell over. Lalique! On further inspection it turned out to be made by Marie Claude Lalique (last of the family) and not Rene. Still probably worth $150 and it felt really good to know I've still got "the eye."

Wouldn't a good regressive go back to the garage sale and give the person what the item was actually worth?

[Ballygrl]

Frank, do you anticipate perhaps branching out and casting various DUmmies in forthcoming stories?  I could TOTALLY see you composing an opus about greedy grubbing greenbrier, or Stinky the Cat, or Doug's Stupid Ex-Wife.  Mayhap you could incorporate several of these Dummies into one story, and have something explode.
Anyway, keep up the good work of entertaining us.   After all, we have no other lives to live.

It would be cool to do an epic like Rush did years ago with "Gulf War The Movie". I wish I could find that parody on the internet, I've looked everywhere, it was 1 of the funniest things Rush ever did.

[franksolich]

Wouldn't a good regressive go back to the garage sale and give the person what the item was actually worth?

My thought exactly, madam.

We're supposed to be the greedy thieving windfall profiteers, not the primitives.

Anyway.

It's a little past 7:30 p.m. central time, 6:30 p.m. mountain time, Friday evening; I'm going to be heading west in half an hour, 110 miles into the Sandhills, where I'll stay in a motel before going to the hospital in the morning.  I'm not going into the hospital; this is just the post-surgical checkup.  I am not well, but as usual I remain defiantly and indefatigably confident.  I could've had it checked on in the big city earlier, which is closer, but I need to go out that way anyway, to see the other half of we Rover Boys.

He's got a project going--as usual, a civil case--and apparently it's in the panhandle of Nebraska, near the border with Wyoming; the southern part of the panhandle, where I spent my infancy.  For convenience of the primitives stalking franksolich, it's somewhere northeast of Kimball, southeast of Scottsbluff, and almost directly south of Alliance.

But that wouldn't be until later on in June; for the next couple of days, I'm planning to simply hang around where I'm headed tonight, Lord Kitchener of Khartoum with Wyatt Earp.  The neighbor's taking care of the cats here.  I'll be back Monday, maybe.

If a primitive calls me out while I'm gone, tell him to go **** himself.

[Boudicca]

I dunno, madam; we'll see how it goes.

I'm just flailing and flopping aimlessly around at the moment, idly and randomly doing this and that, while trying to figure out a way to observe the primitives without the primitives being aware franksolich is observing them.

This is one of those things, those random things; if it bears fruit, sure, more stories, but if it doesn't, I'll find something else.  Unlike the primitives, I don't spend all day on the internet--having to work for a living and all that--but the times I'm off the internet, dealing with real life, the creative juices flow.

As long as it's the creative juices flowing, sir, and not the sweat of fear induced adrenaline.  I do shudder in dismay at the prospect of hordes of primitives in hot pursuit of your humble self, and for the mere fact that you, among others, enjoy observing and documenting for an incredulous posterity their diminished capacity, mental, physical,and/or emotional.

[Freeper]

You know, there's so many primitives trying to make a quick buck in used goods.

It seems to me their lives would be a whole lot easier, and much more financially secure, if they just took a job at the local factory instead.

I don't think there is anything wrong with finding old stuff that people have no use for, taking it fixing it up and making a buck. It's good honest labor as long as you get the items legitimately. My grandfather worked for the city for years and years and during his day he would come across old items that people didn't want so he would take them home fix them up etc. It was a hobby and a little extra money, not to mention something to fall back on during layoffs and other hard times.

My sister is opening up a thrift store in a small GA town, hopefully she will do well.

I love that show American Pickers, I would love to do what they do. Travel all around finding interesting stuff, meeting interesting people, and make a decent living doing so.

 

[Skul]

The drive from Sidney to Chadron is quite nice.
Beautiful part of the country.

Seems to me, yard sales in northern Nebr., are refered to as rummage sales.
It's been a long time, I don't recall for sure.

[franksolich]

I don't think there is anything wrong with finding old stuff that people have no use for, taking it fixing it up and making a buck. It's good honest labor as long as you get the items legitimately. My grandfather worked for the city for years and years and during his day he would come across old items that people didn't want so he would take them home fix them up etc. It was a hobby and a little extra money, not to mention something to fall back on during layoffs and other hard times.

My sister is opening up a thrift store in a small GA town, hopefully she will do well.

I love that show American Pickers, I would love to do what they do. Travel all around finding interesting stuff, meeting interesting people, and make a decent living doing so.

Of course there's nothing wrong with it, sir; perhaps I come on a little too strongly about the negative aspect of it because of the greedy primitives, who aren't, really, out to recycle old things or who do it as a hobby, a sideline.

I'm enthusiastic about people who do it for recycling, or as a recreation.

But the greed of the primitives makes me veer w-a-a-a-y over the other way, when the primitives brag and boast and gloat about cheating people.

[franksolich]

Seems to me, yard sales in northern Nebr., are refered to as rummage sales.

It's been a long time, I don't recall for sure.

Near the front part of my life, they were universally called "rummage sales."

But then as I was growing up, "yard sales" and "garage sales" started gaining acceptance.

It seems, from a cursory inspection of signs and advertisements, that "garage sales" is now the most popular term.

[Randy]

Did anyone use the term "pickers" before that TV show?
I had never heard it used that way, but I've never attended an auction or (shudder) yard sale.

You're missing out, jus' sayin'.

[delilahmused]

I don't think there is anything wrong with finding old stuff that people have no use for, taking it fixing it up and making a buck. It's good honest labor as long as you get the items legitimately. My grandfather worked for the city for years and years and during his day he would come across old items that people didn't want so he would take them home fix them up etc. It was a hobby and a little extra money, not to mention something to fall back on during layoffs and other hard times.

My sister is opening up a thrift store in a small GA town, hopefully she will do well.

I love that show American Pickers, I would love to do what they do. Travel all around finding interesting stuff, meeting interesting people, and make a decent living doing so.

 

I was practically raised on flea markets. Went nearly every weekend with my grandparents when I was with them. To this day I can't see the point in paying for something new when I can buy a used one in good condition for much less. I scour thrift stores, yard sells, ebay for vintage jewelry to use in my necklaces & bracelets (or take apart and use the components). I've been buying mismatched dishes for over a year now because I want to make a mosaic mural on our pump house (it's right out front and damned ugly) and matching stepping stones. Got a pair of women's Levi 501's at the Salvation Army last week, mint condition, my size for 50 cents. Impossible to find because they don't make them anymore. And I hate boot cut jeans. Can't imagine not doing things this way.

Cindie