thrift town

i was thinking today about the trickle down process of all good objects we own. you buy something new in the store. you use it for a while, and if it doesn't break and you don't need it any more, you may pass it on to a friend. or if you're looking to make a little cash back on the deal, you may try to sell it. craigslist or ebay may get you top dollar, and if you're just not into all the work it takes to do this, it might sit in a garage or storage unit until one day, in a fit of purging it may end up on a table or blanket at a garage sale. here is where the bargain hunters prowl.
or, it may end up at the local thrift store as a donation, because it's just that much easier to get rid of things than to sell them. in fact sometimes the thrift store looks like a big estate sale. and it is here that i have enjoyed many hours just walking the aisles browsing the discarded treasures.
i once went looking for a bowling shirt, and found the entire team selection represented. it was here that i began slowly building my atari 2600 lot, one game at a time for about 95 cents apiece. smoking jackets, fezz hats, harmonicas, old frigidaires, polaroid cameras, vintage t-shirts, ties, 60's office chairs, framed art, school globes, and all manner of tchotchke have been spotted, handled and most times brought home from here on expeditions over the years.
and even when nothing is procured, there's still a good feeling that no time has been wasted after leaving empty handed. for the other thing it satisfies is that voyeuristic desire to open up other people's closets and go through them for a while. and so, even today after thinking about my walkman post and missing the intimacy of analog cassette technology, a quick trip to thrift town produced for me this lucky find. a vintage 1985 wm-f12! sure, it may lack the glamour of the sexier wm-10, but i adore this clunky little find. and for $3.95, it surely was a deal. (listening to a little tribe called quest even as i write this) amazing to me that it was sitting there waiting for me today. as if when it began its journey in the factory in japan some 28 years ago, making its way through the trickle down, it knew it would make its way into my hands today. so get out there while the deals can still be found. pearls be awaiting ;^)