Lost stuff

[Zoning Goddess]

Over the years, I have moved around a bit; then discovered I have "lost" stuff. Photos, books, music, etc. Tonight I was looking for some photos from my childhood to show my son and realized they were gone. Don't have a clue when, since I haven't looked for them for a few years. Suddenly I'm in a panic.

When I left the -ex, popularly known as "D**khead", he swiped many of my personal things, so I'm thinking this stuff's been gone for a few years, and I'm just noticing some of it. It's not a good feeling, knowing something is gone for good.

Just reminiscing here. Anybody else had something gone missing that was a major trauma?

:-c

 

[Michele Zone]

My brother, whom I sometimes refer to with similar affectionate euphimism's such as that with which you refer to the ex, once borrowed an entire series of books from me -- and never returned them, claiming he lost them. I insisted he replace them or give me the money to do so. He laughed in my face.

On the upside, my husband -- while we were still 'dating' -- did replace the entire series for me. This helped to make up for the fact that he used to read books he bought me as gifts before he gave them to me, because I read too slow and he didn't want to wait around.

 

[Cardinal]

I was looking everywhere for the blade guard for my table saw today, and never found it. It's probably out in the machine shed somewhere, but oh well, how important is that?

For a long time, I thought I might have thrown away my thesis files. Then last fall I stumbled across them in an old box. I have converted them to the newest formats of Word and Excel and have them backed up now.

I appear to have lost one of my favorite photos, which used to hang in my apartments years ago. I can't even find the negative. Since then I have started scanning my whole collection. A couple years ago when my grandmother passed away I took my grandmother's photos and scanned about 300 of them at 400 dpi so that everyone in the family could have a good copy. That is the sort of thing that tends to get divided up over generations, and is nice to have intact.

 

[Chet]

My Flock of Seagulls greatest hits CD disappeared a few years ago. I "found" it in a friends CD rack but he denied it was mine. So I stole it.

 

[Jeff]

I've "lost" and acquired so much stuff between moves and college. College was always a great place for others to "lose" stuff.

 

[Queen B]

It was kind of funny a few months back, when my ex snuck me a set of pictures and winked and said, bet you forgot about these. He did it in front of all the kids, they just laughed.

 

[SGB]

Having moved with my family twice in the past year, losing things has become second nature to me.

It's always fun to discover what's in the boxes as we unpack.

 

[Repo Man]

Similar to Chet, I had a Sex Pistols CD that I let a friend borrow, I went to his house and it was on his shelf with another copy of the same album. He had two and claimed that neither were mine. He said one was his, and one was another friends. I also grabbed it when he wasn't looking. I also have 3 clutch Cds that are missing and I don't think I lent them to anyone.

I have lost a lot of cool t-shirts and sweatshirts over the years. I had some cool skateboarding photos of me and my friends that an ex-girlfriend would not give back to me. After about 3 years of e-mails, and phone calls, I got them in the mail.

 

[Downtown]

Traumatic loss: my dog when she was a puppy chewed a hole in the first blanket I'd ever crocheted as a college freshman. When I made it I'd just had my wisdom teeth out and was desperately missing my boyfriend (it was over christmas break) and i was so miserable, and crocheting that blanket made me feel so much better. and then parker ate it. i cried all night over it. Rob tried to convince me that I could use it as a poncho. sigh.


Non-traumatic loss - every once in a while my sister will come over wearing something of mine that hasn't been officially traded for. Sometimes i'll make her take it off immediately and wear one of rob's ratty old t-shirts home.

Rob's traumatic loss - his beloved ratty old t-shirts i make my sister wear home.

 

[donk]

here is a silly one, and I know where it went

my sister took a belt that i had been given as a kid, it had a sterling silver belt buckle with a horses head on it. she gave it to her boy friend and then they broke up. I never got it back.

I 've lent my share of books to have them never returned, now I don't lend books unless I get one in return.

I have more single arm and knee warmers and gloves then a person should, i always seem to lose just one. this is why I try to always buy the same brand or colour.

Then there is my sanity, but some would argue tha i never really had it.

 

[H]

I've "lost" and acquired so much stuff between moves and college. College was always a great place for others to "lose" stuff.

Yes, the 24-hour rule lost and gained myself many cool items in college. It was a swap meet of sorts I guess.

I had a kick butt mesh camo John Deer cap that this girl wanted to wear at a party one night. Never did I see that hat again. I still get night terrors about the personal loss.

 

[biscuit]

I have "lost" numerous cd's, big comfortable sweaters, and most of my kicking worn-out t-shirts to ex girlfriends.

OT: Could the lovely ladies of Cyburbia help me out with this one?
Why do you take our stuff? Are your boyfriend's favorite t-shirts just more comfortable than your own? Is our taste in music better? Why?

 

[Downtown]

Why do you take our stuff? Are your boyfriend's favorite t-shirts just more comfortable than your own?

Yes - your t's have been worn so much that they're so nice and soft and smell just like you. plus, it makes us happy to wear something that you love so much. and when we break up with you, it makes us happy to know how miserable you are that we have your shirt!

 

[BKM]

OT/Clutch Rules

Hey, Repo Man: Great taste in music.

Clutch rules-especially their s/t:

...and so I sold
to the DOE
some tasty little nuggets
of alien technology.
Of course, as one mught expect
I've been harassed for years
The Men in Black have been Bending My Ears


and...

"Couldn't give a damn about "JFK"
Everything's conspiracy
Little gray men are coming our way
Tastes just like chicken they say"

 

[H]

Yes - your t's have been worn so much that they're so nice and soft and smell just like you. plus, it makes us happy to wear something that you love so much. and when we break up with you, it makes us happy to know how miserable you are that we have your shirt!

Isn’t there a Ben Folds Five song about this?

 

[El Feo]

Isn’t there a Ben Folds Five song about this?

Give me my money back
Give me my money back, you b*#ch

And don't forget

TO GIVE ME BACK MY BLACK T-SHIRT!!!

 

[Mud Princess]

Well, you asked...

Yep, I've definitely had a major trauma over lost stuff. Story of my life...

Due to the death of one parent and debilitating illness of the other, I moved around quite a few times as a kid. At one point I lived on the west coast with some relatives. After a year, though, we decided it wasn't working out (long story).

Before flying back, I packed up everything I owned: furniture, toys, collectibles, pictures, records, and the short stories and books I used to write. My relatives shipped everything east to a storage facility where my family already had some items (from the house we'd had to sell) in storage.

Several years later, my older sister was able to take everything out of storage to furnish her apartment. The stuff from the house was all there -- but all of MY things were gone. We still have no idea what happened to them, and all of the receipts from the facility, which isn't even in business anymore, were lost.

I could care less about the furniture, but I wish I had the books and pictures I used to make and some other things. It's bad enough to lose a lot of my childhood because of family circumstances - I feel like I lost all physical evidence of my childhood too.

 

[michaelskis]

Possession is 90% of ownership.

That would mean the Dryer owns more socks than the rest of us. WHY is it that dryers eat socks? Where do they go? Can we get them back? *says the man with no socks.

I lost a jacket to a Girl Friend once, and then I lost the girl.

 

[SGB]

That would mean the Dryer owns more socks than the rest of us. WHY is it that dryers eat socks? Where do they go? Can we get them back? *says the man with no socks.

Someone asked the Usenet Oracle "Where do socks go when the dryer eats them? Is it the same place you go when you're put on "hold"? Can you get there by Amtrak? Will we find Jimmy Hoffa there? How about L. Ron Hubbard? Rod Serling? Elvis?"

The Oracle answered:

Unfortunately, socks do not go to the same place as the persons you mentioned. Disappearing socks are actually sacrificed to various entelechies, depending on who their owner is. Children's socks are sent to The Being Who Keeps Mom From Finding Out, while college students' socks usually go to the God Of Partial Credit. Single Adults' socks usually go to The Creature Who Finds Perfect Partners, and married adults' are usually credited toward their kids' accounts. Jimmy Hoffa, L. Ron Hubbard, Elvis, and Rod Serling are playing bridge on the 8th-10th dimensions, in case you're curious. You owe the Oracle a package of tube socks.

 

[tsc]

Always losing things in the drink... most recently a wrench and a ring-ding.

 

[BKM]

I dropped the work pager in the "bowl" one day. And pulled the "flush" lever before thinking.

 

[otterpop]

A former girlfriend borrowed my Pink Floyd "The Wall" album and never returned it. In fact she flat out denied she ever had it. Rather than make a federal case out of it, I let it pass. I sometimes wish I hadn't, though. It was a freebie, from my job as feature editor of the student news paper. The only really good album I ever got to review.

And once I lost an ounce of pretty good weed. That really bummed me at the time. I could have really used that, especially if I had gotten my album back.

 

[Chet]

A former girlfriend borrowed my Pink Floyd "The Wall" album and never returned it. In fact she flat out denied she ever had it. Rather than make a federal case out of it, I let it pass. I sometimes wish I hadn't, though. It was a freebie, from my job as feature editor of the student news paper. The only really good album I ever got to review.

And once I lost an ounce of pretty good weed. That really bummed me at the time. I could have really used that, especially if I had gotten my album back.

You went form student editor to planner? That's f-ed up. You lost more than your album and your weed, dude. Floyd. Never ever give up the Floyd.

 

[Cityscape Dreamer]

Where do they go?

The "hoze-zone"

 

[Michele Zone]

here is a silly one, and I know where it went

my sister took a belt that i had been given as a kid, it had a sterling silver belt buckle with a horses head on it. she gave it to her boy friend and then they broke up. I never got it back.

I 've lent my share of books to have them never returned, now I don't lend books unless I get one in return.

I have more single arm and knee warmers and gloves then a person should, i always seem to lose just one. this is why I try to always buy the same brand or colour.

Then there is my sanity, but some would argue tha i never really had it.

I wanted to cut something, but couldn't figure anything to cut from what you said since I figure I probably have something to say about each:

Sibling's girlfriends: I have many bad memories of girlfriend's of my brother ending up with something of mine that I never got back once they broke up. Of course, my brother gets girls by playing 'mr. big spender', so I figure his girlfriends mostly really are Working Girls who don't fully admit to themselves: I doubt he could ever get a date if he didn't flash the cash, you know? I never wanted to lend these things, because I knew my brother's track record, but my neurotic parents were often on his side. Sigh.

I was a far more practical person than my brother and I had practical things. His girlfriends were very poor and I didn't immediately "need" a lot of my practical things (call it a 'dowry' of sorts -- I had boxes full of dishes and things, stocking up for when I could some day move out), so my folks would say "Oh, you'll get is back!" I don't think I ever got back a single thing that was ever 'lent' (against my will) to one of my brother's many girlfriends (they mostly don't stick around).

Lending books: I now basically have a policy of giving books away rather than lending. It is a feel-good experience if it is a gift to a friend and stab in the back if I lend it and they never give it back. So I don't think I have lent a book out in many years, but I have given away many books of mine over the years.

Single socks: I have a habit of buying multiples of the identical style and color of sock. I have trouble finding some I like. So, when I do, I might as well get a bunch of them. Then, if they are all identical, it is a war of attrition: as I lose one at a time, I still have pairs of socks, just fewer of them. Eventually, I do get down to that lone sock but it takes longer.

Sanity: I don't think I lost my sanity. Like you, I think I never had any. I am actually far more sane these days. And then there are my ugly jokes from 2001 that I said a few times to doctors: "If I were half as unstable as some of the doctors here seem to think I am, I would have picked up the nearest medical instrument and stabbed one of them 17 times, months ago. This has been a very tough year."

It still galls me that the doctors never seemed to factor in the enormous stress I was under while walking all over me with their terrible bedside manner and then accusing me of being inadequately 'respectful'. That is sort of like 'the pot calling the kettle black' and I had much more compelling reasons for being rude than they did, as I was feverish, doped up, etc. They were merely egomaniacs. Shall we go on to my jokes about how I think 'Ego 115' and 'Condescencion 213' are required courses at all medical schools and some medical schools also offer minors, concentrations, or certificates in them?

 

[Chet]

When I entered college I borrowed a friend's birth certificate so I could get a false ID for the hooch. I lost his original birth certificiate. Oops.

 

[Habanero]

Hmmm, let's see. Right now, I don't think I'm missing anything. I do have a really nice cast iron skillet that was my exs that his mother had used for about 20-odd years, but hey, it's mine now.

Funny thing is, I hate lending things to people, I know I'll never see it again or it'll come back ruined. In high school my sister and I actually got in a fist fight over a pair of pink Tweezerman tweezers. So sad, never did get those things back.

 

[Jessie-J]

in my last move , i somehow managed to leave behind an entire box. I slowly come accross things that I just attribute to being in that box. My magic 8 ball was in there. A bag of dried lavender. A mortar and pestle that I made for grinding herbs. The only two casette tapes I decided to keep.

Like everyone else, I too have lost many cd's to friends and to parties. My House of Pain CD and Lords of Acid are the ones I miss most.

When I was a wee tot, I lost my Strawberry Shortcake doll. I still wonder where she went sometimes.

 

[otterpop]

Re: Re: Lost stuff

You went form student editor to planner? That's f-ed up. You lost more than your album and your weed, dude. Floyd. Never ever give up the Floyd.

Have you ever been a newspaper reporter? That's f-ed up! I attribute my years as a reporter to youthul indiscretion. Believe me, being a planner is a much easier gig - not half as many people are mad at you and a planner is harder to fire.