How Now?

One of many treasures Ericka has collected over the years is her set of "Colonial Cats," a series of cat dolls released when she was a little girl. Each cat doll represents one of the original 13 American colonies. 

 RE: post title - “How Now?” is one way colonial Americans greeted each other.

Plastic Centaur Toy

This plastic centaur toy was a bargain at Dollar Tree.

He married a Pretty Pony in 2005.

Plastic Centaur. 

Vegas Pill Dispenser

Souvenir from Vegas, for all my pills.

Pill organizer.

Experiences with Canned Meat

[From RW...BS's "Canned Meat Weekend" (July 22-24, 2005)]

Canned meat has been a part of my life, and I’m happy to share this memory:

Chicken of the Sea – Back when I was living in the Alaskan Bush (pre-internet), entertainment was scarce. To pass the time, I started writing to companies in hopes of getting free coupons. One day, I wrote a letter to Chicken of the Sea, claiming that I had found a chicken feather in my can of tuna. I told them it was probably the result of a worker on the production line who thought it would be funny play on the product name.

Chicken of the Sea replied, saying that it was very unlikely for a worker to have done that, due to their stringent quality control processes. However, they did send me two coupons for free cans of tuna.

[Originally posted on The Real World...Blogger Style!, July 23, 2005]

Glue-All

Bubble gum candy cane, 99 Cent Store.

I think it's weird the hair product I use comes packaged in what looks like a glue bottle. 

It did inspire me to transfer the hair product to a real glue bottle. The motivation is to just feel hardcore when I want to spike my hair.

[ Postscript – After I transferred my hair product to the glue bottle, I transferred the glue to a plastic baggy.  In retrospect, I should’ve put the glue into the hair product dispenser and returned it to the store shelf as a prank. Instead, I put the bag of glue on the train tracks for part of my week-long series, “What Should I Put On the Train Tracks?”, over at The Real World…Blogger Style!  ]

[Originally posted on Rebel Leady Boy, Dec. 17, 2005]

Danbai

While I was in the bathroom taking pictures of my mouthwash, I thought My bottle of Danbai shampoo from L.A.'s chinatown was also worth a post.

Danbai.

It only looks girly on the outside. It is actually a very hardcore shampoo that smells a lot like burning plastic when you rub it into your scalp. I almost think it was mis-bottled.

The label is mostly written in Chinese, but 4 points are clearly emphasized in English:

1. Unnecessary to add other protecting elements. It is very convenient to use.

          Comment - True. It IS easy to use!

2. Containing rare herb...and more than ten kinds of amino acid...making the hair easily combed. Keep hair black forever and soft.

          Comment - Forever!

3. The function is moderate and safe.

          Comment - Not my usual function.

4. Full of sweet scents of fresh apple.

          Comment - No, it smells like melting plastic.

[Originally posted on The Real World...Blogger Style!, Sep. 1, 2005]

Enjuague Bucal

[From RW...BS's "Post Your Mouthwash" Campaign]

My current mouthwash is Enjuague Bucal from the 99 Cent Store. It carries a "Pharmacist's Preference" label,

"Pharmacist's Preference," Enjuague Bucal.

The product looks a lot like Listerine and I expected a good burn the first time I used it, but it is very watered down and not nearly as cleansing as its more expensive counterpart. A person could probably drink it, if they wanted to.

Don't drink mouthwash.

[Originally posted on The Real World...Blogger Style!, Sep. 1, 2005]

Fan Hat

It's a hat:

Hat.

It's a fan:

Fan.

It's a fan hat:

Fan hat.

A hat that collapses into a fan! A fan that expands into a hat!
Folds up to fit in your back pocket!
Beat the heat in style.

Aerial view.

Thank you, Chinatown!

[Originally posted on Rebel Leady Boy, June 22, 2005]

Shower Heads

 I received a gift in the mail today from Purple Viper - Thank you, Purple Viper!

It's from a line of novelty shower heads from a 1980s called "Shower Heads." I think they were trying to say they put the "head" in "shower head" (or something like that) because they produced a whole line of shower heads adorned with rubber representations of various human and animal heads.

From the enclosed Shower Heads informational brochure.

Purple Viper sent a particularly appropriate Rchrd Nxn (sorry about the lack of vowels, I don't want to get picked up on search engines anymore) model:

Look at it go!

Thanks again, Purple Viper!

[Originally posted on Rebel Leady Boy, Oct. 24, 2005]

P-E-P-S-I S-P-I-R-I-T

In 1981, Pepsi launched a bottle cap collecting game to ignite the "Pepsi Spirit" in their customers. The idea was simple: collect the letters printed on the inside of each bottle cap to spell "Pepsi Spirit." This was before plastic twist-off caps were common, and you had to pop open a Pepsi with a bottle opener. Here’s the original commercial.

As a kid, I didn't realize that the rarest letter was the elusive R. I thought the distribution of letters was even, and I would excitedly tell people that we had all the letters except for the R. Little did I know, everyone was in the same boat.

One day, while stopping at a gas station, my friend and I thought we had struck gold. The gas station owner had altered a P into an R with a marker and had the caps displayed next to the register. We were ecstatic and thought our dream of completing the Pepsi Spirit was finally coming true.

"We have the E! You have the R! Let's go in together and split the money!" we exclaimed.

But then, the gas station owner laughed and pointed out that it was a fake R—one of the fifth ones he'd made because people kept stealing them!

Pretty good prank.

[Originally posted on Rebel Leady Boy, May 18, 2006]

Chili Dog Burrito Nightmare

The first burritos I ever ate were frozen ones from the supermarket.

Our supermarket’s frozen brand offered three varieties:

• Red Hot (in a red wrapper),
• Mild (in a green wrapper), and
• Chili Dog (in a brown wrapper).

I loved the first two, but Chili Dog was introduced later, and I was unfamiliar with it the first (and only) time I tried one. I assumed it would be filled with beefy chili dog-style chili or something.

I'll never forget my shock the first time I bit into it – the burrito had a whole hot dog in it! It was a hot dog wrapped in beans, then encased in a tortilla and frozen. You would bite into it and pull the whole hot dog out.

It seemed very unnatural and wrong. I was probably 12 or 13 years old, and I think I shrieked out loud when I bit into it and pulled out a hot dog. It was messed up. I'm glad it never caught on.

[Originally posted on I'm Nacho Steppinstone, June 30, 2004]

1-800-DEL-TACO

Del Taco branded pay phone outside a Del Taco in Orange, CA; 2005.

Del Taco Hotline.

Tazah

I confess I only bought this product for the cool label graphic.

Tazah: Honey with Nuts.

Super Performance

HONEY  -  TAZAH  -  NUTS

HONEY WITH NUTS

What Color Is Your Vitamin?

Vitamin color, oh yeah.

Vitamin Color.

Paper Uderwear

I don't endorse many products, but cheap, disposable, paper underwear from L.A.'s chinatown is an exception.

$1.75 for a 5-pack and that will get you through a work week.

It also looks hilarious when you wear it because it's see-through.
It's also surprisingly just as comfortable, if not more so, than cloth underwear.

I've test-worn them a few times, but consider them mainly a novelty item.
I still have some if anybody wants any.

Caesar & Sarah receiving the gift of paper underwear for Christmas.

[Originally posted on I'm Nacho Steppinstone, Mar. 27, 2004]

Viagra Pharmacy

Viagra store ("pharmacy") in Mexico.

This was a cruise ship stop (Mexico, not the viagra store).

Eyeball Sucker

Eyeball lollypop.

I got six of them through Etsy.