Oct 26 2007
Oh, Brother
WoDM and I went to a thrift store last weekend, in between picking up party supplies and going to the Asian Market. We mostly went to the thrift store for cheap vinyl since his family gifted us with their record player, and we did, in fact, get plenty of cheap vinyl (I don’t remember all of it) . But then we looked through electronics.
WoDM likes old computers. I have a few shelves in the entertainment center I have specifically designated for his old computer bits. So whenever we go to a thrift store, he has to make sure there is nothing neat with the computers. After we checked that, we were attempting to squeeze our way out of electronics when I spotted a sky-blue Brother typewriter.
I love typewriters. I hate using them at work because I’m not that good at them, and almost anything you can do on a typewriter you should be able to do on a computer with less effort. But I always liked the way they sound, and I was always denied the ability to use them as a child when my parents had an electric one. I protested when my mother got rid of it because I had wanted it, but it was an enormous, clunky, electric thing.
The typewriter in the store was not an electric typewriter. It was compact, entirely manual and extremely solid. We checked to see if any of the keys stuck but everything seemed to be in working condition. It was 12 dollars. I insisted we buy it. We did.
The ribbon on it was old, but it is more than possible to get new ribbons for it. WoDM bought some and rethreaded it the other night. Now he types more than he sits on his computer.
Yesterday, we got some more vinyl – most of it new. Captain Beefheart, Elliott Smith (Either/Or), The Velvet Underground, and another copy of Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians (Fegmania) – which was cheaper than the other copy (and not as badly warped as the other copy) we bought in Boulder.
I just wanted to brag about our typewriter. I think it’s very pretty and totally awesome. Maybe I will type thank you cards for the wedding party – no, that wouldn’t work. But still, it’s pretty darn cool.
I’m sooo sleepy, but the kitty snuggled with us all night, she hardly played at all. She had her shots yesterday and the vet said the distemper might make her sleepy, and I guess it did. Anyway.
i used to use the electric typewriter to type letters to my pen pal in Spain. Heh. I think I let you and mad use it a couple of times when I was watching you.