The Box O' Memories

In my previous Box O' Memory posts, I discussed several different objects that followed similar themes. Today will be the first post in which I focus on a single item.

This little alien, from an evolutionary perspective, is terrible. How does it get around with those pointy legs? How does it grasp anything with those two-pronged hands? The eyes are huge, making them an easy target for enemies. Its large head makes it top-heavy. Its blue-green skin might make you think it's a marine creature, but it doesn't have any fins, and pointy limbs have never served aquatic life very well. It's unlikely we'll be invaded by such sad creatures.

You might think I have this alien in The Box because I'm a science fiction geek. You'd be wrong. While I once had a collection of toy aliens I got from candy machines (which have been lost forever, sadly), this alien has nothing to do with those.

Back in middle school, which was either 1999 or 2000, my gym class went to a small bowling alley that no longer exists. It was duckpin bowling, so you use small balls. They were always broken, so there was no way to properly aim them.

I never got the permission slip. This meant I had to stay at the school while all my friends went out bowling. I was fine with this, really, because I didn't have many friends, and I hated gym.

You might be wondering what this has to do with a toy alien. The answer is, of course: everything.

On the very last day of bowling, the teachers didn't have anywhere for me to go, so they brought me along even though I didn't get a permission slip. It was the bowling tournament for the entire class. I had absolutely no skill in bowling, so I did poorly. There were prizes for whoever got the highest score.

Well, since I had never bowled before, this meant every previous game I had scored zero. This gave me a HUGE handicap. I ended up getting the highest score out of anyone in the entire class, which meant I got the top prize: a free drink at the alley, and this toy alien.

I didn't even know I had the handicap, so I was pretty surprised that I got the top score.

For the following years, the toy alien was kept in a bin full of crap I never bothered to throw away. I had forgotten all about it until I was getting ready to move into my apartment (which I am now moving out of) when I went to Towson University. I was cleaning out the bin so I could use it for kitchen stuff when I found the toy alien at the bottom. By that point, my Box O' Memories had taken on its name, so the alien toy was added to it.

I have few fond memories of middle school, so it's nice to have something to remind me of a particularly good moment I experienced.

There was a time when memory on portable devices was measured in megabytes, and not gigabytes. The idea of holding more than ten songs on an mp3 player was unheard of. But that was okay with us, because it was pretty much the same thing as a CD.

Enter the Samsung Mini Yepp 32 MB Mp3 player (pictured on the right). This was my very first mp3 player. It held less than seven songs. It's incredibly small (for something that came out in 2001). This was my replacement for my CD player. No longer would my songs skip, and I didn't have to burn CDs anymore.

The coolest thing about it was that I was the only kid in school to have an mp3 player. While everyone else was fumbling with their primitive plastic discs, I was holding down the power button for fifteen seconds to get access to my vast library of music.

Of course, this didn't last long. Shortly after I got it, the iPod gained popularity. Everyone but me was carrying around a portable hard drive that played songs.

Today, my Yepp player doesn't even work. I never dropped it, and there's still not a scratch on it. I wonder what songs are on it, but whatever they are, they probably suck.

This was my second mp3 player. It has no name. I called it "The Red One." It was one of those generic mp3 players you could get for $20. This one held 128 MB, so it was better than a CD player (in that aspect). Also, it required no cords because the USB plug was built right into it. It also had a ton of features in the software, such as audio manipulation. I could play songs in fast or slow motion. It also had a built-in voice recorder, which I actually used to do an interview for a class I took early in college.

Sadly, there was one major flaw with The Red One. It had trouble keeping the battery in place. Any jolts would cause the battery to come lose, and it would shut off. That made this mp3 player even more annoying than a portable CD player.

Still, I got a lot of use out of the thing. I also used it for data storage, as it served as a flash drive as well. A while ago, I actually found the website for the company that made the device, and I found out I had the cheap version. The good version also had an FM radio and a bunch of other cool features. There was apparently a group of people who were big enthusiasts of the device, and modified it somehow.

I would put a battery in it to see what songs are on it, but because it's so frustrating trying to keep it in place, and I don't have any AA batteries, so I'm not going to do that.

That was my main device up until I got the Samsung Helix, which is both an MP3 player and an XM (and Sirius now) radio. Then, about six months ago, I got the iPod Touch. I still use both the Helix and the Touch, so there's no need for these cheap things anymore.

Even though both had their frustrating problems, they spent a lot of time in my pockets. Since my Yepp, I haven't had use for burning CDs. I don't miss these at all, but they definitely deserve their place in The Box O' Memories.

It's hard to imagine what my life would have been like had it not been for toy cars.

There were the two big name brands, HotWheels and Matchbox, but there were tons of knock-off brands usually made of cheap plastic. HotWheels and Matchbox, at least back when I was a kid, were made of metal. You could drop them a hundred feet and they'd just be a little scratched up.

These were not the only cars I owned. There were probably hundreds more. Every time my dad would take my brothers and I to any store, we asked if we could get a car. Over years, this added up to a pretty massive collection. We used them for two purposes: smashing them into each other and throwing them at each other.

But these cars have an even deeper meaning for me. They were the medium through which I told stories with my brothers. For me, each car was its own character. Some of the stories were pretty ridiculous. One I can remember was the car was flung out into space to fight some bad guy, and it was filled with grapes for the driver to eat on the year-long journey.

By the time I decided I wanted to write, I had created hundreds of stories. Had it not been for these toy cars, I doubt I would have developed an interest in creative writing.

This car is missing a rocket that fits into the back. I'm pretty sure that this thing is older than I am, since the copyright date on the bottom is 1985. It's still in really good condition except for scratches and peeling paint. It's not based on any real vehicle, but then again, not many toy cars are. Even though a rocket is supposed to launch off the back, it's still the same size as every other toy car.

I honestly can't remember any stories I made up for this one. Most likely it was used as a rescue vehicle for other cars, since they could fit in the back. I'm not really sure why I put this in The Box, but it might have had something to do with NASA being on the side.

It's a truck shaped like a hot dog. When I was a kid, I dreamed of seeing one. It wasn't until two years ago that I finally did. It was driving around Frederick for some reason. The site was beautiful, even though I'm a vegetarian. The Wienermobile transcends food preferences, and is the pinnacle of food-shaped vehicles.

I'm pretty sure the Wienermobile served other cars food, but it's hard to say. It may have been some kind of super car.

This is my Porsche. It was my favorite toy car as a kid, though I really don't have any feelings about the actual car (I'm sure it's great, but I just don't care). It's pretty scratched up, due to the hell I put it through over the years, and one of the wheels looks like it could come off pretty easily, but it still rolls. This was always the main character and hero of my stories. I named it Bryan, after myself, because I wanted to be as awesome as the character.

This car traveled to the Moon, Earth's core, and distant planets. It fought off villains with weapons capable of destroying the entire universe. It was the fastest car ever made. It shot lasers. It could do a backflip (thanks to the spoiler on the back). It could drive on walls and upside-down. It could fly. It could survive falling for miles and crashing into solid ground. It survived several nuclear explosions. Of all the characters I've ever created, the Porsche was the most badass.

Most of the rest of the toy cars I owned as a kid are stored in a box somewhere. Another one I have definitely belongs in The Box, but I have no idea where it is. It's a cool three-wheeled rocket-powered car that's missing its windshield.

Of everything I ever played with as a kid, I'm pretty sure the toy cars were what fostered my creativity the most.

The story of the Box O' Memories begins, of course, with The Box itself. Like the contents within, The Box has a story of it's own.

The Box was given to me when I was very young. It was used at first as a box for magic supplies. When I was about 8 or 9, I liked to perform magic shows for my family. I wasn't any good at it, but The Box did a phenomenal job of keeping everything together. It came with a lock, which has long since been lost. This lock did little to protect the contents within, as it could be opened with my bare hands.

Eventually I came to the realization that I was not likely to succeed in the magic industry. However, I have since been very interested in learning the secrets behind some of the more amazing illusions.

Thus the magic contents within were eventually either thrown away or lost. Following that, The Box was used to hold toy cars that I liked to play with. When I grew past those, I used The Box to store my Star Wars action figures. Those are now kept in a green bag somewhere.

One day, I decided to turn The Box into what I call "The Box O' Memories" ('The Box' is the short version).

I kept anything that I felt was useless, but didn't want to throw away due to some kind of sentimental value. This could be anything that reminded me of an event that meant something in my life, or had some kind of connection to someone important to me.

The Box itself is very sturdy. It's made of plywood and held together with metal bindings. Since the contents within are mostly not of the breakable type, I don't have to worry too much about it. I keep it in safe places; sometimes a closet, sometimes under my bed (when it can fit), but always wherever I live.

The Stickers
A recent idea I had for The Box was to add stickers to it. So far there are six stickers:

• - At the very left is the Apple logo. For a long time, I wasn't a fan of Apple products, but last year I got an iPod Touch, which has since become an invaluable tool for me.
• - The sticker to the right of that is one I got upon purchasing a video card for my PC. It says "Power" on it, and shows some freaky alien woman thing. It symbolizes my love for having a powerful computer I guess.
• - In the middle is the Mr. Beer sticker. After I turned 21, I began to like the taste of beer. Not long afterward, I got a Mr. Beer kit and started making my own beer.
• - The last sticker you see in the above picture is the NASA GOES L&M Satellite sticker. I got this during my Earth System Science Research class in high school. I forget how exactly it came into my possession, but that was a great class.
• - In the first picture in this post, you can see the NASA logo on the front of the box. I am a big astronomy geek, and like the other space geek sticker, I got this one in my high school class.
• - Not pictured in either photo is an Obama/Biden sticker I ordered during last year's presidential race. I got it for free from Obama's site. I didn't want to post that picture because I don't want to start this site off with some kind of political message

The Box has many things within it. Every post on this site will reveal one item, and give its story.