i have quite a lot of possessions. more than i'd like, but i'm a minor horder so i have trouble getting rid of things i don't need or use anymore. i like some of my possessions more than others, and i've noticed that the things i like more tend to have a similar set of properties that make me like them more. and in fact, if i think about an object i dont like as much, and then think about what would make me like it more, and it often has similar adjectives added to it to make me like it more.
i first realised this pattern around 2022 and i've struggled to come up with a better description or name than just 'good objects'. but i also dont feel the need to come up with a better name. this is something for me and i know what i mean.
theres a quote i really like from Oscar Wilde: "there are people who know the price of everything and the value of nothing". (misquoting slightly in my preferred version, although my misquote follows from the actual quote). it comes up in one of my favourite videos of all time, dear gonti, love sophie by rhystic studies. the deck in that video has a lot of the properties i really like and would wonderfully wear the title of 'good object' in my books. it fits it so perfectly that i was in the process of making a similar deck of my own before seeing that video. that deck has immense value but is worth very little, and i think thats what i like. things that are very valuable. and i like them more when they arent worth much.
my fjällräven kånken no.2 laptop 15 bag in gray. i got it in the summer of 2019 along with my macbook pro that i used throughout the duration of university. i have used that bag constantly since i got it. its made of leather and a synthetic canvas-like material called G1000. i'm not exactly sure what G1000 is but the bag is extremely robust. it has been with me abroad so many times, to sweden every time since i got the bag. the bag holds a lot, its taken a lot of beating, its dirty and deserves a cleaning, its comfortable to wear and in the 5 years ive had it, its still holding up extremely well. obviously it has cosmetic wear but there is very little actually wrong with it.
i like little notebooks. little A6 sized notebooks are wonderful. i have an attachment to paper that i wrote about once in a notebook of mine and may digitise on this website. there's a beautiful simplicity to paper, it is one of my favourite things in the world. i started making my own notebooks over the last year and it has produced some very pleasing little books. these books see a lot of use and i like to take my most recent about with me when i leave the house (another wonderful quote from oscar wilde: "I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read on the train,") along with my favourite mechanical pencil. for my birthday last year i went to fred auldous in manchester and got myself some lovely paper. thick 300gsm sheets of lilac card stock for the cover, and beautiful 150gsm hand made recycled paper for the inners. when my current notebook is filled up, i'll sew together a new one with this paper and round the corners with a coin and it will surely become my favourite notebook ive ever owned. handmade, worn down, components chosen with deliberance, a very useful little tool to capture and reignite my imagination. how wonderful is paper.
my custom diy keyboards. although i get a lot more use from my crkbd corne keyboard, i think my planck keyboard is a better object because i made it myself by hand. that means a lot to me, its a very special thing. i am tempted to try making a crkbd variant with space for swedish letters and an alt key by hand, that could result in my actual end game. in any case, i talk a bit about the keyboards on my page, but i really like them. i put a lot of effort into choosing the parts, thinking about how to make them and give them a really great sound, as well as the layout that i would put on them to make it work really great for programming.
i have so many more objects that i would describe as 'good' and maybe i will make a part 2 where i list many more. i didnt even talk about my grandad's laptop, or my cardboard box that holds my books by my bed, or my apple juice jar, or my aeropress, or my favourite mug, or my earbuds, or my dungarees, or my tote bag that my friend made, or my typewriters, or all the things i have that aren't 'good' and how i would make them good.
i think one better way i could talk about these things is that they all have a story behind them. if somebody asked me about them i could say something more interesting than just 'i got it from this place'. although it is not the fact that i could show them off with a story that means i like them. correlation does not imply causation after all.
but stories are important, and filling your life with memories that are encoded in the objects you use feels important too.
- rebecca <3
01:30 onsdag 5 februari 2025