Friday, February 10, 2006
The Mr. Right Mug
2006 marks the 10-year anniversary of the semester I spent studying in Florence. I've already begun to get nostalgic. Last weekend, my friend Melinda was asking me if I'm going to go through with our plan to meet up with our roommates from that semester, in Rome this October. Maybe that's one reason this story came to mind.
I own a large number of mugs. But sadly, I do not possess the Mr. Right mug. We came across it in the random assortment of dishes in our flat in Florence. Printed across the top were the words "Where is Mr. Right?" Underneath this was a spinner-type wheel with six sections, each suggesting a potential location for Mr. Right:
-Right around the corner
-Married to Mrs. Right
-In medical school
-Making his first million
-Right under your nose
-Looking for you
There was a blank circle in the middle of the wheel, as if there should be a pointer there, so you could spin it and find out where Mr. Right was. But there was no spinner. I was puzzled by this deficiency. There was no way of actually using the mug to find out where Mr. Right was! And really, why have a wheel like that with no spinner? I don't know why I spent time pondering this. It was a mug.
We loved the thing. It sparked many conversations about relationships and dating and speculations about what the future might hold, as we wondered: "Where is Mr. Right?"
Melinda said from nearly the beginning that she was going to swipe it from the flat and take it home with her. But when the time came, she couldn't do it. She got nostalgic about our fascination with the mug and wanted to leave it for the next girls who would inhabit the flat, whoever they might be. We took artsy candlelight pictures of the mug and left it behind. I wonder if the next inhabitants of the flat appreciated it as much as we did. I miss that mug.
Update: On a whim, I googled this. No way. Our mug must have lost its spinner. Sad. (And, you seriously can find anything on eBay. Resisting the urge to bid...)
(Updated again to illustrate with a swiped-from-eBay picture)
I own a large number of mugs. But sadly, I do not possess the Mr. Right mug. We came across it in the random assortment of dishes in our flat in Florence. Printed across the top were the words "Where is Mr. Right?" Underneath this was a spinner-type wheel with six sections, each suggesting a potential location for Mr. Right:
-Right around the corner
-Married to Mrs. Right
-In medical school
-Making his first million
-Right under your nose
-Looking for you
There was a blank circle in the middle of the wheel, as if there should be a pointer there, so you could spin it and find out where Mr. Right was. But there was no spinner. I was puzzled by this deficiency. There was no way of actually using the mug to find out where Mr. Right was! And really, why have a wheel like that with no spinner? I don't know why I spent time pondering this. It was a mug.
We loved the thing. It sparked many conversations about relationships and dating and speculations about what the future might hold, as we wondered: "Where is Mr. Right?"
Melinda said from nearly the beginning that she was going to swipe it from the flat and take it home with her. But when the time came, she couldn't do it. She got nostalgic about our fascination with the mug and wanted to leave it for the next girls who would inhabit the flat, whoever they might be. We took artsy candlelight pictures of the mug and left it behind. I wonder if the next inhabitants of the flat appreciated it as much as we did. I miss that mug.
Update: On a whim, I googled this. No way. Our mug must have lost its spinner. Sad. (And, you seriously can find anything on eBay. Resisting the urge to bid...)
(Updated again to illustrate with a swiped-from-eBay picture)
| posted by Barbara | 9:23 PM