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March 16, 2008
penny candy on the brain
Last night I dreamed I stole a pack of Lik-m-aid from a store (no link, because I wasn't able to find a picture anywhere of what the packages looked like in the seventies when I used to eat the stuff; it had only two envelopes of powder, not three like it does now, and a picture of one kid with a giant head. Incidentally, while searching for a Lik-m-aid photo I discovered that you can still buy those Necco candy button things, remember those? Little dots of candy arranged in lines on a piece of paper you licked them off of, like sweet and colourful acid tabs. If that's not a gateway drug then I don't know what is, kids).
So anyway. Stole a pack of Lik-m-aid, then after I was in the clear and had a look at it I realized I'd grabbed the orange-and-purple powder pack that I never liked instead of the green-and-red one I adored. Then I thought, I'm a grownup now, maybe it's time I got over my dislike of fake orange flavour. And I forced myself to eat it (although I still ate up the orange first in order to use the grape to get the orange flavour out of my mouth).
Yes, I dreamed about rationalizing to myself about having stolen the wrong colour of candy. I know. Lame.
Speaking of old stuff from the seventies, today for the first time I had a look at the pile of old litho inks that sits unused on a shelf marked "oldies" in the studio. Some of them have never even been opened, and they represent five different iterations of Handschy's label design. I started taking pictures when I noticed the date on one of the cans was Nov 14 1984 (older than some of my colleagues!):
(it's at the bottom there, the white and green label)
Then I noticed that the blue ones are even older.
It's hard to see, but the can at the bottom left says 1976. The two on top say Oct 1971. That's two months older than me, folks.
I had a look inside one of the 1971 cans and found that the ink is no stiffer than the brand new can I've been using of the same colour (you can see the mark where I stuck my finger in to check):
These will doubtless all be thrown out in the move to the new building this summer. I'm thinking about taking some of them home with me and using them, just because. Because we are the same age.
Courtney recently linked to an old blog post in which she described eating her wedding cake after it had been in the freezer for six years and it reminded me of this: my parents kept a section of their wedding cake that was made of styrofoam but had real icing on it, and they stored it on the top shelf of my bedroom closet, and when I was about four or five I found it. The day I discovered that treasure up there was like those finding (or stealing?) candy dreams: glorious and gluttonous. Over the next few months I slowly savoured every last bit of hardened white icing, every crusty, dusty rosebud. The taste of the bits of stale styrofoam still clinging to the inside of the chipped candy is still vivid in my memory. Eventually my closet snacking was discovered and although I don't remember it, I'm sure I caught hell, but y'all know it was totally worth it.
Posted by jodi at March 16, 2008 03:13 PM | categories: dumbass
Comments
I'd be taking the cans home for the "cool" factor. Old, found stuff like that fascinates me. It's just not the same if you buy it at some flea market.
Posted by: Carol at March 16, 2008 07:03 PM
"Penny Candy on The Brain" is a Heavy Blinkers song.
Just sayin.
Posted by: Steph VW at March 16, 2008 09:19 PM
Steph: I know. I listened to that cd in studio today. Twice, actually, because it's one of about three records I have at the studio that I can listen to while I have a migraine without wanting to poke out my eye. Since I'm always stealing from songs for post titles, I try to comply with Cancon regulations ;)
Posted by: jodi at March 16, 2008 10:07 PM
I can't blow it up any larger, but isn't that other blue one on the bottom a 1966??
I used to looove Lik-m-Aid. And I just had the candy dots on paper a few months ago. I found a place that has all sorts of retro candy. My all time favorite flashback candy is the Necco wafers in the roll. I like the white powdery stuff on the outside of each disc.
And that was a gateway drug, too LOL.
Posted by: TheAmpuT at March 17, 2008 12:45 AM
Mmmm, Lik-m-aid.
So how was the icing preserved while in an attic? Does it not draw bugs? Does the Styrofoam do something special to it? My wedding cake top had been frozen. Six years later the cake itself was awful, but the icing tolerable.
Posted by: Courtney at March 17, 2008 03:34 PM
We have a cupboard that looks exactly like that at uni. I've discovered some awesome things in there, like the can of silver ink that I've used consistently since first year now.
Posted by: crumpet at March 17, 2008 06:07 PM
I remember it too and to be honest we were probably glad it was gone because it was one of those things you can't throw out but don't know what to do with. love m
Posted by: mar at March 21, 2008 10:51 AM