Office shrines

[pegkerr]

In my endless quest to find things to fill the office newsletter, I hit upon the idea of going around and taking pictures of people's office shrines. Once I began thinking about it, I realized that many people, maybe even most, have something personal on their desk or somewhere in their workspace, like a bookshelf or window ledge. Some are obvious, like pictures of kids or examples of their art work. Others are mysteriously whimsical. On a quick tour around the office, I found: a Hawaiian hula doll, ceramic Tobasco sauce bottles, various action figures, a stuffed Pillsbury doughboy, two statuettes of cheerfully Rubenesque bathing beauties, with bathing caps and 50s swim suits, poised to take a dive, a grinning plastic frog with a straw hat, a carved wooden giraffe, etc., etc.

We're going to take photos of all these various tchotchkes, make a photo collage and invite people to match each picture with the various people around the office.

What weird thing do you have as part of an office/desk shrine?
Mine consists of Sam and Frodo action figures. I also have a little fairy my daughter made out of cloth flowers and embroidery silk, draped over the frame of the baby pictures of my girls.

Cheers,
Peg

Comments

[rivka.livejournal.com]

I have a black-and-white postcard showing (from above) a mouse about to use dynamite to blast its way out of a complex maze. The purpose of this card is to remind me that there's always more than one way out of any situation.

[pameladean]

I work at home, so in some sense the entire office -- which is a horrific mess, practically life-threatening in the dark -- is a weird thing. I suppose the oddest things that catch my eye just now include the orange cat asleep on a pillow in the sun, the blood-pressure monitor in its blue nylon case, and the little container of Gentleman's Relish sitting on the CPU.

Pamela

[http://users.livejournal.com/_lore/]

I have a shelf of odd souvenirs brought back from various staff trips. There's a shiny red lobster finger puppet, a scorpion encased in a paperweight, Spanish playing cards, etc. There's also lots of pumpkin stuff because I'm born on Halloween. A dead plant, Dr. Evil, and an ugly Little Mermaid statue, too. Little frogs, plastic neon slinkys and happy-face bubbles from various training activities...it definitely would meet your idea of "shrine." :)

love, lore

[peacockharpy.livejournal.com]

It took me two days to pack up my office because it was so shrine-y.

I had cut up an old calendar and pinned Pre-Raph paintings all over the cube. I had a very large (overly large) houseplant inheritied from a friend -- its vines were longer than I am tall, and I twined them up and across the wall of the cube. (I had to trim it severely to bring it home.) I had a tiny statue of Hermione Granger. A dried pomegranate. A hive of glass bees swarming over my computer. A picture of my husband and I on honeymoon, sitting in the snow on top of an Alp (we are both from Florida, this is exotic to us). An ultrasound picture of Meg. A candle shaped like a bee.

And, well, piles and piles of paper and folders. I'm sorta disorganized. My home desk is not much more organized.

- Darice

[slightlights.livejournal.com]

Mmm. I don't have an office shrine currently, not having even an informal office—instead, I lug the laptop wherever there's sunshine or pillows—but you've reminded me that the one thing I miss the most from a more stationary workspace is a picture frame, one just large enough to hold postcards. I've a bag of them, some that people have sent me, others that I've bought on my own, and I used to switch the 'art' as the mood moved me (or as I wanted to invoke one).
...Desktop wallpaper is analogous, but not similar enough, as I usually have so many windows open that I can never see it!

[serendipoz.livejournal.com]

I had a small CD shelf full of tea (ice, bags,) and hot chocolate. And a dark blue carved cat and a Marilyn Pride stone painted as a Boosh figure.

[amandageist.livejournal.com]

Photos of me, Sheryll, and Alan Rickman in New York (2). Magnet of Alan Rickman from his appearance in Antony & Cleopatra (1). Yellow sticky-note with "Alan Rickman Rocks" on it (1). Alan Rickman's autograph on UK Snape theater card (1). Snape pics (daily calendar pages, bookmark someone gave me, etc.) (4). Ladybug magnets (4). Ladybug stapler, tape dispenser, sticky-pad holder (1 each). Photos of family in cute resin frames (1 each). Real live dead skrewt spawn mounted in plastic by yours truly (1, thank God, only 1).

If Alan Rickman or Severus Snape turns out to like ladybugs, I think we'll have a theme going, here. Otherwise, I may be in trouble.