an incomplete list of things I have seen shaped like the state of Texas since moving to Texas

[rushthatspeaks]

barometer
thermometer
hatband ornament
tie-tack
cufflinks
the thing at the end of a string tie
candy box
paperweight
ornamental garden rock
rubber band (one of those new shaped ones)
garden seat
flower bed
chocolate bar
cake pan
pancake griddle
grill
pattern on tie
birdbath
picture frame
drawer pull
trellis
buttons

store signs
subset a: hats people put on the state of Texas on store signs:
fedora
sombrero
derby
cowboy hat
baseball hat
Texas A&M logo hat
indeterminable badly-drawn hat

subset b: things people have leaning against the state of Texas on store signs:
cowboy boots
sombrero
cactus
frying pan with eggs in it
coiled whip and branding iron
cow
steer
Texas A&M logo
Texas A&M slogan
man with cowboy hat and mustache
horse

number of things I ever saw in Massachusetts shaped like the state of Massachusetts: zero
number of things I ever saw in the state of Ohio shaped like the state of Ohio: zero
number of things I ever saw in the state of Pennsylvania shaped like the state of Pennsylvania: an ornamental garden sculpture near the Liberty Bell

confidence I now have in my ability to draw the outline of the state of Texas entirely from memory: quite high, really

Comments

[oracne]

Can't. Stop. Laughing.

[adrian_turtle]

Yes, but do you expect to see MITTENS shaped like the state of Texas, when it's not the middle of summer?

(You can take the hatchling out of Michigan, but sometimes it's hard to take Michigan out of the hatchling. *sigh*)

[rushthatspeaks]

Now I am trying to picture a mitten shaped like the state of Texas. I can't figure out where to put my thumbs.

[bnewman]

I suppose counting things that are shaped like Colorado or Wyoming would be cheating?

[telophase.livejournal.com]

I promise you: you will never forget you're in Texas.

(How many people have said "Howdy" to you?)

[rushthatspeaks.livejournal.com]

SEVEN

[telophase.livejournal.com]

If anyone says "Welcome to God's country!" to you I shall laugh like a drain. Mind you, nobody ever said that to me until I lived in Wyoming for a summer. :)

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

LOL!

I loved it in Alabama when people said y'all to me. Loved it!!

[kate-schaefer.livejournal.com]

Cast your mind back, back to when you learned how to drive: all the state highway signs had a picto of the state of Ohio surrounding the state route number.

I have to admit that I can't think of anything else Ohio-shaped that I encountered in 18 years of living there, though. There wasn't even a state of Ohio in butter sculpture or a display of seeds and vegetables in the shape of Ohio at the state fair.

[genarti]

I think I remember a couple of magnets? And maybe a business logo or two.

But certainly nothing omnipresent.

[rushthatspeaks.livejournal.com]

I feel as though there ought to have been Ohio in butter sculpture-- as, after all, there was everything else. (I still have fond memories of the cast of Star Wars year.)

Now buckeye-shaped things, those I could make a list about.

[sovay]

confidence I now have in my ability to draw the outline of the state of Texas entirely from memory: quite high, really

Should you ever start keeping a blog specifically about the experience of living in Texas, I would submit you call it Indeterminable Badly-Drawn Hat.

Also, trellis?

[rushthatspeaks.livejournal.com]

Trellis. Well, large metal thing that you put in your garden and have vines climb up it.

[larryhammer]

At the end of a string/bolo tie, or the clasp?

ETClarify: Not quite sure how it would work on the end, since those are normally long, thin cones or similar, with or without nobs.

---L.

[rushthatspeaks.livejournal.com]

I don't know much about how string ties work. It was hanging off one.

[earis.livejournal.com]

Okay, so now that you're in College Station, there are things you should know.

1. Shipley's Donuts. Awesome cinnamon twists and coffee. Seriously.

2. La Bodega in Northgate. Great fish tacos and maritni/margarita hybrids.

3. Cushing Rare Books Library - can't go in there without ID, can't take out books, but has some great sci fi stuff, so try and get there if you can.

4. Martha Wells lives near there. And I heart her.

5. Aggie Con, which should be coming up in March, and is run by the sci-fi group on campus - Cephid Variable.

6. I think there may still be a Pagan Student Association on campus, but maybe not. Check around, if you care.

Anyway, Texas is weird. College Station was not my favorite place in the world, but I learned a lot about it. Any questions, just shoot me a comment.

[rushthatspeaks.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I will definitely keep these things in mind.

[khava.livejournal.com]

Aww, now I'm all homesick.

[coraa.livejournal.com]

Ha!

I saw a scant few things shaped like California when I was in California, and nothing shaped like Washington since I've been in Washington except for things like the sign at the DMV. But we had a fair few things shaped like Idaho in Idaho.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I have seen several people with tattoos in the shape of Minnesota located on the inside of their arm.

Always the inside. So, y'know, they can be subtle about it if they want to.

This slays me.

[tiamat360.livejournal.com]

I love your icon! If only...

[rushthatspeaks.livejournal.com]

Wow, that slays me too.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Ahahahahahaha I love this entry so much!

things people have leaning against the state of Texas on store signs:

... coiled whip and branding iron

Wow.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Please, post photos of things Texas shaped! In return, we can send you pictures of indeterminable badly drawn hats, and you can tell us which is closest to the one you saw.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

If it helps, once you've lived here long enough, you kinda stop noticing it much until something new and special comes along.

[selenite.livejournal.com]

I think the next time I'm on a trip out of state I'll start feeling vaguely uncomfortable and not realize why until I heave a sigh of relief at some state-shaped piece of kitsch at the airport. But at the conscious level I've tuned them out.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

When I was at WisCon, I actually breathed a teeny sigh of relief without knowing why when I went to a museum gift shop (for the pressed penny machine-my mother collects them) and was suddenly surrounded by state themed items.

My parents also have a southwestern/Texas themed house. (Or rather, my mother does, and my father lives there.)

[khava.livejournal.com]

This is actually true. Though after growing up in Texas, I've always found it vaguely weird that you can't get state-shaped things in other states.

[seishonagon.livejournal.com]

You totally can in Virginia. You can even get Virginia-shaped things with Virginia slogans on them.

[khava.livejournal.com]

I don't remember seeing any Virginia stuff when I lived there. Perhaps you have to be outside of walking distance from DC, which I rarely was.

[weirdquark]

There's also the cheese and the crackers that Thrud and I got when you visited over the holidays so we give you something in the shape of Texas while you were here, but I suppose it's true that you did see those before you moved to Texas.

[rushthatspeaks.livejournal.com]

Also, it is an incomplete list.

[chomiji]

Perhaps we're fortunate that Maryland is far too complicated in shape for much of that to happen!

[nineweaving.livejournal.com]

No Tex-ass jeans?

Lovely to see your pixels.

Nine

[rushthatspeaks.livejournal.com]

I haven't really seen the state embroidered on things much, although it seems as though it would be logical, doesn't it?

[ashnistrike.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure I've seen Massachusetts-shaped candy bars. Other than that, nothing.

[octopedingenue]

Peanut patties! And apparently a candy you should get there while you can, since no one in Georgia knows what I'm talking about.