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Angela D

@shanksspeare

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A fun fact about me is that I hate writing social media bios!

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I picked up a Zuru Mini Brands record player! This record player "really plays" about thirty seconds of a song on little records you stick on the device, which has you turn on, turn the arm, and press down, more or less like a real record player. The little records even spin!

This was a little bigger than what I had planned for it, but it's still such a fun little toy. It's like Hit Clips, but unlike when I was 8, I have disposable income so I can get more than one cartridge, er, record.

By the way, I had no idea Mini Brands and Miniverse were different items. (I thought the different sets were like a bag clip Hit Clips vs one of the boom box ones.) It's hard to find information on them on the spot, but I ended up going with Zuru because it seemed like it had a larger selection of records (FOB records, too) and I liked the size and design of their record player better, too.

#zuruminibrands #FallOutBoy #fromunderthecorktree #storyofseasons #nendoroid by @shanksspeare

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2 days ago

Happy October first! I had a second outreach at Connecticut College this week, so have a few more photos from around campus (including more of the Kurt Vonnegut display)! Enjoy!

#Connecticutcollege #newlondon #CT #statue #kurtvonnegut taken in Connecticut College by @shanksspeare

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14 days ago

I was doing an outreach at Connecticut College today and noticed this very cool display in the Shain Library! It's Kurt Vonnegut, along with his draft for his "Noodle Factory" speech, which he gave at the dedication of the Shain Library in 1976. You may recognize the text of the speech from the stairwell wall of Shain, as well!

Although I've done a few outreaches at Connecticut College, I am almost never in Shain proper, so it was cool to check it out and see what has been added/changed in the past couple years! I had a fun morning meeting college students (and seeing a couple of coworkers' spouses)! Connecticut College is such a nice place to visit 😁

#Connecticutcollege #shainlibrary #kurtvonnegut #thenoodlefactory #newlondon #CT taken in Charles E. Shain Library by @shanksspeare

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17 days ago

That's another Durham Fair in the books! We had a great time, saw interesting stuff, had our favorite foods and tried new ones, and saw many animals (and maybe pet some, who can say). We didn't go home with a rabbit, but we saw a lot of sweethearts! (Meme at the end courtesy of @knight_of_bacon . It's true)

#Durhamfair #durham #CT #buns taken in Durham Fair, Durham, CT by @shanksspeare

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21 days ago

Hey, Dante was great at this!

(The Demon-Haunted World by Carl Sagan)

#thedemonhauntedworld #carlsagan #books by @shanksspeare

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25 days ago

Small porch garden yield! Yes, folks, you can grow cucumbers in a window box, it's just the worst way to do it! I'm planning on giving these guys a taste tomorrow.

#porchgarden #vegetables #CT by @shanksspeare

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a month ago

Had a great time at @retroworldexpo today! We saw a lot of cool stuff (FFII Wonder Swan CIB was incredible, though I didn't buy it), got a lot of cool things (I went a little blind box crazy, which is fine; I also got a copy of Detective Pikachu so I'll finally be playing that!), but the highlight was definitely meeting the Angry Video Game Nerd himself! He was at RWX a few years back, but we missed him at his booth, so it was really exciting to catch him this year! He's really nice in person, and thought it was pretty funny that Vivi was a big AVGN fan. Probably the first time he's heard that a rabbit is a fan!

#retroworldexpo2026 #retroworldexpo #avgn #angryvideogamenerd #CT taken in Connecticut Convention Center by @shanksspeare

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a month ago

The weather was mostly nice yesterday, so I figured I would put the final touches on Tama! While I was putting him together, I noticed his pictures on the box and instructions had lining details... So I decided to be brave about it...

I think it turned out okay! I'm slightly better at lining than I used to be, but I can definitely see where I need to improve still. I am really proud of the lining on the tubing and the small details on his face (I used a pushpin!) I had a brief moment where I considered doing Giroro's scar, but I just didn't have it in me to do so much detail with the pin right then.

Overall, these were two very fun and simple sets! They're 8+, so a kid could definitely build them and then play with them, which I would've gone gaga over back in the day. Giroro is a little less sturdy than Tama, which makes me think they're from different lines, but I'm not sure. The details in these kits are great for their price and I was especially impressed with the sticker situation. They were nice and hardy, but easy to manipulate.

Truth be told, I haven't read Sgt Frog since high school, but it's what got me interested in gunpla/plamo, since they made it look so fun! When I saw these kits I knew I had to have them--things have come full circle! I hope I find a Keroro kit someday.

#kerorogunso #sgtfrog #giroro #tama #plamo by @shanksspeare

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a month ago

Unfortunately, summer is almost over and while I didn't get to hit up quite as many flea markets and tags sales as I would like to have, I still had a good haul of Interesting Things.

I was able to pick up the rest of the Glove of Darth Vader series (already had the first one) and my nearly-dream edition of Night Shift (hand cover) courtesy of @goldenowlnl ! As I've been saying since I saw the new trilogy... They scraped a lot from that extremely retconned series. And as for my "Children of the Corn" edition of Night Shift... I'm sure it's unique, but I'm not particularly attached to it. I just had it because that's the copy I happened to come across first!

Frankenstein's Hamster was weeded from a friend's library and I know nothing about it, but you understand why I begged to learn more.

And... The non-book item, Magical Movin' Pollyville! It doesn't have the figures, I need to clean it up and open it up to realign the mechanics, but it was only $10 and I could not pass it up.

Finally... You may have noticed it's August 28, the day I tally my year in books. From 8/28/25-8/28/26, I read 345 books! A lot less than last year, but I was busting through middle grade and YA pulp series last year, and those stack up quickly. Onto the next reading year!

#books #starwars #stephenking #pollypocket by @shanksspeare

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2 months ago

I had the rare opportunity to hold a book club meeting at the Monte Cristo Cottage! We were discussing Long Day's Journey into Night, which is literally set in the cottage, down to the very last book on the shelf. The director of the building even took us on a tour before the meeting began! It was a very cool experience, I learned a lot, and I can finally say I've been to the house!

#eugeneoneill #montecristocottage #newlondon #CT #longdaysjourneyintonight taken in Monte Cristo Cottage by @shanksspeare

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2 months ago

Finally broke down and got one of those Kirby blind boxes I'm always eyeing! I got lucky and got Kirby's bed set! It's crazy how well made it is; I got a Pompompurin blind box about ten years ago, also a bed set, and it was so flimsy. Every so often the pieces turn up here and there.

I also picked up a series two FFVII blind box. They were a lot cheaper than series one. Not sure why, but I'm happy with what I got!

#kirby #kirbyshappyroom #rement #finalfantasyvii #finalfantasypolygonfigures by @shanksspeare

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2 months ago

Over the weekend I stopped at a Cumberland Farms and a couple of mysterious drinks caught my eye. There were Barbie and SpongeBob drinks and SpongeBob was a dollar cheaper, so here we are!

It's basically just water, supposedly has electrolytes "for taste" but it didn't taste any different to me. The coolest part is that the bottle is aluminum and BPA free, so you get a reusable water bottle out of the deal! I've got a SpongeBob water bottle now! Looking online, there are also Patrick, Mr Krabs, and Squidward bottles out there. (And they are WAY more expensive online, whew.) If I find them in the wild, I'll pick them up!

#spongebobsquarepants #pathwater #spongebob by @shanksspeare

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2 months ago