my MUG collection and some of their STORIES

Months ago. 7 to be exact. That is when the 'HIVE Collection' community was established. That was also the time when I promised the founder (MiPiano) to expose a unique collection. 5 months ago, MiPiano started monthly themes. Again I made promises to enter these 'challenges' with my contributions.

But nothing happened. Well, nothing? Behind the scenes, things did happen, but then they stopped. I dug into my storage box to get cartoon boxes filled with X-mas cards, went through many of them and selected a bunch. And then, nothing. Until I moved them back into the big boxes since I needed to space all the cards occupied. No photos. No post. Nada. Nothing. The same almost happened to my mug collection. But but but, just before I moved them back into my cupboards, I got some photographs done. Something like 2 months ago.

Finally, today seems to be the day. My mugs are getting eternal life on our HIVE chain.

• Eternal. Sounds like a long time! Doesn't it?
• In essence it means: Never Ending. Always. Forever!

Am wondering if my mugs are happy with such. Generally, mugs don't survive the length of time. Likely because they simply don't want an eternal life. So far so good though. I don't hear any of them yelling at me. Well, perhaps they are yelling, but the cupboard doors are hiding them from plain sight. These doors may attenuate their sounds to such levels I can't hear them from where I sit writing these silly sentences. "Shall I check in with them a little later? To see if they are ok? You know, I need them. Well, most of them. They have a special relationship with my hands and my lips. Relationships they seem to be quite fond of. I simply don't want to hurt them. I'll be needing their cooperation for a long time to come. How else will I be able to drink the families of Teas and Coffees?"

The original challenge post for the Mug collection you can find here.

In the meantime

I grouped a bunch of mugs for you, into 3 categories. Not only does this make my story flow a bit more structured, but it'll allow you to zoom in and out on categories of your choice. The categories are in no particular order:

1. Work
2. Ancient
3. Gifts

The first 4 mugs are all gifted to me with the jobs I did throughout the years.
The two ancient ones came to me when I was a tourist and an employee.
The last 4 were gifted by friends.

Not sure if it is the same for you - dear reader - but I just realised all the mugs I own, are all gifted. I never bought one myself. Well, I bought more than a handful of mugs in my life, but always as a gift for someone else.

Another realisation I had when moving my mugs out of their dark place behind the soundproof doors, into my living room: These gifts are darn useful ones. No other gift I received in life I used as often as I used these. You'll notice this in various photographs down below; Plenty of the mugs aren't entirely whole anymore.

Work

How I came to this one - the biggest of them all - is a story in its own right. Let's just say it was a gift when I left the Air Force back in the mid-90s. Never flown a fighter. Never flown a helicopter. Never done a job for our Air Force. More like, I researched the hell out of radar technology and systems for an entire year. In a research facility partially paid for by our Air Force. Though between civilians, I was a military guy back then. And because of that, I was given this research job. Crazy times. Kinda like being in a fraternity. Plenty of time I was given by my manager to do whatever I pleased together with my colleagues with whom I enjoyed a massive four weeks of training. I think we did see more tennis courts than official military training facilities. It was also the first time in my entire life I had a bathtub in my 'home', a private one. For four whole weeks. Luxury levels: Top Notch! "Who says the military is awful?"

Note: I thought of trying to ditch the mandatory military draft, but someone hunted me down to start this research job. Somehow I managed to combine the two. Back then it seems I was still good at selling and convincing peeps 😆

A few years later, working for an aircraft manufacturer, I had various opportunities to embark on test flights. I remember vividly three of those. One was in my own country, to test the noise in the cabin. Another one was in Orlando Florida USA. A final test flight with the officials onboard to grant a license to some innovative radar system that can detect a specific kind of wind event. Another story in its own right. Let's just say that most passengers (engineers, managers, auditors) got sick and threw up big time while we tested the radar. The third one, the one that delivered me this mug, was in Chicago USA. Another radar system. A system that should allow a pilot to land without sight, approaching the runway over water. This time a little less official, but still official enough. A demonstration flight by those who invented this system. To show potential buyers (in my case, a potential manufacturing and selling partner) how good the system is.

Many years later, after changing my air-something career to telecoms, an account manager for the Dutch T-Mobile operation came to me with a BIG BAG of goodies. All T-Mobile branded. He said something too the lines of: "Here is a bag full of useable items which you should've gotten from the Germans." He was referring to my years of work with the T-Mobile Group teams over in Dusseldorf Germany trying to convince them to get into deals with my employer. It was a very interesting time, but must admit, the Germans I dealt with weren't the most pleasurable people I came across in my professional life. Not saying anything about all the other Germans I came across in life of which plenty are quite nice people.

Throughout the thirteen years I've been working for this one employer, I've seen ownership of the company changing hands more than a few times. First, it was a department of some consulting firm. Then it became part of another consulting firm. Finally, they saw the light. The department I worked at, was a product software house. Such deserves a different approach to management and operation than the 'body-shop' model consulting houses generally go by. In the 7 subsequent years, I've seen various private equity come and go. Interesting times for sure. The mug is created by my employer back then. For its employees. To get everyone familiar with the new company values when we moved the ownership to the first private equity firm in our history.

Ancient

By said employer - the one with the company values mug - I had the opportunity to travel the world. I never counted the number of countries, cities, and airports I've been to and through, but wouldn't be surprised when this is over 50 countries. One of these countries was Egypt. Cairo to be more specific. I remember the first time I came to Cairo, meeting a customer, I was brought to a restaurant with a great view towards the Giza pyramids. While we waited for some other locals to join, I was asked if I knew how long an Egyptian minute is. I didn't know, I just knew Egyptians tend to run late. The answer broke all the ice that was left: "An Egyptian minute is exactly 60 seconds, but you never know when it starts" 😂 I think it was back in the office where I was gifted this mug. I think this was a gift by accident. At the coffee corner - in the office - they had all these mugs instead of paper or plastic cups. After our meetings, the host simply told me to put the mug I used during the meetings, in my pocket. Of course, I couldn't say no.

My visit to Cairo led to a vacation to a place somewhere above Hurghada (Egypt). El Gouna it was called. A few grouped 4 to 5-star resorts surrounded by desert and water. An uber luxury vacation, at least for me. Almost no peeps around (all was super new back then), and everything was open, from restaurants to bars and whatnot. But quite empty though. The bars we left for what they were, but not the restaurants. I can't remember anymore where I received the mug. Could be in one of the restaurants we visited. But maybe, possibly, somewhere in Hurghada when visiting the old town and its markets. Could it be? Could it be I bought this one? Uhm ... donno ... can't remember I did. No, it must have been gifted! 😱 Otherwise, I'll be lying to you in the opening of this post. And I must not be accused of being a liar 🎶

Note: this is my most favourite mug for drinking herbal teas. Not the best to clean, can't put it in the washing machine for instance, but so comfy to drink tea from.

Gifts - by Friends

Now we are getting to the third category of mugs. Those gifted by friends. You must know, I did all my best to try and remember when, and who gifted the mugs. But honestly, I don't recollect any more.

This one, the one with my horoscope (Virgo) was gifted by my sister-in-law, I think. A long long time ago it was. That is for sure. All the mugs I was gifted by my friends, were gifted when I was in my teens and 20s. That is a given.

Strange, isn't it? Mugs seem to be a present one receives when we are young. The older we get, the fewer mugs we receive. Ahhh perhaps it is just me. You may have a different experience 🙃

The only mug I had to take two pictures of. The mug I like the most. The mug is so funny 😆 The yellow thingy is a gigantic giraffe. Taking the space of more than half the mug around. Lying on the floor. Not being too pleased with the '...Not to Drink' part.

The second place for most likeable mugs is this one. I used this one a lot. For coffee. Perfect handle. Bigger than most other mugs. But not too big. Great fit for my hand. And the mug itself, the thickness of the mug, is perfect. While the most funny mug is a bit to clumpy from that side. A tat to thick. At the same time, this mug also makes me giggle whenever I view the sides. I always wonder if some bear in real life ever dances like this one. Also wonder quite often what happens when a bear drinks coffee. Am I silly thinking such kinda of questions? Or simply crazy perhaps?

This one is one of the few quite worn down. I remember the colours being more vivid when the mug was younger of age. It could very well be this was the first mug I received. Not only the first of all the mugs I showed you above, but the first ever mug, ever. I must have been in secondary school. Perhaps - well ... likely - when I was 15 years of age and moved away to live on my own. Student dorm type of thingy, while not being anywhere close to being a student 😆 Another story in its own right therefor I leave any other words about this hidden for you - dear reader - at least for the time being.

Ending

Since this little paragraph got the title 'Ending' referring to the process of creating the end, I have to write something. I could've chosen to use the word 'End', or 'The End' but somehow that felt like telling you something to obvious. On the other hand, I don't seem to have more to say then these sentences I seem to be writing as I go.

Wait Wait... I have something to say...

I do hope I was able to add something kinda meaningful to the HIVE Collectors community. I must say, I always like to go through the collections published. Some are really nice. Also, it let me think about what I do own myself. At the start of this all I told MiPiano, I don't have collections. By now I know I have plenty of them.

Owww, I mentioned something about a unique collection, right at the start of this post. I won't say a lot about it, as I never told MiPiano more than what I am gonna tell you here. The unique collection I was thinking about back then, is my collections of enemies. Unusual enemies that is. Since I don't think I have enemies in the usual sense of the word and meaning. But I may be wrong there, who knows.

a HIVE original
^{all media by edje unless stated otherwise}