Cursed quest

Like most collectors, I've always dreamed about The Big Score. 

While the specifics vary, the basic plot goes like this: I walk into a antique mall/flea market/garage sale and hiding amongst the odds and ends of someone else's life, I see a familiar silhouette. My heart starts racing, but I stay casual, not wanting to betray my excitement.

"Be cool," I tell myself. "It's probably a knock off."

But it's not. I am holding the item in my hands, and it is one hundred percent the rare/valuable/super desirable object I thought it was. My hands shake as I turn over the handwritten price tag. It reads five dollars.

The Big Score.

I've had a lot of little scores over the years, but the big one eludes me. Still, hope springs eternal. When Tara suggested the two of us go to the big Rose Bowl Flea Market on Sunday morning, I was all in.

We met at Tara's apartment.

As always, I took a few minutes to say hi to the cats...

and Screaming Man...

and admire Tara's current works in progress.

We talked about what would happen if we stumbled over The Big Score. We both collect the same things so how would that work? Who would get it? 

Then we laughed because, that's a lot like deciding how to spend your theoretical lottery winnings. It's fun, but probably not necessary. 

We agreed to cross that bridge when it arrived and set a more realistic goal for the day: seeking out, photographing and possibly buying the most cursed horse shaped objects we could find.

And with that, we were ready! We climbed into Tara's car and drove to the Rose Bowl.

We picked up our freebies at the door.

Then the hunt was on!

Horses abounded.

None were particularly valuable.

None were especially cursed.

Which is not to say this flea market was free of cursed objects.

They just weren't horses.

Heh.

We stopped at a booth called SucculentZoo that combined toys with cacti.

Tara said, "This is giving off some serious Levi energy."

I agreed.

Seth is going through a cactus phase right now, so I had some thoughts about the Cactass. Then I pictured trying to bring that home on the airplane.

We kept walking.

It took a shockingly long time to see a Breyer.

After that, we saw a few more.

These were my favorites.

There were no Big Scores and no truly cursed objects, but we still found things to buy.

I got a grumpy ceramic zebra, a pair of grumpy socks and a mushroom hoodie for James.

Tara bought a number of small items, none of them horse related.

Even though we failed in our mission, this day was a big success. I had so much fun walking and talking with Tara. I look forward to doing it again, and maybe then, we'll actually have to worry about who gets to keep what!