Saturday, October 20, 2007

No. 0035 - Chapstick Subscription

This is more or less a follow-up invention to No. 0009 - Alternately Shaped Chapstick (http://patricksinventionideas.blogspot.com/2007/04/patricks-invention-idea-no-0009.html) in attempt to do away with my problem with prematurely losing chapstick. As some of you may know, my chapstick losing problem hasn't gone away by itself. I've tried new strategies where I pretty much treat my chapsticks like a high school sport; there is a varsity team, and then there is a junior varsity team. I keep one main chapstick that I carry with me where ever I go as the "varsity" and the other jacked up one which melted partially in my car as the "junior varsity" or the backup that I always leave at home. The season started out fine until the junior varsity decided to get lost and disappeared at my own home! So then all I had left with me was the traveling varsity that I always take with me on the "away games". It was doing pretty good until it also decided to make a run for it. With both teams gone, I was left with chapped lips once again.

I was actually quite fed up with the whole "loosing the chap stick" thing, in which that quickly jump started the invention side of my brain once again, only this time the ideas were quite irrational. I thought to making the chap stick casing with barbs or spikes on the outside so every time I put it in my pocket, it would prick my thigh so the moment I don't feel the prick (or blood running down my leg), I would know my chap stick ran away again. My irrationality went from bad to worst when I was contemplating giving up one of my fingers and have a chap stick surgically implant where the pinky used to be. As you can see, I don't like having chapped lips. I think my rationale finally came back to me after purchasing my latest and currently in service chap stick. It was then, a great epiphany came to me. I've come to the realization that I'll never get to use a chap stick all the way to the end; I'll always lose them after a few usage. If that is the case, then maybe chap stick ought to be 3 times shorter, so every time I loose it, I won't be loosing that much. How about have them come in tiny eye drop tubes, you can use them once or twice and then throw them away. Now since I anticipate loosing them all the time, that is where the subscription comes in handy. Maybe they can come in boxes every month so I'll always have an endless supply of it. All I need to do now is to convince ChapStick or Blistex to have such a service.

4 comments:

Myriah Cohen said...

Instead of a chapstick subscription, i just buy a lot of sticks. I have one at my desk. I have one at my bedside table. I have umm... three in the bathroom (in various drawers), and there are suppose to be three in the little bowl i have that catches my keys and iPod and glasses and loose change. Currently there are only two which means i need to check some pockets before bed.
Oh, and most of my purses in current rotation have their very own chapstick. It's just easier that way.

Patrick said...

That's pretty impressive, Myriah. Maybe that's it, just plant chap stick where ever you go. Then you can't lose it. In fact, they will find you instead.

Usandthings said...

You could call your subscription service "ChapFlix"

Motionless Mario said...

But then what do you do when you lose the whole school of chapsticks that you received a couple of weeks ago through your subscription?