August 08, 2006

• Someone commented to me what neat collections I have of various items. Unfortunately, I didn't realize I was collecting things. Apparently I have collections of wind chimes, donkey salt and pepper shakers--the tackier the better, Chinese and Persian art replications depicting horses, colorful fish mobiles, and wooden toy rocking horses (rescued). I used to actually collect china horses as a kid, and still have a lot of the old ones. What sort of things do you have to dust around?
• Lots of old sheet music, whcih I'm trying to get scanned before it all crumbles into moldy-smelling confetti. Er, and sort of ironically, since I didn't have it in mind when I chose my nickname, I have more underpants that I will ever wear in my lifetime. Like, two drawers full. But for the most part, I'm pretty much sic transit gloria mundi, baby. I haven't got anything I'd be crushed to lose, or that would be too difficult to replace if I did. Most of the childhood mementoes are long gone, victims of frequent moves and inadequate weatherproofing.
• I keep adding things to my keychain. It's like a katamari, getting bigger and bigger as it assimilates stuff. The cashiers at the grocery store bitch when I hand it over so they can scan my super-saver key tags.
• Cats.
• Cats... but I moved into that collection... Stamps... two generations (about 75 years worth) computers.....
• Turtles.
• Artwork with a cephalopod motif. Seriously. By random circumstance I ended up with three pieces of original artwork with octopi on them. Then I sought out a couple of more on purpose. I also have some old tin signs (Nehi, howdy doody fudge bar) and blue Ball canning jars.
• Rocks? /obvious And pirate toys. I love me some pirate toys!
• I'll see your donkey salt and pepper shakers, and raise ye a moo cow creamer. Holstein.
• Elephants keep appearing.... not sure why...
• It's called DTs, gomi. Go have a drink, they'll go away.
• Elephants for me, too.
• I'll admit to going a little crazy on the boardgames lately.
• Cartoon artwork (I have a Betty Boop, a Tweety Bird, a Smallest Who in Whoville, etc...) which is why I lust, oh so much , for one of kitfisto's paintings!
• When my parents moved from the house I grew up in, about 12 years ago, I checked out what was in some old, old boxes in the attic, and found myself an instant old-skool Topps baseball card collection (years: 1969-1974). My 2 Mike Schmidt rookie cards are worth something like $250 apiece! FWIW I'd totally dig a kitfisto painting, too.
• *sips some wine* Nope them elephants still hanging around...
• Beer coasters. Used ones. Also papers from college. And credit card debt.
• Monkeys, honestly. Since MoFi started I have amassed a pretty decent assortment of primate-emblazoned stuff. This pen is the most recent example. I also have a Paul Frank handbag and wallet, two different t-shirts with cartoon monkeys, various stuffed primates, bookmarks and postcards. I'm thinking of redecorating the office as the Primate Room. Oh, and a pair of monkey toe-socks (you know, separate toes) with a bunch of bananas on each toe. I didn't actually think I collected anything until just now.
• Magazines. Too good to throw away!
• Hey kimdog, I got a cephalopod painting looking for a home... *blatant self link and shill* I don't really collect anything, unless you count a 1 gig memory stick nearly full of pictures of guns, animals, robots and other odd stuff waiting to be processed through my tiny brain... My mum, though, has an expanding collection of frogs, elephants and pigs though (unfortunately not real, otherwise I'd probably visit a lot more)
• Books of and about folklore. Books of and about Jonas Lie (1833-1908) Books from and about the long 17th century. Books in general. I hadn't thought about these as a collection before. I'm going to use it as an argument for buying more. I'm a collector.
• Jesus, is that an ugly pen, or what?
• Marine antiques. I've got 14 full-sized ship's lights in my living room alone--and they're all illuminated. With all that red and green and blue the place looks like Christmas all year 'round. The downside is that none of them are small and I seem to spend an inordinate amount of time with Brasso. Also, I don't add to the collection since prices are now prohibitive (other than the odd anchor or hatch cover--got plenty of those). Good thing I'm not a clean freak--I'd go insane.
• Comic books. Didn't mean to start collecting again, but the stack in my bedroom says otherwise. Also, ink pens, sets of drill bits (I think I have five, but only one is complete), and brown recluse spiders (in my garage).
• Neckties. Between my usual shopping, Ebay and various and sundry sources, I'm perilously close to having to install my third electric spinning tie holder thingamabob. Which I've already purchased in anticipation. They hold 80 ties apiece. I'm weak about ties. And goth girls. But mostly ties.
• Don't have to worry about wrinkling a goth girl. Plus, they go with just about anything.
• Comic books and associated paraphernalia, but I admit they're a collection. (And admitting is the first step...) Gargoyles. (Not the animated kind) Cats. Pens.
• Beer glasses. Beer glasses with the beer brands on them. They take up one full cabinet in the kitchen. I've got about 70, but last night I broke my Petrus glass, dammit.
• Shot glasses. And apparently Fisher Price toys, after a quick glance at the den.
• Now, we're just gonna keep that little factoid out of the backstage bio, right Captain? Atta boy.
• I stole not one but two Stella pint glasses from the local pub (not at the same time), and broke them both. I've taken it as a sign, and now drink Guinness. I am waiting for the opportunity to steal a Guinness glass now.
• Hmmm. Beer glasses, that sounds like a good idea to me. In the meantime books! 1200 and counting...
• Stuffed moose. Canoecopia. Old children's books that I once thought I'd read to my daughter, and now I don't want her near them. Victorian morality books. And a couple of bottles of Labatts Velvet Porter that I'm saving for the Captain's visit.
• Dude! I'd totally forgotten about that!
• Books. Masticated tree books and digital books. The digitals because my eyes are shot and I can make the font any size I like. This spring I went through the wood books and passed eight computer paper boxes worth to the used bookstore. I had to be quite stern with myself (oh come on, PatB, you're never going to read "The Davinci Code" again, you didn't like it the first time!) I have a bunch of slim, 3x3 pocketbooks from the turn of the last century. They have soft leather covers, yellowed paper, and I like the way they smell. I like to imagine the people who originally owned them, and wonder how many times they got passed along to others before they came to me... Oh, and mugs. I have more mugs than any woman would ever need. I think they may be breeding, in fact I'm sure they are, because sometimes, late at night, I hear sensuous clinking coming from the cupboards. (And... I had all this credit from the used book store, see, and so much new space, so I...)
• wow. That was long!
• Skrik: Books in general don't count as a collection, that's a necessity! Books about an esoteric subject just might qualify. (Jonas Lie, painter?) KitFisto: Is that a flute in that cephalopod's tenticle? Why am I afraid to ask this question? Capt: beer glasses?
• Ah, the old beer goggles...
• It's a German Stick Grenade, also known as the 'potato masher'.
• Beer glasses with the beer brands on them. Oops, I forgot wine glasses from winery tasting rooms. Living in NorCal, and all. Particularly fond of hitting non-Napa/Sonoma regions, e.g. Livermore, Paso Robles, Edna Valley. Next up: Lodi, Temecula.
• Jonas Lie the Norwegian novelist.
• And shut up about books not counting, the wife might read this.
• That is not an ugly pen! It's an awesome pen. I even took it to college on Monday and everyone stared at my wacky monkey pen. Plus it was sent to me by Mickey, so there.
• everyone stared Well, duh!
• i hoard collect electronic components and computer parts, because, y'know, i'll find a use for those 4 mb simms someday, and that capacitor could be useful even though one of the pins is a bit too short, and someday i might want to take the lcd off that old laptop and integrate it into something else, and it's handy to have spare boards even if there are a few scorch marks... thankfully, we're moving soon and i'll have a cellar plus a shed.
• And shut up about books not counting, the wife might read this. Skrik: You're not reading this right -- Books in general don't count as a collection, that's a necessity! A wife might possibly get upset and suggest you give up your collection with some validity.(electronic components*) *shudders But a woman who would ask you to give up BOOKS is a virago. Books are necessary to life on Earth as we know it. Right up there with oxygen and H2O.
• /me sighs a sigh of relief.
• 80s Vinyl. Surprisingly cheap and so much of it is good. More than half my collection cost me $1 CAD. I have a decent representation of bands like Spandau Ballet, Bananarama, A Flock of Seagulls, Wham, Brian Eno, The Human League, but it's nowhere near comprehensive. Tragically, I use my computer for music more and more for listening to music, so the collection is beginning to gather dust. And I still need to flesh out the Japan section.
• Fabrics, fine fabrics of cottons, linens, silks wools, woven, batiked, hand painted, knitted, crocheted, tatted; well that covers that. I hover around garage sales and flea markets and second hand stores, bringing home sheets, blankets, quilts, hangings, hankies, scarfs, clothes, and yes it's all a tad obsessive. My other collections get circulated so no one really knows how much stuff I've accumulated over the decades. /and please, not a word to my psychiatrist.
• Hi dxlifer! Missed you!
• You too, shticky ( )