A few days ago I chose to go to CNN online, something I rarely do. I was surprised to find a delightful story about a group of niche collectors, and a short documentary about their unusual hobby.
The full 13:39-minute film is available to watch for free.
What do you collect, DeadSplinters – watches, tchotchkes, broken hearts?
I’m too … something to be a collector of items. I think the polite self-aggrandizing way of saying it would be “practical” but I suspect “cheap” or “lazy” are perhaps more on the money?
But I realized at some point relatively early in my life that a vast majority of my friends are distinctly weird in various ways, and that I’ve always much preferred them to more common types of folk. So I’m gonna say I collect weird friends! (Not sure what this says about us in here, but I’m not making ANY accusations.)
I am a minimalist by nature. I don’t say that as some sort of brag although I’ve seen other people use it that way. I think it’s because I’ve moved a lot and I got tired of lugging unnecessary things around. I much prefer interesting people. As long as they are low drama types.
I collect disappointment & broken hopes and dreams but I would like to start collecting $100 bills if anyone wants to help me get started?
Oh no. Buck up. You can wrestle with concrete. I can’t walk on my own. But I’m pretty chipper.
I collect/read tons of NYC histories and novels. There must be tens of thousands. I’m now reading a vintage NYC travel guide from the year I moved into the city. It’s taking me forever because when I first got here I was out all five weeknights and every Saturday and Sunday. So many memories. I have to stop and visualize the venue and the circumstance and who I was with and what made it so difficult to get in (lots of places had, and others still have, strict door policies but my friends and I always managed to barge through.)
Better to have dined and clubbed and lost than to never have dined and clubbed at all, I suppose.
I have also collected many of the former. The latter sounds much better.
LOL. My parents did a lot of that with my and my siblings.
I am an anti-collector. As I get older I keep finding new things I can do without owning.
The only thing I have a hard time getting rid of is books.
Me too, Luigi. I still have things that were valued by my parents and grandparents which I store because I do not have the heart to throw them away. I suspect that upon my death my son will dispose of them all.
When my best friend died I helped her husband go through all her stuff. And her children wanted almost none of the things she had amassed over the years. I had to insist they keep the quilts their Grandmother made. They are grateful for that now that they have children of their own.
Collecting stuff is too much of a bother for me. I really don’t want to have all of the histories, stats, price lists and special cleaning requirements that go with it all.
It can be very time consuming. And at the end of the day it’s still just stuff.
im currently collecting pull tabs….which wasnt the plan
was sposed to just collect mine for a week and then ship em over to the states for charity
(silly and inefficient..so of course i had to do it)
anyways its now 3 weeks later and ive found myself buying drinks just coz they have coloured pull tabs….
i think ive lost track of the mission and need to get this shit shipped before it gets really wierd…
but yeah…give me half a reason and i will get caught up collecting litterally anything…apparently
What sort of charity is it for? I’ve never heard of that. I have seen collection bins for plastic bottle tops. They make benches for schools and parks out of them.
ronald mcdonald house apparently still does the pull tab recycling thing
one of the oppos has been using them and mentioned wanting to collect some tabs…so i figured why not
That’s a good charity, I’ll have to look into that.
I have issues with collections because my several family members are borderline hoarders and it’s always the refrain “this is gonna be worth something one day!”
I will say that I love getting a piece of jewelry when I’m traveling, as a reminder of the trip. For example I have a cute little plumeria pendant from Hawaii, that sort of thing. So I guess I collect that.
I like the idea of jewelry as a souvenir. That’s a practical sort of collection. I usually buy a Christmas ornament on my travels. My tree is full of memories of trips with family and friends. So I guess I have a collection after all. I just never thought of it as one.
I collected Stamps as a kid.
Now I collect model kits… because I can buy them faster than I can build them.
Another non-collector here. I’ve seen enough folks with hoarder tendencies, within my family and friend groups, that I cannot devote space to, just, stuff.
(Buys another vinyl LP)
There might be an occasional exception.
Books, music, games don’t count. They are necessities. 🙂