The Collector

I am a collector of things. For what I can remember, I always have been; whether it was Lego, dinosaurs or cars when I was a kid, or Star Wars stuff and stamps when I was a bit older. Yes, I admit it publicly on my blog; I was so nerdy at one point that I collected stamps and was, in fact, a member of the stamp club. I had loads of stamps and, at one point, I clearly remember lusting after a penny black. You know, those really old, really rare stamps that no one owns... yeah, I was like DO WANT. Fortunately I have managed to break from that low point in my career, but the collecting blood is still strong in my veins.
I collect a lot of different things, and for different reasons really. Tickets is the main thing. I have train tickets, cinema tickets, theatre tickets, even bus tickets... I'm not the sort that collects random ones I find; they're all mine, all ones I've got in my own travels. They all have a connection to the particular event concerned; London with Minna, Great Yarmouth with Gemma, Panto in Ipswich with Gemma, my numerous trips to the Seal and Bird rescue trust... Good memories that I really value and want to hold onto. There's other stuff I collect too... Like the Gundams, those are still a massive part of my collecting geekery. But, due to expensiveness, I can't collect them as much as I'd like. There's a pretty big list of ones I want but I doubt I'll get them any time soon. And of course there's the Star Wars mighty muggs... I have to include at least a little of my deep, inner geekiness.
When I think about it, the main thiing behind the things I collect is memories. Things that remind me of other things... Memories have become really important to me lately, mainly because I've started doing and experiencing things worth remembering. I know, it feels like it's a kind of late start to be doing that but, in all honesty, I spent a large portion of my life trying to forget so much that I forgot to remember... To do things worth remembering. And now I find myself so eager to remember that anything I can attach to a memory is incredibly valuable to me. Even random junk like a keyring, an underground map, a soft toy gecko; it's all valuable to me. I think memories to me are more important than they are to other people because I don't have many. The memories of my younger life are few, and the ones I do have aren't really worth remembering. I make as many as I can, connect them to something tangible and hold onto it.

Well... this took a rather odd tangent... K.B.O.