Dust.
Actually, Magic:the Gathering, Legend of the Five Rings, Legend of the Burning Sands, and 7th Sea. All collectible card games.
“I’m still here, asshole!”-Angus Bethune
Besides martial arts related items (books mainly), I collect nifty sayings. I have them in a folder that I call “The Nifty Sayings Folder” (also sometimes called the Handy Dandy Nifty Sayings Folder. I get the sayings from various sources including:
-
when somebody says something particularly nifty I will write it down and put it in the folder.
-
From “Saying of the Day” calendars.
-
Successories.
-
Other sources. Magazines, books, etc.
All in all I easily have hundreds of nifty sayings.
Glitch,
Following the same vein, when I was in high school and college, I had a quote book. Whenever someone said something profound, clever or just a sexual innuendo, I wrote it down along with their name. It was one of those teeny-tiny spiral notebooks and there ended up being three or four volumes. I recently found them in an box and, since this is ten years later, it was interesting to see all of the old quotes and try to remember some of the people that were in and out of my life. I’ll probably keep those forever.
Okay, back to the topic at hand–I’m starting waterglobe and Precious Moments collections and my boyfriend is collecting shotglasses.
“I put instant coffee in the microwave and almost went back in time”–Steven Wright
For the last 26 years (since I was 12), I have collected paper ephemera related to British and Canadian military history.
Some of my fave pieces: a diary with really nice watercolours done by a British officer inside the famous German POW camp “Colditz”, during WWII;
a bread ration ticket from the seige of Ladysmith, in the Boer War;
a full brass box of cigarettes sent by Princess Mary to British troops in France in WWI;
a tiny piece of a paper balloon (“fugo”) sent by the Japanese to start forest fires in wesern Canada/US in 1944/45;
a set of medal ribbons and autograph from “Odette”, a Frenchwoman who was parachuted into occupied France to work with the resistance, caught by the Gestapo, and survived a concentration camp;
a 1943 Canadian Army leaflet on VD, and where to get treatment if you have been “exposed”;
A set of letters home from a Canadian soldier to his mother, the telegram she got informing her he was killed in Italy in May 1944, and letters of condolence to her from his sergeant;
a two-volume personal diary from a Canadian bomber pilot who was shot down and killed on March 31, 1945 by a German jet fighter (I use the last two items in a special Rememberance Day display that we take around the local elementary schools);
a Chinese People’s Army propaganda leaflet dropped at Christmas on British, Canadian and US troops in Korea;
all my grandparent’s papers and photos from when they were Air Raid Wardens in north London, during the Blitz (1940-41);
a piece of chocolate from a Christmas gift tin sent by Queen Victoria to all British and Commonwealth troops is South Africa in 1899 (it’s pretty dessicated and solid as a rock);
These items document the day-to-day life of people during war, and are poignant reminders of sacrifice and struggle.
“Lest We Forget”
Peppery:
Today is 21 October. Happy International Credit Union Day, Apple Day (England), Trafalgar Day (United Kingdom), and St. Ursula (UK Virgin Islands).
I would suggest you get the “Returned Peace Corps Volunteers of Wisconsin/Madison” yearly calendar, every day has holidays or special days from around the world. (Many of the “holidays” are obscure.)
You can get the calendar from:
1998 RPCVs of Wisconsin-Madison
Post Office Box 1012
Madison, Wisconsin 53701
(608) 829-2677
or you could try asking any local Peace Corps members.
J’ai assez vécu pour voir que différence engendre haine.
Henri B. Stendhal
psycat90, you said:
From the Returned Peace Corps Volunteers of Madison-Wisconsin calendar mentioned above:
24 October
United Nations Day, Independence Day (Zambia)
25 October:
Independence Day (Kazakhstan)
October Holiday (Ireland)
Labour Day (New Zealand)
Chaucer Day
J’ai assez vécu pour voir que différence engendre haine.
Henri B. Stendhal
In high school I was prez of the Model UN club, and as soon as I found out about UN day I milked it for all it was worth as an excuse to fundraise. Also, knowing this tidbit of information made me the only person in my history class who, on a test, was able to write down exactly what day of the year it was in 1945 when the UN was created.
As for what I collect: Books by Philip Jose Farmer. Most of his work is out of print, so I really don’t have much of a choice about collecting it; if I don’t buy a book as soon as I see it, I may not get another chance for a while. . .
Also: Disney’s Tarzan junk (I have posters, figurines, stickers, books, clothing, magazines, soundtrack, beanies, and of course, the expensive desk fountain based on the waterfall from the movie).
And: Ty Beanie Babies & Disney Beanies. Not all of them. Just the ones I like. Which is more than enough thank you.
“I’m just too much for human existence – I should be animated.”
–Wayne Knight
My collection is Ashtrays of the World. whenever I go somewhere, I try to find an ashtray that is typical of that place. By that I mean done in the folk-art sytle of the place, not emblazened with “I visited Graceland”.
I also have some by various not-yet-famous artists.
Don’t get me wrong–I love life. I’m just finding it harder and harder to keep myself amused.
I collect comic books. Some current (Starman, Legion of Super-Heroes), and also some old sci-fi ones from the 1950’s and 1960’s. I’ve almost completed my Space Cabby collection. As soon as that last issue I need comes in the mail, I’ve done it.
And I collect Kansas City Royals baseball cards (thanks, Trumpy3!)
Chaim Mattis Keller
ckeller@schicktech.com
“Sherlock Holmes once said that once you have eliminated the
impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be
the answer. I, however, do not like to eliminate the impossible.
The impossible often has a kind of integrity to it that the merely improbable lacks.”
– Douglas Adams’s Dirk Gently, Holistic Detective