Currently Reading Never Let Me Go By Kazuo Ishiguro see related

Many people are defined by the things they collect.  Maybe not defined, but collections can tell a lot about a person – what is important to the person, what is interesting to the person, or what is unique to (or about) the person.

I have had collections throughout my life of a number of things.  When I was younger I had a number of toy collections: matchbox cars, Ninja turtles and G.I. Joes.  I also had some more traditional collections, like stamps and coins.  My toy collections showed how I liked to spend my time.  And I guess you could say that my traditional collections showed how I was carrying on traditions in my family, since both of those collections were started by my dad.

As I grew older I became very interested in music, both listening and playing.  So it’s not any surprise that I collected music albums (cassette tapes and CDs).  I also collected musical instruments (2 acoustic guitars, 1 electric, 1 bass, 2 saxophones and a bunch of odds and ends).

About 10 years ago, while vacationing in Washington D.C., I decided to start a new collection to keep track of my trips.  I bought my first floating pen at the Smithsonian Air and Space museum.  Before I had left DC, I think I already had 5 or 6 pens in my collection.  Today I have around 120, about 15 of which are from out of the country.  It’s an eccentric thing to collect, but I really like my pens.  I built a display case for them about 5 years ago and they proudly hang on my wall in the living room.  It’s a pretty good discussion piece.

The past couple of years my hobbies have centered around aquariums, plants and reading.  I have written quite a bit on my xanga about books and what I am reading.  I have acquired a bit of a collection of books – unintentionally – over the years.  I have also collected – quite intentionally – a number of plants.  These 2 new collections can tell quite a lot about me.

Not only does my book collection state that I love books.  It also says that I value knowledge and states what topics appeal to me.  Two weeks ago I ventured out to my first Bibliophiles of Oklahoma meeting.  Some of the members of this small group of book lovers are serious, committed book collectors.  One of them collects books about early American archaeology.  I admitted to the others that I am not much of a collector, just someone who likes books and likes to read.  They asked what books I own and I immediately started categorizing.  “I like dystopian novels and I like books on Christian thought – especially C.S. Lewis.”  They pointed out to me that I have some pretty distinct collections myself, owning about 10 Lewis books and at least 5 dystopians.  Alas, I am a bibliophile.  Just because I don’t have a strong desire to collect first editions of books, doesn’t mean that I’m not a book collector.

My plant collecting was spurred on a little more last week, when I received an email from a plant collector in Florida who saw a post on my plant blog about Aglaonemas.  I really like this genus of plant and started collecting them whenever I run across a different species or variety.  I probably have about 5 different Ags.  Anyway, my fellow Ag collector has decided to help me in my collecting and will be sending me a couple of boxes of plants that he has been raising for years and had propagated.  He has also sent me tons of information on growing Ags and other aroid plants.

I guess I can’t deny my affinity for these plants, since I am pretty excited to get home each day to see if there are any boxes on my porch.