This is why I love drinking so much…I get to sit down at my computer the next morning and find out what I posted the night before.
Didn’t mean to be such a buzzkill; I used to imbue objects with a lot of meaning and nearly everything I owned had some value attached to it whether it be watches, cars, bikes, concert t-shirts, etc.
After a sudden re-ordering of my priorities, they all simply became “things”.
I do still have many things that I care about very much, books from my grampa as well as his med school diploma from 1954, a rifle from my dad, and pics my kids have drawn for me.
[quote]Dr. Pangloss wrote:
This is why I love drinking so much…I get to sit down at my computer the next morning and find out what I posted the night before.
Didn’t mean to be such a buzzkill; I used to imbue objects with a lot of meaning and nearly everything I owned had some value attached to it whether it be watches, cars, bikes, concert t-shirts, etc.
After a sudden re-ordering of my priorities, they all simply became “things”.
I do still have many things that I care about very much, books from my grampa as well as his med school diploma from 1954, a rifle from my dad, and pics my kids have drawn for me.
Favorite sentimental possession: A hand made Bob Dozier knife left to me when my father passed.
Favorite practical possession: My cast iron pan.
Favorite deadly possession: My S&W Shield in 9mm.
Favorite truck possession: My truck.
Favorite chopping possession: My hand-forged Gransfors Bruks small forest axe.
Most of my things are just things. My life would change very little if my new furniture set disappeared tomorrow. My 55 inch TV could stop working and my happiness would not be impacted at all. I’m not even sure why I wasted money on crap like that. Conditioning, I suppose. You’re supposed to buy big TV’s when you have disposable income, right?
I like buying well-made products that will last a very long time. I need to remember that sometimes.
Material objects that once seemed to embody so many of my goals and aspirations became meaningless overnight.
Sold everything except my clothes and books.
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After my house was robbed in 2002, all of a sudden jewelry meant nothing to me. I have a few decent watches and some minor pieces of gold left, but anything that can be taken like that… why bother owning it? My new jewelry is all tattoo work.
After my wife passed away earlier this year, lots of my possessions no longer hold my attention. Things I still enjoy owning are guns, tools and my cars. I still like things my kids made for me over the years and will always hang onto those. But anything else, I really wouldn’t miss them if they were gone.
[quote]Dr. Pangloss wrote:
This is why I love drinking so much…I get to sit down at my computer the next morning and find out what I posted the night before.
Didn’t mean to be such a buzzkill; I used to imbue objects with a lot of meaning and nearly everything I owned had some value attached to it whether it be watches, cars, bikes, concert t-shirts, etc.
After a sudden re-ordering of my priorities, they all simply became “things”.
I do still have many things that I care about very much, books from my grampa as well as his med school diploma from 1954, a rifle from my dad, and pics my kids have drawn for me.
I thought about this pretty hard. I am not sure I care about any material possessions very much. I like a lot of stuff I own, and there are some pictures of me and my family that are valuable to me, but nothing I could not live without.
I suppose the most poignant is my grandfather’s yellow star badge from the Nazis and his Nazi passport with a big red “J” (for “Juden”) on the front. He was 40, very successful, very proud German, and it all got ripped away.
He got that put on him in Berlin, sold what he could sell, and then basically walked to what is now Israel, across a continent that was either at war or ready for it.
I keep them framed in my office to remind me I am not really having a bad day.
This photo shows much of what I love, material possession-wise. The bike is new; everything else is fairly old. The table is faded and scarred from all the meals and homework and projects and parties it’s seen, the treadmill has thousands of miles on it, and the books, having made it through a couple of serious purges, are important to me for one reason or another. Other things I love are my macbook and other devices.
William Morris said “If you want a golden rule that will fit everybody, this is it: Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.” I would posit that the most beautiful things are the ones whose functionality gives them life.
I have a Rolex. I don’t wear it because it’s heavy and showy. It doesn’t fit my life. My ex-husband bought it for me when he sold a business. I appreciate it for its meaning to him and the lovely gesture it represented, but beyond that I don’t see its advantage over a good Timex. It is pretty, though.
Material objects that once seemed to embody so many of my goals and aspirations became meaningless overnight.
Sold everything except my clothes and books.
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Aww. Watches are beautiful though. If there was anything that made me wish I was a man, it would to get to have all the beautiful watches. They just don’t make the really cool ones for women.
I have a cast iron frying pan I love. And my coloured bumpers. And 3 silk scarves-one from Vienna in turquoise and gold paisley, one kitschy one from Salzburg with Klimt’s ‘The Kiss’ silkscreened on it and one handmade one from Turkey. Also my table saw and hand planes. My Sennelier Picasso colours oil pastel set in the nice wooden box. I love things that come in wooden boxes.
There’s probably a lot more. I really like stuff. Shiny things, electronic things, arty things, MACHINES.
A picture of my dad; he died ~2 weeks before I was born.
A bunch of sketchbooks I’ve filled up over the years.
An autographed Jerry Rice jersey, plus a framed picture of Candlestick’s scoreboard shouting out my birthday signed by multiple members of the team, and a football also signed by those guys. Rice was my idol growing up and a relative that lives near SF got me a trip out west to see a 9ers playoff game for my birthday, I thought that was my entire gift, but her husband worked security for the team and got me some perks. Might literally be the best day of my life to date still as far as pure joy goes.
Most likely. He was in a lot of heavy fighting, including the Battle of The Bulge, and didn’t talk much about the war. He had a lot of other souvenirs, like an SS paratrooper helmet, that he traded away to rear-echelon guys for cartons of cigarettes that are now worth a small fortune.
A couple pictures of my dad who passed away while i was in college, and a keyring that he always carried with his initials on it(he was an art major in college and made all kinds of things including jewelry for my mom and grandmother). I also have a S&W .38 special he left to me that was carried in the service by his uncle.
Most of the stuff that me and the wife have accumulated are nothing that i couldnt live without, but id be really bummed to lose my road bike. Ive put thousands of miles on that thing, and experienced everything from joy to utter pain on it, and countless hours of just being out on the road with my mind wandering from everything to nothing all at once.
[quote]Jewbacca wrote:
I thought about this pretty hard. I am not sure I care about any material possessions very much. I like a lot of stuff I own, and there are some pictures of me and my family that are valuable to me, but nothing I could not live without.
I suppose the most poignant is my grandfather’s yellow star badge from the Nazis and his Nazi passport with a big red “J” (for “Juden”) on the front. He was 40, very successful, very proud German, and it all got ripped away.
He got that put on him in Berlin, sold what he could sell, and then basically walked to what is now Israel, across a continent that was either at war or ready for it.
I keep them framed in my office to remind me I am not really having a bad day.
[/quote]
I like my bush gear. In America you call it a bugout kit.
Top is a small forest axe; handmade in Sweden by Gransfors Bruks. The finest axes in the world in my opinion. Hickory wood handle and the head is sharp enough to cut paper like a razor blade. This thing can do the work of a splitting maul and it weighs only a few pounds. I made a paracord sling for it.
Below is a beautiful bushcraft knife handmade by one of the top knife makers on earth - Stephen Wade Cox. Blade is 01 tool steel with a Scandinavian grind. I use Japanese water stones to sharpen then strop it on leather. The handle is made from an Iroko wood that was sourced from the pews of a late 19th Century church that was being demolished in Africa. This is a real heirloom piece and will last several lifetimes if properly maintained.
