Garbage Collection
I don’t collect things. Outside of baseball cards and Garbage Pail Kids Cards for a while in the late eighties, I never have. I suppose you could say that I collected books for awhile in my early 20’s when I was trying to prove to the world that I was smart, but not really anymore.
The only reason I ever saw to start collecting something would be to make birthdays and Christmas easier for my family and friends. A collector is easy to buy gifts for. You see a reindeer stuffed animal in an antique store somewhere, and boom, you have your Christmas gift for your friend who collects reindeer stuff.
Not collecting anything creates a weird side effect though. When you travel, you never buy souvenirs. If you collect magnets, you just automatically buy a magnet in each place you visit and don’t have to worry about it. But if you don't have anything like that, you never think to buy something when in a foreign place.
But an idea hit me as odd the other day. I really do collect things, and at the risk of sounding cliché (or alcoholic, I guess), I collect memories of bars. In every city/country I’ve been to, I can remember a specific bar that I was in, and the feeling I had in that bar. And isn’t that the point of souvenirs anyway, to help you remember places you've been?
There was the bar in Denver, CO that was a dance club built out of an old Catholic Cathedral. The corner bar in Amsterdam where they took a knife and cut off the foam before serving you. The bar in New York City that stunk like a ship hull and a cat lazily watched the NYU hipsters get plastered. The bar in Seattle where I received a lifetime ban (later reduced to a week long ban). A bar in Dublin where I spent the afternoon crying with laughter listening to an old man tell stories. etc, etc. When I think of a city, alot of times the first thing that pops into my head is one of these memories.
I guess what I'm trying to say in all of this is maybe that I need to start telling people that instead of giving me a gift for my birthday, all I want is a drink at a bar I've never been to, to add to my collection.
The only reason I ever saw to start collecting something would be to make birthdays and Christmas easier for my family and friends. A collector is easy to buy gifts for. You see a reindeer stuffed animal in an antique store somewhere, and boom, you have your Christmas gift for your friend who collects reindeer stuff.
Not collecting anything creates a weird side effect though. When you travel, you never buy souvenirs. If you collect magnets, you just automatically buy a magnet in each place you visit and don’t have to worry about it. But if you don't have anything like that, you never think to buy something when in a foreign place.
But an idea hit me as odd the other day. I really do collect things, and at the risk of sounding cliché (or alcoholic, I guess), I collect memories of bars. In every city/country I’ve been to, I can remember a specific bar that I was in, and the feeling I had in that bar. And isn’t that the point of souvenirs anyway, to help you remember places you've been?
There was the bar in Denver, CO that was a dance club built out of an old Catholic Cathedral. The corner bar in Amsterdam where they took a knife and cut off the foam before serving you. The bar in New York City that stunk like a ship hull and a cat lazily watched the NYU hipsters get plastered. The bar in Seattle where I received a lifetime ban (later reduced to a week long ban). A bar in Dublin where I spent the afternoon crying with laughter listening to an old man tell stories. etc, etc. When I think of a city, alot of times the first thing that pops into my head is one of these memories.
I guess what I'm trying to say in all of this is maybe that I need to start telling people that instead of giving me a gift for my birthday, all I want is a drink at a bar I've never been to, to add to my collection.
posted by Roark_8 at 12:19 PM
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