[gmku]

I don't collect more than one kind of thing at any one time. That is, as a kid, I collected comic books and paperback novels--the comic books were DC and Marvel things from the 60s that would be worth hundreds today if they hadn't gotten destroyed in my parents flooded basement! I still have many of the paperbacks, though, mostly Man from UNCLE Ace Paperbacks, UNCLE digest magazines, and James Bond.

When I got interested in music in my teens, I abandoned comic books and started collecting records. That's been the only thing I've been serious about collecting ever since.

I generally don't understand the collecting impulse, though, for most other things. With books and records, you re-use them--you re-listen to them, re-read them. I don't see the point with other objects, even things like baseball cards.

Nevertheless, one lesson I have learned is that if you found something important enough to collect at one time, you shouldn't discard it. I've learned that from selling or trading a few of my records. I miss even the cheesy ones. I only did that a few times before I realized how much I would miss them.