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What else do you collect, obsess over, and/or display addictive tendencies towards?

Superfluous

My Mail is Forwarded Here
Messages
3,995
Location
Missing in action
We are all here because, to one degree or another, we collect, obsess over, and/or display addictive tendencies towards outerwear. That is our fundamental commonality within this great community. However, many/most have other collections, obsessions, and/or addictive tendencies above and beyond outerwear, both currently and in the past. Over time, many of these other passions and obsessions have been indirectly disclosed in our outerwear posts, including for example artwork, guitars, and motorcycles in the background of jacket photos. These other collections and obsessions are just as fascinating as our common passion for outerwear, if not more so. Thus, I thought it was about time that we had a dedicated thread to discuss our other collections and obsessions. Don’t be shy – nothing is too odd – no judgments here. Photos are encouraged.

I’ll begin.

My obsessive/compulsive/addictive personality manifested at a young age. I was profoundly addicted to a variety of drugs as a teenager, which resulted in legal troubles and incarceration. I was very fortunate to get sober 36 years ago.

The next obsessions I can remember was high end audio equipment – I had crazy stereo systems in both my home and my car. Interestingly, that obsession faded away many years ago and, today, I own pedestrian audio equipment.

Ever since studying for a semester in Switzerland, where my host family included a watchmaker, I have been fascinated by and collected watches to varying degrees. At the height of my watch collecting -- approximately 9 years ago -- I had a considerable collection. I have since scaled back my collection, but remain an enthusiast.

When I graduated and entered the business world, I became obsessed with suits, ties, and dress shirts. It was also around this time that I become interested in sunglasses. This is also when my interest in outerwear began. Initially, I acquired jackets from Loro Piana, Zegna, Sulka, Purple Label, and the like (I admittedly was clueless).

Approximately 25 years ago, I began playing poker. I progressed to large stakes games and was playing multiple times per week. I was definitely addicted. Fortunately, I was a winning player and my winnings helped to finance my other addictions and obsessions. Several years ago, my interest in poker subsided, and now I play once every couple of months.

Approximately 20 years ago, my pre-existing interest in cars escalated to a new level, and I became obsessed with fast, high horsepower sports cars. This obsession continues through the present day, although to a lesser degree.

Approximately ten years ago, I discovered workwear, and this led to several new obsessions, including jeans, flannels, t-shirts (non-graphic), and clothing in general. I also became obsessed with sneakers and renewed my interest in sunglasses.

Today, my most prevalent obsessions are outerwear, sneakers, sunglasses, and cars. Last week, I purchased two new pairs of sunglasses (Jacques Marie Mage and Thom Browne (Dita)) and this week, I have another pair of sneakers arriving (Common Projects).

My current rotation of jeans:

Jeans 1.jpg


Some of my current rotation of sneakers:

Black Sneakers 1.jpg


Gray Blue Sneakers 1.jpg


Blue Brown Sneakers 1.jpg


Brown Sneakers 1.jpg


My current rotation of sunglasses:

Blue Sunglasses 1.jpg


Black Sunglasses 1.jpg


Black Blue Sunglasses 2.jpg


Brown Sunglasses 1.jpg
 
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navetsea

I'll Lock Up
Messages
6,711
Location
East Java
Happy to say i have no addiction. I obsess over something every now and then, like how i spent school break to rewrite all my notes since i felt my handwriting not good enough in elementary and junior highschool still doing it in highschool to a lesser standard since i began really liking to draw stuff rather than redoing my notes and few years in game modding communities making skin textures and keep on upgrading them over and over , also spent 2 years drawing small animation sprite of fully custom drawn character and learn coding to program its movement set and ai when played against and when the character is done then I decided to completely redrew all the sprites again and then one more time again after that before i release them in some obscure fighting game community, i suddenly made several boardgames design and have it printed and i manually assemblied and made custom dices and chips and hundreds of tiny items by hand... and i upgraded it again and again until i have drawers full of slightly similar prototypes , only to be played by myself. Then i moved on to action figure, bought only several basic bodies but somehow i started rummaging my drawers cutting tshirts and buying leather to hand sew tiny costumes, also flatened a nail by hammering it to make small sword and a small scabbard, tried to sculp clay to make my own custom figure but i failed to make the joints working and when i looked for references to get idea for costume for this 1/6 figures i thought hey i want to wear it myself, but i cant sew leather jacket and not able to draw a real pattern, so i have them made, and then i started walking since i wanted my denim jacket fade a little, and then i keep on walking everyday longer and longer distance until i found out my jeans starting getting tight on the leg so I stop walking....
I think Instead of addiction I have insanity, and a hell complex syndrome since i enjoy punishing myself to repeat my work over and over again.

Here is a sample of my insanity,
V1.0
Wpk5oYs.jpg

I have done turn base strategy board game design with character as chip, all working very happy to play with myself.
V1.1
txbeHx3.jpg

Suddenly making 2 sided cardboard figures just because, a fleet of them pictured there a one faction, i designed 3 factions with slight differences.

V1.2
iJjAIvf.jpg

And then complete change again, since i changed the tile shape and making 2x the entire charcters because each have 2 version healthy and wounded where i redraw the face and battle damage efect on the costume front and rear view for the entire fleet.

Sound like normal progress of development right... but all these happenned within 2 weeks, basically i finished one feeling happy for about 5 minutes, and start over the cycle 2 more times. And have 3 versions in my drawers.
oc5HTFZ.jpg

This is me playing 3 factions by myself
pjGGPY4.jpg

Tohrhj2.jpg

And then packed in modified toolbox and labelled as v1.2 next to its slightly older brother v1.1 and v1.0, and all went into the drawer.
Took 3 weeks many sleepless nights cutting small items by hand scissors and hand sanding the edges, played about 3 hrs by myself, made few photos, mission accomplished and move on to something else.
 
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Messages
16,402
I had a small but decent collection of WW1 firearms (mostly handguns, mostly C96's) but that crap costs a lot fo money which I didn't have and also, one day I woke up feeling disgusted with anything related to war and killing so I sold it all off.
And then I moved on to jackets and all that heritage crap and that's about it. Throughout the years, I realized I hate owning things, at least those that I can't have on or near me at all times, or things that are esetinally of no use. I love books but I hate buying them because what am I supposed to do with books once I read them? I'll read them again from time to time, of course, but they'll just sit on the shelves and collect dust in the mean time.
But ever since audiobooks took care of that problem, I really don't know if there's anything I obsess over anymore? And I'd like to keep it that way.

I'm not a collector, I suppose. Quite the opposite, even though I may hoard things from time to time but I will keep it under control. To some extent.
And I think I'd literally have a nervous breakdown if I had this many of anything, like you do, @Superfluous. Not that I think you shouldn't but having 6 jackets makes me nervous and restless and just listing them on eBay calms me down.

@navetsea , that was an interesting read, finding out where the ideas for your jackets originated from.
 
Messages
17,105
Location
Chicago
I don’t really collect anything. I have obsessive tendencies for sure. I’ll go whole hog on a particular object/thing but won’t collect multiples. As soon as I’m done with something I donate or sell it. Material things don’t hold my interest for very long and not enough to hoard in huge quantities.
3 pairs of 21oz jeans/2 pair of Levi’s
7 of the same navy blue T-shirt
5 pair of the same unbranded Khakis
2 pair Chuck Taylor’s
My most lasting obsession is fitness. I have been an athlete my entire life. This is the only obsession that has lasted from an early age. If I miss a workout I am miserable and it has a serious effect on my mood. On the surface it may seem like a healthy obsession and in some ways it is, in other ways it is not. I am not satisfied unless I have a goal to strive for beyond my reach and likely unobtainable. In doing so I have injured myself and probably caused some life long damage to parts of my body.
There is also much vanity and the desire to remain young. Impossible and shameful motives but terrific motivators.
 
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jeo

One Too Many
Messages
1,798
Location
Philadelphia
My father had the collector gene. For him it was watches. He left me some amazing pieces when he passed. But he also had an insane amount of shoes, belts, pens among other things. And I definitely got some of that from him.

When I was a lot younger I had many different obsessions. Baseball/Basketball trading cards was my first obsession I can remember as a child. As a young teenager tennis was my first sport/physical obsession. Would play every single day for hours on end. Then it was music in my older teens. Both collecting, but also playing. I played the drums. I was super addicted. Only activity ever that I would get a physical impulse. I would just get this irresistible itch to go run down to the basement and play. Never felt anything like that before or after. That died when I moved to the city.

Right now my obsession in terms of collecting is limited to outerwear and footwear. This thread got me curious, so I went and counted. I have 26 pairs of shoes/boots and 39 pieces of outerwear (not including my business jackets)

The only other thing I'm obsessed about is my business, which is a good thing!

...I was profoundly addicted to a variety of drugs as a teenager...Approximately 25 years ago, I began playing poker. I progressed to large stakes games and was playing multiple times per week. I was definitely addicted...

Quite a similar story over here. Abused almost every drug in the book in my high school years although I never was addicted to anything besides pot.

And I also got deep into poker as well my last year of high school and throughout college. Good thing for me that I was broke as hell so I only played tournaments as opposed to cash games. IMO high stakes is the only way to play though. Most poker players just don't care if they lose a $100 bet if they think you're bluffing. But they sure as hell care about $1000 or more! Nowadays I have zero patience for it and holdem is definitely not a game for impatient people.
 

Jrolfe

A-List Customer
Messages
348
Boxing memorabilia, trees, saltwater tanks, hot rods, 4 wheelers, guns & leather jackets. In that order from my childhood till now. I move on from one to the next. Only two I keep going back to is hotrods & guns.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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Jrolfe

A-List Customer
Messages
348
View attachment 204422 View attachment 204423
Three large safes of mainly engraved firearms that I collected over a span of ten years. Many two seater sport cars. Western boots of various makers. My leather jacket collection that I finally whittled down to a few Vansons, an Aero and a couple od Thedis.

Beautifully done engraving HD! I drool over Jesse James guns all the time, but damn are they expensive! Come on lotto tickets!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

mtrlr

One of the Regulars
Messages
259
Not really a collector, but I had a few dozens fountain pens, mostly Parker 51 and Hero 100. Unloaded most of them now, but still have more than I can write for my lifetime.

I also have a few dozens Chinese clay teapots, and a good chunk of Chinese tea. At one point, I had over 300kg of tea. Significantly less now, but still over 100kg.

Trying to gradually reduce the number of things I own to the minimal so that I don't need a big house for storage.
 

Bfd70

I'll Lock Up
Messages
4,042
Location
Traverse city
Done motorcycles, about 22 (?) over the last 25 years. Only good riding weather here about 6 months a year. With work and kids i never have enough time to justify more than two horses in the barn at once. Did the watch thing and managed a decent collection but the cost to play once you get into higher end models was too steep for me. I also found many on the forums smug and unpleasant. Too much emphasis in spending money on marquee items and not enough searching for rare and interesting pieces. I sold all but two pieces. I’m happy with that. I enjoy it here. A reasonable entry fee. I’m ok with 2 jackets per temp spot but don’t have any interest in going past that.
Like others, i get far more enjoyment being obsessive over activities. Around 6 years ago I got into distance running and enjoy that. Three years ago it was “go ruck”. Last year was long distance bicycling. We’ll see what this year is. I’m also a casually obsessive birder but that’s a secret so you know qt.
 

GHT

I'll Lock Up
Messages
9,279
Location
New Forest
The next obsessions I can remember was high end audio equipment – I had crazy stereo systems in both my home and my car. Interestingly, that obsession faded away many years ago and, today, I own pedestrian audio equipment.
There was a phone-in quiz on our local radio where Shake, Rattle & Roll was played by Elvis, and the question was: "Who sang it originally? Many listeners were phoning in suggesting Bill Haley, some said, Jerry Lee Lewis and others thought it was Chuck Berry. When I finally got through and said: "Big Joe Turner," the radio DJ expressed surprise. "How did you know?" He asked, (this was pre-internet days,) "It's in my collection," I told him. He asked me all sorts of questions about my collection and couldn't believe that I have the five singles that Elvis released on The Sun record label. Finally he asked how many records did I have. I told him that I had about fifteen hundred, and another four hundred 78's. He told me that my collection was an obsession.

What I didn't tell him was that my grandmother's brother-in-law had a diner, and in that diner was a jukebox. As the record fell from the charts so it would be replaced and the 'old' record was put back in it's sleeve and given to me. I had nothing to play it on, but that didn't bother me. I must add that this was the early 1950's and I was just a small boy. Grandmother's brother-in-law was Uncle to me back then. We were never allowed to call adults by their name. So it was Uncle George, and when Uncle George left this world Granny told me that he had left me something. It's something that I still treasure to this day. And I still prefer Big Joe Turner's version of Shake Rattle & Roll.
And here is what Uncle George left me.
422746823.JPG
 

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