Worldly Possessions
I'm not particularly possession oriented. I don't think I ever have been particularly, but over the last few years I've actively worked to train myself out of becoming emotionally attached to "stuff". Tonight that was tested.
The only thing I've hung on to is my books, specifically my comic books and graphic novels. I've had a tremendous amount of fun tracking down specific versions, scouring second hand shops, trading with friends and generally being a collector. I haven't invested much time over the last few years, but collectively they represent a hobby that has sporadically spanned the last 15 years of my life.
Tonight the upstairs balcony filled up with rain which caused water to come cascading down the inside of our wall and into the built-in bookcase in the study. Almost everything in the bookcase was fine, the exception was the bottom shelf which held all of my graphic novels.
It wasn't that much water, but it was enough that the comics could wick the water halfway up their pages which means they're basically pooched. Teresa was very sweet, she immediately bust out the hair dryer and started painstakingly drying the pages one by one but it didn't take too long to realize it was going to take forever (and I've been down that route in the past and it doesn't have a happy ending no matter how much time and care you spend).
Once we'd been through everything and I started seeing what was irreparably damaged I made a discovery. A bunch of them I don't actually care about. A bunch more I care about but are easily replaced. So there are really only a handful of them that I care about individually and are hard to replace.
It's interesting that it was the collection that I cared about rather then the stuff itself.
Anyway philosophic analysis aside ... it sucks and I'm pissed. :-P
Comments
As someone who has only just taken to the collection of Funnybooks, I can sympathise, I would be gutted if something happened to my (tiny) collection.
If you need to, I can source you a replacement for Moonshadow, the local comic book stare has it in stock at the moment.
Now where the hell did I put my copy of "Rose"...
-- Aaron
If you post what you want to track down I'll check Powell's Books here in Portland. They have a TON of graphic novels and get rare stuff in from time to time. --GeneMerrill
What a bugger! -- Dad
Yay! Thanks everyone, I'm still letting everything dry out and I'm not sure what's irreparably damaged and what's not yet. Hopefully the insurance company will be reasonable about it all but I'm not *that* hopeful ... -- Adam.