Strange collections

[ander]

Okay, we collect keyboards. Nothing strange about that, is there? Most people are satisfied having one keyboard for one computer—but we appreciate keebs's immense variety and history, and go around scooping up different sizes, ages, switch types, "caps" (i.e. buttons), and so on. Nothing odd at all about having a whole room full of computer keyboards, is there? No, I don't think there is, either.

That said, I thought it'd be fun to look at some of the other weird unusual things people collect. Here's a good page to get you started:

25 Strangest Collections on the Web

There are people who collect things like decorative toilet seats:





...burned food:





...(that's a tortilla, folks); weird fortune-cookie fortunes (bored factory workers maybe?):





...air sickness bags:





...and perhaps most intriguingly, the guy who's been collecting his own navel fluff since 1984:





(Don't know about you, but I can't help wondering what causes the various colors... Diet changes? Or maybe the amounts of fire retardant in his fluff, as with keyboards?)

So, collecting keyboards—weird? Hah! The next time someone suggests that, point them to some of these guys. Then sit back and feel normal.

[romevi]

I know people IRL who collect airline sickness bags. Thought it was weird at first, but when I saw some of the different ones I thought it was cool.

Things I have collected or still collected in my life:
movie ticket stubs;
coins;
the stamps from those CD catalogs from the '90s;
Pokemon cards;
retro video games;
modern video game controllers;
keyboards;
model kits;
Japanese toys;
fountain pens, notebooks, inks, and pencils (both mechanical and wooden); and
hardcover books.

I'm sure there are some I'm forgetting. Of them all, I'd say the CD catalog stamps are the weirdest, but nothing too weird, methinks.

[noisyturtle]

I actually used to collect ABC gum. I have no idea why, it seems pretty retarded now.

[fohat.digs]

I have a couple of dozen bird's nests in a box. Each one is in a plastic ziplock bag.

One day I plan to mount them in a shadowbox frame of some sort.

[SpAmRaY]

I have an office full of mostly empty cardboard boxes.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[tp4tissue]

I have an office full of mostly empty cardboard boxes.

that's better than filled cardboard boxes,  those are heavy..

[jonathanyu]

I have an office full of mostly empty cardboard boxes.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

I thought I'm the only weird guy that keep all kinds of cardboard boxes.......

[TalkingTree]

I collect bad days at work.

[rowdy]

I have an office full of mostly empty cardboard boxes.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

I thought I'm the only weird guy that keep all kinds of cardboard boxes.......

I have kept pretty much every keyboard-related package I've ever received, if that's any help.

[futurecrime]

I have an office full of mostly empty cardboard boxes.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

I thought I'm the only weird guy that keep all kinds of cardboard boxes.......

I have kept pretty much every keyboard-related package I've ever received, if that's any help.

I had a huge collection of cardboard boxes which I threw out because it got ridiculous. Then shortly afterwards I had a bit of a selling spree on ebay and had to buy loads of boxes from the post office... See, I try to sort my life out but **** like this makes me wonder why I bother.

[ander]

Hey, no kidding, that's the thing about good, sturdy boxes—you hate to discard them, because, well, they're so sturdy, and someone went to a lot of trouble to make them that way, and it seems a shame to go and flatten something that was deliberately made to resist damage, right?

And as futurecrime just pointed out, you may soon need some good boxes. So naturally, they accumulate.

I feel the same about keyboards. When you see good boards being discarded—boards that still work, even—how can you let them go into to the shredder? It seems a shame to allow something designed for the gentle touch of human fingers, something capable of producing great entertainment and literature, to be smashed apart by the non-gentle touch of destructive machinery. Same kind of thing, isn't it?

I don't collect any of that other crap you guys do, though. That's just weird.