Too Much, Too Many?

How much is too much?  How many is too many?  Either every hobbyist must answer these questions, or spend a lot of time avoiding answering these questions.  If they don't ask themselves, then surely someone in their family, or circle of friends, or amongst their co-workers will ask this question.  At first, it will be polite, but that will change.... Given time.

Hobbyists (the part that becomes the collector) start out small.  A few model kits here, a stumble across a sale means a few more, a deal at a yard sale, a trip to a convention.... I used model kits as an example, but it might just as well have been trains, die cast cars, Lego kits, DVD series, tools, doilies, stamps, hockey cards..... really, I should have just left a blank and asked you to fill it in.

You know the kind of hobbyist I mean.  This person has way more stuff than they can ever tackle, and has no desire to part with any of it... at any price.  They've got some great stuff, some usual stuff, and hidden away, though not less valuable to them, some very mediocre stuff that they wouldn't show their hobby friends.

In my case, it isn't quite that bad.  I don't have too much of any one thing.  I've got more than I need (don't we all), but I won't be featured on any hoarding television show.  However, I probably have too many hobbies, and therefore too much hobby stuff as opposed to too much of one thing.
I am pretty good at setting limits, but I am often swept away by new interests.  Something new is more interesting than something I have seen before.  Something different is better than something I already know about.  Of course, this is also limited by cost, but that will be the subject of another blog (the title will also be "How much is too much?" but with different implications)

Recent additions to the collection

So how much/many is too much/many?  It's a tough question.  As for model kits, more than you can build in your lifetime would seem to be a good place to start....but that doesn't take into account new things that come onto the market.  The same could be said for trains.  More than you can run in a weekend seems like a good number.  Lego.... when you can build your own house out of Lego, you should probably stop.  Comic books.... when the boxes can't be stored in the guest room, that should be it.  Tools....if you haven't even taken them out of the package in a few years, the message should be clear.  The list could go on, and I really want to hear from you people and how much you think is too much for the hobbyist in your life.

Collection Intervention?

It is pretty obvious that I have collected a lot of stuff in my life.  If you've been reading these posts for a while, you will have probably read my inadvertent collection post (maybe even both of them), but, I am not really a collector.  I collect stuff (inadvertently) but I don't have a massive collection of anything...probably because I don't have the money for it all.  Nonetheless, in a show of comradeship with my richer (and therefore not less fortunate) brethren, I must protest this new show on television called "Collection Intervention."

Basically the show goes to the houses of people who have huge collections that have taken over their lives.  They have rooms and rooms of stuff, often so much that there isn't any room to display it.  While I am not that kind of person, I can't really bring a lot of scorn to these people.  They are not hoarders, just misguided.  This is not the part of the show that makes me write this.

The host, and counsellor, is one of the women from that great PBS show History Detectives.  And this is where this rant begins.  No, I can't criticize her role on the show.  She performs admirably.  However, I have some problems.

so, this one is not about stamps, but this is a collection

1. Is she really qualified to help these people?  The seem to suffer from some emotional or psychological issue, and probably need more than a host telling them they've got to get rid of some stuff.
2. If she is good at this, is her role on History Detectives fakes as well.  I love that show.  I watch it even if I have no love or knowledge of the topic.  Sometimes they have whole shows about the civil war.....and I'm Canadian.  I still watch.  Now, I will carry around a bit of doubt with me.
3. There is nothing intervention like about this program.

I doubt if I will watch this program again unless the collector actually collects something that I am really interested in.......okay, I realize, with my lengthy list of interests, it is highly likely that some collector in need of a television intervention by an ex PBS host probably collects something that I am interested in.  It is pretty inevitable after all.