Five Things I've Obsessed Over to the Point of Annoying My Friends and Family
1. Knitting. I talked about it all the time. I bought tons of yarn, I bought special needles, I bought books, I bought tools. Every trip I took, I sought out the local yarn store or stores and happily wandered the aisles. I went out of my way to go to WEBS as well. And I did knit quite a lot for about three years - I still wear my Kittyville hat, I designed an illusion scarf for my husband with the Boston Bruins logo on it (of course then we moved and he wasn't a fan anymore...), I knit my baby brother a Harry Potter scarf, I made some funky cabled armwarmers out of fancy yarn. So I was really into it. And then I had a baby and quit the job I had at which my boss was an obsessive knitter. And then I stopped. I let the knitting-specific blog die off. I forgot how to cast on. I gave away some yarn and put some away in storage bags. I just picked it back up last week, but I'm going to try not to obsess about it this time around.2. The Vacuum Sealer
. I purred every time the commercial came on. I petted it lovingly in the store. And I finally scored one at my bridal shower and everyone laughed. I did use it a ton for the first few months, but my husband never was a fan and it admittedly was a pain to open and reclose the bags every time I wanted to eat some cheese. It also worked really well, and the canisters were easier to manage. It's old and outdated now though and doesn't work as well. I'd love to upgrade...3. Tori Amos. I don't necessarily feel bad about this one in terms of obsessing about her music. This is more about my obsession a few years ago when I was in collector mode. I'd search eBay for rare Tori items and poke around in used CD stores hoping to score an import CD for cheap. I'd trade bootlegs (cassettes and then CDs and then downloads). I had to have everything - EVERYTHING. The digital age has actually changed the game and it's not as OMG IMPORTANT to have the rare singles, for example, since you can just grab an mp3 somewhere. But for a while I adored building my Tori collection.
3a. I used to bug eBay sellers who were passing off counterfeit Y Kan't Tori Read CDs as the real thing. If you're still wondering, all these years later, how to tell, it's simple. The real CD has a red ring around the edge - the most obvious thing to check, as bootlegs never, ever had this. The case has a red-on-white spine. The CD has no bonus tracks. And finally, the cover is a different picture from the vinyl, which is what was frequently scanned in to make the bootleg. I did this a lot, but yes, I finally stopped.
4. Book Buying. This one's never going away, but for a year when I was both childless and freelancing and/or employed only part time, I went thrifting once a week with a friend. The books were cheap and I bought a lot of them. I chronicled it in a rudimentary way on a web page that wasn't bloggy. Then I started a blog to keep track, but it didn't last very long. I've read a lot of them and I still adore buying used/thrifted books. I just don't have as much time/energy/space as I used to. I now keep track more quietly using Shelfari and Delicious Library (which I need to update, actually) and I'm trying to pare down and send books out of the house. I also joined a neighboring county's library system so I have access to more books I want to read but that I also have to give back.
5. The Keurig. I probably started talking about it in September or October, and within about a week my desire to own a Keurig
was a full-fledged obsession. I researched it online, I talked to owners, I read message boards, I compared prices. I plotted to get it with gift cards earned through various online promotions, and then I fretted when my husband more or less bought it for me for my birthday. And now I have it and I am trying to be restrained about talking about it since I know my patterns and am trying to control them.If you're enjoying list week, tell people to come on over and read! And comment! Thanks.
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