Aspies For Freedom

I don't recall there ever being a thread for people to talk about things they like to collect, so I've created one. Here's a list of the things I currently collect:

Rough opal
Rocks in general
Fossils (not many though, because they tend to be expensive)
Royal Daulton toby jugs
US coins
Succulents of the genus Haworthia

Things I used to collect:
Stamps
Beanie Babies

I also do a lot of birdwatching, which is almost like an intangible form of collecting. I have to put a lot of effort into finding and identifying different species of birds so I can tick them on my lists.

Old electronic/electrical equipment.

Old military stuff ;p

My beloved Business guides =p

Thanks for the thread Natalie.

As a kid: fossils, insects, coins and dinosaurs. My deep obsession was cages. Everything from tiny bamboo cricket cages to large dungeon style iron cages.

As a teen: Vintage Coca Cola items, vintage cartoon videos (20’s & 30’s)

As an adult: Antique valentine postcards… most of them made in Germany where the artwork was best. My collection has been on public display. That led to collecting Victorian antiques (furniture, instruments, jewelry, textiles, silver, crystal, china, ephemera, etc,).  I love hobbies where one thing leads to another. Exploring each branch in detail is great fun.

Now I just collect digital images.  They don’t take up space in the house and they aren’t expensive.

I’ve concluded that what most hobbies have in common is that there is no limit to how deeply you can research it, how much effort, time and/or money you can spend or how obsessive one can get.  I’ve also learned that somewhere there is probably somebody else who is just as passionate about whatever it is.

The p.e.t. bottle screw caps.

Yesterday in the store I stared into a big cooler by the cashiers at new Bonaqua bottles with caps in multiple colors. I want 10000 of those caps immediately!!!

What an awesome idea!!

I collect weapons, swords, daggers, airweapons, crossbows, etc.

Got some new acrylic nunchaku recently, and learning how to use them, great for loosening up my arms and shoulders before pumping some weights

Lab glassware also, The pigs took my collection, and I don't have it back yet, but if I see something on ebay that I might conceivably use, I can't resist a bargain.

I used to collect wind-up clocks and ABBA cassettes and different shapes of post-it note.

I now collect sounds (i record them with a field recorder and save them on my computer). I like metallic sounds best at the moment.

That's interesting. Are you using software to play around with the sounds or do you enjoy just having them as they are?

Currently:
Superstitions (like making a wish on an eyelash, or not stepping on sidewalk cracks)
Children's games/rhymes
Names for cats

In the past:
Bottlecaps
Pokemon cards
Rocks

I also bird (if you don't leave the house to do it, it's birdwatching; if you do, it's birding), and recently I've been participating in an online Bloom Clock project, which is almost like birding, except with plants.  Some day I want to do a Big Year- which is the largest north american birding competition.  You win by recording sightings of the most individual bird species in one year, January 1st to December 31st, and it's on the honor system (i.e, you don't have to prove you saw the bird).  It's especially appealing because almost no women have ever won the big year.

I used to have bloody loads of them, I ended up giving them all away to my then GF in school though.

Misty was cute though, hehe, there are some good anime pics of her about xD

There are some very interesting things people wrote down, and it's good to see I'm not the only birder here as well.

That's kind of strange, because I actually post on the forums multiple times a day (it's always good to have a welcome, though). I've only started a few threads since joining, however, so maybe that's why it seems I've been gone.

I use to collect fossils and rocks as well as semi-precious stones. I also collected postcards and coins when i was younger.

But now, apart from a few sentimental nic-naks and a few functional items I have very few pocessions.

Stories and songs. Stories being... well, stories themselves, I guess, I keep this list of the stories I like/have liked. And also anything related to those stories. When I'm feeling down, I'll go to a store and just go buy any random piece of crap that has to do with a story I like/have liked, like a SpongeBob toy or a Hannah Montana magazine. It's really therapeutic to me.

Songs is just songs. I used to collect CD's and I forced myself to listen to them in chronological order of when I got them. But now I put my CD's with the rest of the items of their story (if they have one), and keep their songs on the computer. Pity my iPod broke though...

I also used to be crazy about coins, posters, stress balls, Beanie Babies, these thingies I sometimes found on the sidewalk and I have no idea what they're called or what they're for, nor how to describe them... those thingies that you poke out of the holes in folders, and trading cards. Put my mom mixed in my coin collection with my money and I didn't feel like taking it out, the posters kept falling off my wall, the stress balls kept breaking, Mom said no keeping trash (sidewalk thingies and folder thingies), and I got sick of putting all the trading cards in the slots and spending my money on the things to hold them... now the passion behind all of those is completely gone.

It makes me sad and kinda frustrated to think that someday, I might not give a crap about my stories or songs anymore. It will be like my entire life right now is a waste of time.

NT's are kinda lucky. Their main collections are friends, and they almost never get tired of collecting.

Oh, BTW, good idea for a thread.

Postcards & rocks.