Money, Money, Money, Honey?

The most difficult side to collecting has to be money. If money was no object, I suppose collecting would be a little more dull. When it comes to collecting records, I have a little jealousy for the male loner.

This lucky creature goes to work, perhaps dreaming of a loving relationship, with a considerate life partner, that fully understands the desperation to grab every morsel that crosses his path (I say “his”, all these lucky creatures I have met have been male). And this heavenly relationship will share in the passion for collecting, spending every spare penny and more on records, hi-fi equipment etc. Even understand if getting this weeks gem will mean not eating for a couple of days, because it’s only food and “we can eat and make up for it next week”. 

Of course this is all but a preposterous fantasy, all though there may be one lucky swine out there that has found this rare pearl. No, life still has to be lived. I can’t live like a student all my life. I don’t really want to live like a student now. I love my food, my car, my warm house that actually has furniture in it, a TV that you can actually see a picture on, which all costs money. I also have a beautiful wife, the most fantastic person I have ever met, which also forfeits a selfish desire of squalor for the greater collecting good.  

It would be stupid to regret being married, having food, clothing, a roof over my head and some level of sociability. But, all this comes with a measure, a balance, that has to be found when collecting. It is extremely difficult to find this balance, to not just be purely selfish and say, this is of absolute importance and all spare funds should be thrown into it.  

I still haven’t found this balance as yet. I wince at the thought of bringing up the subject of more money to fund this project, not because of any attitude or adverse reaction, because there never is any (bless her), but more for the reason – who am I to say that this is so important that it justifies the money spent, or needs spending to accomplish.

So I, as many other collectors do, walk the tightrope between obsession and idealism

On a side note, I’m going to start listing the items acquired between each blog submission as a footnote, this weeks acquisitions :

Modern English – Chapter 12 – 12” BAD 401

http://www.discogs.com/Modern-English-Chapter-12/release/630360

Modern English – After The Snow – CD 9 23821-2 on SIRE

http://www.discogs.com/Modern-English-After-The-Snow/release/589562