Blood for the Baron!

gung-hoeddie wrote: i thought i'd post this out of interest, during a lunch time chin wag at work i mentioned that i've started to re-collect action force toys. I was or seemed to be mocked almost, yes being in my thirties it would perhaps seem bizarre to the ignorant, i was just suprised at the looks of contempt i generated from the one comment. Any views on this?

Honestly. Jealousy. Few have the balls to do what they enjoy outside of the generally accepted pub going bullshit mainstream. Its universal. All my mates get it, but then most are just as odd as me Today I picked up the Millennium Falcon at a local chain store for a silly sum. All the checkout girls were suitably impressed at its size. I was given smiles of acknowledgement as I exited the store and PUT IT IN THE BACK OF THE STATION WAGON. Its THAT freaking big.

Anyway, if somebody doesn't understand they are probably the boring as sh*t type that spend all their weekends pissed moaning about their troublesome life. That's why I like this forum, these guys get it. My wife is a bit.... unsure.... but doesn't care because I'm not out at the pub making a dick of myself and I'm enjoying myself. She's my best friend anyway. I play in a band and listen to my Hifi/HT and even that seems to weird some people out. Fraked if I know why, fraked if I care.

Needless to say if it makes you happy then who cares? But it really does sound as if this dick is just an insecure child.

Now where was I? ..... AT last Baron I have you now..... Nooooooo Chopper you're just too clever and strong..... bam, bam....

I'm kinda lucky where i work most of the guys are in to Sci Fi and gaming etc. There is only one sad sh*t who hassles about my hobbies (although he doesn't know about this one), He has one stock comment about Star Trek that he has used for the last 15 years. I just ignore him these days and he goes away after a short while. He is a typical bloke as descibed in the fore going posts in to football in a big way he even bought a brick with his name on it when the local club were building a new stand. He paid £25 for the brick and they spelt his name wrong there is justice after all!

OW My head hurts! (Bloomin dirty beer must stay on Glenfiddich when out)
I am a truck driver for Darwen and B*ville (blackburn booo!) recycling centres and everyone who works there knows about my hobbies,
If anything comes in remotely like Action Force or Star Wars it is put to one side and saved for me!
When i first told them to save things for me and that i was into Star Wars and Action Force there was the odd comment about it but they comment about me being a Burnley fan in the same way. (B*ville and Burnley local football rivals)
Saying that when any of the lads find anything their faces light up when showing me something they have found even if it isn't what i collect!
They may not understand it but the lads would rather wind me up over football than my hobbies and i do the same.

I think i will be having a hair of the dog before long!

Generally what has already been said is true. Unfortunately I'm into far too many things, so along with my collection, I also have a good collection of football shirts, and Eastern Bloc mlitaria too. Plus 6 guitars... piles of books, and every episode of Voyage to the bottom of the sea and etc.
I think collecting things is frowned upon, as being anorakesque, but it cannot be put any better than Crimson Rage:
"Besides, people into the sort of things we like seem to be the more creative and imaginative types, and I'm not just saying that. I'd rather be an inspired individual than a listless drone who abandoned everything they enjoyed simply because society said they were 'too old'."

Oh and Kraken don't let your co-workers see the prices of Red Shadows on Ebay, if one is sat on your computer! Another one went for over £20 yesterday.

Muton wrote:Generally what has already been said is true. Unfortunately I'm into far too many things, so along with my collection, I also have a good collection of football shirts, and Eastern Bloc mlitaria too. Plus 6 guitars...

You got it good Muton. I'm up to 14 guitars now, mostly Fenders. Tho 3 don't count. I often wonder if I just have a collecting obsession. I also collect Atari and Amiga computers and video games consoles. Most of the stuff gets a regular work out mind you. I also collect wine and scotch that never lasts. Moral of the story, bugger it you only live once. This isn't a rehearsal. If it makes you happy go for it, if other people do different things and nobody gets hurt. Fair enough. These are my (our) vices.

I guess I'm lucky. No one has ever made fun of me for collecting. I've got some strange looks, before, but then If they come over to the house for a football party or something like the Baron said they see the stuff first hand they are like "Wow!".
My buddy who is a member of the Hells Angels saw my collection and a couple months afterward he calls me up and had 2 garbage bags worth of GI Joe stuff for me. People knowing I colect has really helped me out because people remember and then either pull stuff out of their attic for you or pick stuff up at yard sales etc.

I had some guy calling me a "Saddo", for buying a "teddy bear" (it was a Ewok figure) earlier in the week,and then he went back to playing with his World of Warcraft charater Ugg-bad the drawf!!

Thundershot wrote:I had some guy calling me a "Saddo", for buying a "teddy bear" (it was a Ewok figure) earlier in the week,and then he went back to playing with his World of Warcraft charater Ugg-bad the drawf!!

That annoys me more than anything: The hypocrisy. Someone caught me reading Star Trek monthly a while back and let rip with the usual tirade of nonesense. Soon after, I saw the same person looking at a footy mag - Not reading, just looking at the pictures of footballers.
Then of course there are all the fans of 'new' DR WHO who call me anorak, 'spod'(?) and such for prefering the old version. In the next breathe they're raving about their show.
Just can't argue with logic like that, so I tend not to bother trying.

A few years ago I worked at a nationwide retailer and happened to mention that I was visiting an iron-age hillfort on my day off. Yup, I like ancient history and archaeology. I didn't think anything more about it until a few days later when the staff trainer came up to me and told me that I should perhaps think twice about talking about what I do on my time off as some of the other staff thought I was "a bit weird". Yeah, right, out of a bunch of people who included a man obsessed with Dutch hardcore lady-boy porn, another chap who got his wife write a letter of complaint about me when I said "f*ck" in the warehouse and an assistant manager who was apparently shagging the boss I was the weird one. Just as well I didn't tell them about the gramophones, the birdwatching, the butterfly spotting, the transistor radios, the vintage cars or my obsession with Ray Mears; they might have come after me with flaming torches...

I work in Barnsley. "Tha dont talk abart naaaahhht ta noone or thar'll all think thars a bit weird liiiikkkke." (as they light up their flaming torches).

To be honest - I'd rather be thought of as a bit weird at times, but be myself, than try to be "normal". Yeah, I like football, and can chat away about it for hours, but I don't obsess like some of the blokes at work. It's an interest, not a hobby. My hobby's however, are my hobbys - they are what I choose to do, and I dont care who knows. At times they are my release from the stresses of the modern world and my pressured job - I go home, and look at my collection, or see what's arrived in the post, and it takes me right back to when I was 7 or so, and the days stress disappears. If folk want to take the piss they'll get a polite "f*ck off" - I dont seek their approval nor need it. I guess it's part of my way with dealing with the world in which I exist.

I personally think the attitudes described show total ignorance on some peoples parts. I think anyone having hobbies is healthy - I dont have to agree with them, nor understand them and want to do them myself, but I won't disrespect them. I see no attraction in standing on train platforms noting down numbers, but I can understand why folk do it, and respect to them for having a hobby. I have loads of interests and hobbys. Not just the toy collections. I love mountain biking, I love cars - I do track days with my brother when money allows - that, people seem to think is "cool", because they can seemingly understand it, but again - I do it as I want to - it's fun - rather than what people might think of it. Break it down to it's basics and all your doing is driving round in circles!

For me, it's less healthy and normal to sit comatosed year after year stumbling from one reality TV show to another. "Who's going to be in the jungle", who's going to be Simon Cowells latest pet/fling and have one album of karaoke tracks before sinking into obscurity", "what are they up to in the big brother house" (spoiler for you - they'll be being annoying attention seeking tosspots, who are trying desperately to be famous despite their lack of any obvious talents). I, like Annie, like a visit to a castle or two - it's fun, and interesting, and gets me out and about.

Sorry, ranting now, so I'll stop.

Although my Boss, when i was scanning some AF box sides the other day, came wandering past and thought my stuff was amazing. I had to almost punch him to stop him opening my boxed Swordfish! And he's 58! And the Senior Managing Partner of a Law Firm - I'll let you know once he starts collecting.