[Error: unknown template qotd]I don't know if we're going to see this one or not. I missed the last three movies. I couldn't get past the first half hour of Phantom Menace. The hype and nostalgia buzz did nothing for me.

[Error: unknown template qotd]Oh geez! Collecting was a large part of my life for some time, but now that I'm almost 40, being childless and having a small house has shaped what I collect.

Until I took a class in material culture, I never really understood why I collected, so here's some tips for anyone reading this. I had often heard that people collect things to fill a void. A collection may be one of the few things someone has control over in their life, so naturally they put a lot of effort into collecting and maintaining a collection.

Collecting involves a consumption cycle, from the acquisition to disposition phase. It's the acquisition phase where people get the most satisfaction, or the thrill of the hunt. You may spend a lot of time preparing the space for the thing to be displayed in, or reading about it, or imagining and sharing all the feelings and hopes you have for this object. Then, once said object is acquired, it's on to the next thing of great desire. I realized that it was this part that I really enjoyed too.

There's also a social aspect - if you collect something, you're bound to meet other people that share your passion. Hurrah for the Internet!

So on to the things I collected - stamps (very accessible for a young person), model horses, My Little Ponies, Kinder Surprise toys and books. All those collections have tapered off. I'm actually in the disposition phase of collecting model horses. Scarcity of collectors meant that they used to hold value - and acquiring a discontinued model horse required a laborious back and forth process involving snail mail (remember, long distance prices were $$ back in the day). Thanks to the Internet, the bottom fell out of the market. Now I have a hard enough time giving them away for free, or practically free!

I still see a lot of fun things that I would like to collect, but I stop myself and just admire online pictures instead.

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Today I learned that former US President John Tyler's grandchildren are still alive. How, you ask, when he himself was born in 1790? Read on!

[Error: unknown template qotd] Art supplies and craft stuff are always appreciated!

[Error: unknown template qotd] I think it would fun to be a bird so I could poop on the heads of people I didn't like :-D

[Error: unknown template qotd] It's a bit of a toss-up for me between 1990, 1991 and 1992 because they were such solid years for good Canadian alternative/rock music when so many bands were at their peak and broke away from the sound of the previous decade (Corey Hart...Bryan Adams...ugh...) and it was lucky for them because CanCon regulations had increased by then, so you couldn't help but listen to them. If I feel nostalgic for the early 90s because I was in my teens then and it also marked the end of the Progressive Conservative era...for a while anyway!

The Northern Pikes always had prairies written all over them...

Watch on YouTube

Blue Rodeo is always a class act, but Casino (1990) and Lost Together (1992) are my favourites...for the longest time they were the only Canadian band that could make a decent video...

Watch on YouTube

And then it's hard to believe The Hip polished their sound enough in one year to go from Road Apples (1991) to Fully Completely (1992). All my friends were captivated by the strange darkness of this song (everyday I'm dumping the body) and it marked the end of their crappy videos.

Watch on YouTube

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The only people I will judge for their taste in music are those who really, really, really like Nickelback.

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I would marry the crockpot. How I love to turn him on ;-)

[Error: unknown template qotd] Is it not possible to be both? After all, Brian May is both a famous musician and an astrophysicist :-)

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Not to answer this question specifically, but I believe buildings can give off a vibe. When we were house hunting, we saw a perfectly normal, nice newer house. It was clean and well-decorated, but it just made me feel uncomfortable. I could never put my finger on it, but it wasn't a house I wanted to live in.

Now, our house, as soon as I stepped into it, gave me nothing but good vibes. I do believe I clapped my hands and spun in a circle before even seeing the whole house. I had a cold at the time, so it was possible I had had too much in the way of OTC drugs. But previous owner had a doll collection, the daughter had a toy horse collection (Grand Champions), they had lovebirds...as soon as I walked into our house I knew it was home! We later met the previous owners when they came back for a neighbourhood barbecue. We got along really well with them, and we had the feeling they would have been good neighbours to have :-)