Favourite things

[neverfoundthetime]

Innocently watching an event-less game of soccer on TV, a Tovoesque moment happened and a TG question formed in my mind. I found myself thinking about things that I have possessed that have meant something to me. The chain of thought was triggered by my 12 string which really is my favourite object in this world. I just love the wood, the weight the feel and the sound of it and I spend more of my time together with it than is healthy . I have more and more the feeling that I can actually do something with it these days, thanks to TG.

I’m not a very materialistic person and am not very attached to things. Not bothered about cars, don’t own a house. I'm more attached to the Events and experiences of my life. I But still there have been things to which I have had fond attachments. And while I’m on the subject, my mother spent a lot of time with her Spanish Classical guitar and when she died and I opened the guitar case, I found it tucked neatly away with a polishing cloth laid over the strings but the D string broken. I know for sure she didn’t put it away with the string broken as it was snapped pretty much in the middle. Never seen a D string break like that, ever. Made me stop and wonder. You know, Grandfather clock story. Guess I will never know.

So, I was wondering, what are or have been some of your favourite things (cue Julie Andrews please) and why? Here are some of mine:

My Takamine 12 string, now about 23 years old.
My old second-hand racing bike with taped handle bars and rat-trap pedals… went everywhere with it as a teenager. Freedom.
A Wilson Pro Staff wooded tennis racket with which I hit some very sweet sounding shots in the 70’s. Love wood.
A Kasparov Chess computer, a beautiful wooden board with inbuilt computer. Again, wood.
A dozen pairs of HEAD sport socks with L a R on the respective toes. So damn comfy and so long lasting. I have lived in sports cloths for 40 years and I’ve been known to throw out 40 surplus T-Shirts at a time.
My first Dunlop Maxply squash racket… again wood.
Obsolete wedding ring. I almost never wear jewellery, not even a watch. Ever the sportsman.
I guess I have to mention my lap top and Iphone which I spend even more time with than my Tak! But I’m more interested in nostalgia on this.

[dennisg]

Interesting question, Chris.

I guess I own a lot of "things" that I find very useful to have, but only a couple things that I would have a tough time emotionally leaving behind.

The first is my Guild D-25M guitar. It cost me about $400 when I bought it new in 1975, and truthfully, it's not a very good guitar by today's standards. But my brother used to come up to Seattle twice a year, and he'd play that guitar and we'd sing for hours. He loved it, and I always thought about giving it to him, since I'd stopped playing, but I never did. Now that my brother's gone, the guitar seems dear to me.

The second object is a custom-made bike by a little company in the Boston area called Independent Fabrication. I've put thousands of miles on that bike, ridden it hundreds of times with friends and with people I'd never met who became friends, shipped it to various states to do cross-state rides, and I make sure it's clean after every ride. I've even crashed it a few times, and it always performs flawlessly. I'd have a tough time parting with it.

[tovo]

Ah what an excellent question Chris! Warms my heart it does.

Anyway, for someone who likes to think they are not materialistic, I sure have a lot of stuff! My wife definitively would say I am into stuff, which is true, but I am not particularly attached to any of it. I gave my Dad a car a couple years ago. A loan in name but I had no intention of taking it back. Anyway, it was stolen right in front of him after he left the keys in it. He was horrified but in my mind it was just a car. Things are useful but they can be replaced. I told him not to worry about it and meant it.

I am struggling to find anything that means that much to me I would be devastated if something happened to it. My Taylor Koa is wonderful and a beautiful instrument. It would be such a shame for it to be lost or damaged but if that happened I would buy another. No biggie. (That said I hope to have it for years to come).

Thinking hard, there are 2 things that mean something to me, and neither is in my possession!

The first is a Larrivee guitar that I didn't own for long at all, but which I sold to a friend and the thought of her playing it each day and getting enjoyment from it is very special to me. That is an item I feel very good about.

The second is a bit of a story. When I was young I had a distant relationship with my Father for various reasons. Craving a male role model I spent most of my time with my Grandad. He was an ex-British soldier who spent most of WW11 in a POW camp hosted by the Germans. He had the best sense of humour and I used to sit for hours and talk to him. I loved that man so much I still cry when I think about him, even though I didn't cry at his funeral because he wouldn't have liked that. Anyway, one of my memories was the ashtray which sat on top of his fridge. It was only plastic, with a drunk leaning against a street light and an inscription "Oh what a lovely evening" After my Grandmother died years later the only thing I would have liked as a keepsake was that ashtray. Just something to remember him by. Unfortunately in the clean-out of the house it went missing and nobody knows where it is. That still grates me a little.

Wow, that was a long story, sorry about that. Apart from those 2 things, I can't think of anything that I'm really attached to. I guess photos are a common one but most of them are digital now with backups.

[haoli25]

Good topic, Chris.

Treasure or clutter?

Actually I had this discussion with a few friends several months ago. The question was; "Assuming that all of your friends and family were safe, if your house was on fire and you could only save what you could carry, what would you save?"
My list is now down to a few personal items without a large cash value, but of huge sentimental value to me. I was even surprised that none of my guitars made the list.

Like most people, I discovered that I had much more 'clutter' than 'treasures'. Many things I had just for the sake of having them. Since our discussion a few months ago I have been in the process of getting rid of a lot of my clutter and I will hopefully make more room for a few more treasures.


Bill

[willem]

treasers,,i pick the day day by day,,,one day it is a treaser the other day it is clutter,,,but i know what you mean,,,like Bill said what to safe when the house is on fire i hope to safe all the things that is needed to get me through the day...

[michelew]

tovo wrote:

The first is a Larrivee guitar that I didn't own for long at all, but which I sold to a friend and the thought of her playing it each day and getting enjoyment from it is very special to me. That is an item I feel very good about.

What a big green scary ogre you are..... for an enormous sentimental softy! Well she's a lucky friend indeed.

[sws626]

This may end up sounding silly, but the few "favorite things" I would save from a fire aren't really worth a lot. Much as I love my guitars, they're replaceable and I'd let them burn. What I'd save are:

- An old steel-framed stool with a cracked oak top that my wife 'borrowed' from a Univ. of Chicago science lab. This doubles as my guitar stool and bed-side table.

- a bicycle I built up from parts ten or twelve years ago and rarely ride.

- some books on German romanticism I collected when I was in graduate school. I'm sure there will be iPad editions one day, but I've carried them across the Atlantic too many times to part with them now.

- a vinyl LP of 'Blood on the Tracks' I bought in 1977. The scratches and pops are a vital part of the music, even though I don't have anything to play it on anymore.

- Stuart

Maude: Well, if some people get upset because they feel they have a hold on some things, I'm merely acting as a gentle reminder: here today, gone tomorrow, so don't get attached to things. Now, with that in mind, I'm not against collecting things...

[neverfoundthetime]

Thanks for these intimate thoughts folks.
I wouldn't part with that Guitar either Dennis.
Tony, I thought you'd appreciate this!
Michele, we know Tony is a big green softy so your one-liner doesn't really count so don't think you aren't getting off THAT lightly. Bwuhahaha (as Ale would say).
Stuart, I'm betting nearly all of these favourite things will have a low correlation to actual value... German books, you surprise me!
Nice attitude Willem!
And Bill, getting rid of the clutter is such a spiritually cleansing act, isn't it. When I moved house a year ago, almost everything got dumped as I mentioned in a thread. Just a few albums survived but the turntable didn't. Stuff I'd been carting around from home to home over decades went. And I don't miss any of it. I regularly feel the need to clean out the crap these days and I don't like rooms with too many things in them. I did save 75% of my books though, they seem harder to part with as Stuart mentions. Actually, that's a little odd. Maybe I'm afraid of losing the wisdom I found within or just need to know they are there as a reference archive.

[michelew]

Well right now its probably my Larrivee and my Hofner. I have stuff, but not much that fits the bill for this thread. Maybe I'm deluding myself.

I always find the 'what would you save from a fire' question challenging. If I actually needed to make the decision, I think I'd be too busy with people to worry about things. In fact just getting myself out could be a challenge. We had a fire in the building in the middle of the night a couple of years ago and I slept right through all of the fire alarms (even thought the speaker was just outside our window) and the fire brigade coming .... I'd just incorporated it into my dream. I had to be shaken. So what are the chances I'm going to save ANYTHING?

Hmmmm... well that was a positive thought.... maybe I need chocolate....

[Music Junkie]

Chris:

Are we getting philosophical here.....

Now that I am getting up there in my years, I am certainly LESS attached to objects. Life is short and the truly meaningful things can't be owned IMO. A friendship is very meaningful, a memory is meaningful, etc.

Now, to completely repeal what I just said.... :woohoo:

I have my dad's original "Old Timer" little three-blade pocket knife. He had this thing for YEARS, and I remember him using it for just about everything when I was a kid. When he passed, that was the one thing that really gave me comfort. Sounds really stupid, but it was just the images in my head of sitting and talking to him while he worked with it or played with it in a casual way. I have it in my pocket as I type this and it still gives me comfort. Thought I had lost it once and the panic was amazingly painful. I know I should not be that attached to it, as it is just a simple little THING. Funny how that works.... B)

A first edition WELL WORN copy of "Inherit the Stars" given to me by my best friend. I know the book is still available and I can replace it, but I have read that book at least 10 times and enjoy just as much each time. Get a warm fuzzy whenever i see it on my bookshelf.....sad, I know.....

I love my guitars, but I have only been playing for a few years now and have not had the chance to get that attached to them (YET). I am sure that will change.....

J