I Tried To Leave You Behind

Apropos Of Nothing...

 I'm getting into my classical music collection lately. I've not really given these CDs a spin in the last few years or so, partly because I'm always looking for new stuff and they get buried behind my newer purchases. And the funny thing about one's music sitting on the shelf is that it's simply a case of out-of-sight-out-of-mind. You're constantly listening to what's at the front and not at the back of shelves. Anyway, what with the pandemic going on, I've decided to re-import all my CDs into my mac as Apple Lossless files - a task that's simply been overdue for years but rivalled in tedium only by playing monopoly and sitting in casinos without gambling. Bye-bye 192kbps, and all that. Theoretically, I shouldn't even need my discs after I've imported them because I'd have them as lossless files sitting at my fingertips on my computer. I should just be able to pack the damn things away and stick them in storage. 

...And I just can't. I've been pondering why that might be the case. I think it's because I am despite my own protestations and denials, just another one of those people who are way too in love with their record spines and CD spines. You see, it's like my autobiography writ large on those spines. The where and when of purchasing some stupid album that was hard to find; The time I was in city 'x' and I happened to come across 'y'; the tortuous quest to find a copy of 'z'. Those kinds of mini-narratives tied in with a weird sense of identity tangled up with an emotional attachment makes it really hard to just say, "you know what? These can go in plastic tubs and sit-in storage now."

So that's pretty much the lot of a media hoarder. 

I don't own valuable stuff. I don't have any gems, jewellery or exotic coins or for that matter bars of gold. I don't own memorabilia and collectibles - I've just got music and movies. Even my sort-of-dress-watch isn't really all that valuable in the watch stakes. A watch repairer tried to sell me a beautiful replacement band once. I had to say no because the band was 5 times what I paid for my watch. I don't even own memorabilia discs like signed copies of CDs and LPs. I just have the regular music stuff, and that's what I can't really leave behind - but collectively I like them. It's a big chunk of my life. How'bout you?

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