Some Writer's Life: Stuff: Remediation Realization

Image: Flickr, deeplifequotes

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Last time on A Collector's Tale: We learned I was selling all my stuff (you can still buy some here: http://www.amazon.com/shops/atheriusgames). Some friends had found out, and started to think I was a 34-year-old version of The 40-Year-Old Virgin.

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So, there I was, called out. The incarnate of some real-life version of a Judd Apatow movie. I certainly wasn't looking forward to the waxing scene. Put simply, the facts were hard to dismiss:

I was a collector of things, many of which were toy related… check.
I kept them all in original, pristine packaging… sure, but doesn't everyone… check.
I recently met an incredible woman, that was helping influence and change my life for the positive… absolutely, unequivocally, check.
… who was also helping to ensure everything was packaged and shipped with precise caution and care… this isn't helping my case… [sigh] check.
I wanted to get laid… this one isn't fair…check.

Now, wait a minute.

That last one there, that's not it at all, and that's the what everyone seems to gravitate towards. Sure, I fit a demographic of every ~~34 or 40 year old~~ man, virgin or not, but it wasn't my aim. Besides if anyone was getting a bad rap in this one, it was my girlfriend. Everyone seemed convinced she was somehow secretly behind the decision, and I was a hapless victim.

Untrue.

It's not their fault though, the decision seemed to lie perilously close to our recent decision to move into together. In fact, in a lot of ways, that move is exactly why I decided to sell my "stuff." Contrary to the stereotype, and being the amazing woman she is, my girlfriend completely opened her neatly decorated and reasonably tidy home to every collector's edition and ridiculous poly-resin statue I had. Even when the house became so full we need to get extra storage, it was many of her own items she boxed and packed away, just so I could be close to mine.

You see, I had the option to have the best of both worlds. I could have my stuff and the girl. She accepted me as I was, and there wasn't any ambiguous attempt to sell my stuff to "start my own store." Of course, my items were worth a few thousand, not half a million. Point being, even if it meant hanging action figures from the ceiling, I met someone that accepted me and saw nothing wrong with that… true love.

To me, I think that was the real turning point, seeing someone give all of themselves to make you happy, purely for your benefit, with no real positive outcome of their own. So, titles and key plot elements be damned, while there were definitely a number of things that ran parallel, this story was turning out to be much more complex than an aging romcom To understand this story, we'll need to go a bit further into the past. Till then, take a look at what I'm doing with the proceeds from selling my stuff.