kavisolo.

I have this obsession with collecting things. Ever since I was young I’d spend hours buying up things I could collect and putting them away, only to look at them from behind a plastic wrap or cabinet. My mum always says that, “the only thing you’re really collecting, is dust!” Funny.

I collected model cars that my brother insisted on playing with. Instead they sat perched atop a closet, looking down at him with their metal bodies and plastic tires. They were all European; I’d beg my dad to get me a new one each time he went on a business trip. He went to Europe a lot. It didn’t matter, I wasn’t a big fan of American cars anyway.

I never considered collecting music as a real collection. To me, music was a collection of emotions and memories that had found me over time. Sure, you have album covers, booklets and liner notes, but they didn’t really matter to me. CDs kind of changed the idea of collecting music. Vinyl, now that’s something I collect but not voraciously. I only buy what I know I want to keep and will never listen to; favourite albums, singles or artists. The real art lies in the record. CDs have taken that away, at least in my opinion.

Books I collect because I read a lot. Covers don’t matter much to me—I mainly buy used books or discount paperbacks with shitty covers. I only keep what I like. If I don’t like it, the novel finds itself in my closet as part of my collection of rejects.

Trading cards I collected for ages. I grew up watching 90s basketball and because Australian basketball royally sucked, I use to dream about the awesomeness of American basketball and how superstar it was. I have no idea where that collection went. It wasn’t anything great, but there were a lot of cards kept in pretty good condition. I’m pretty sure they got lost in one of our moves, or they’re piling up dust in a storage facility out in the sticks of Sydney.

Movies I collect because movies rock. They’re there so I can watch them over and over again.

My pokemon cards still sit in an album with plastic sleeves untouched.

Stamps are the favourite among all my collections. I started when I was in 4th or 5th grade. We had this stamp club at recess and we’d trade and sell stamps thinking we were hot shit. I’d get in trouble for eating an orange and getting my acidic fingers all over these little perforated pieces of paper. Eventually it turned into an obsession. I’d spend hours walking up and down aisles at local stamp shows looking for the only stamps I wanted to collect—Australian, pre-Federation. I don’t collect them for their value—their isn’t much in the way of value for stamps—I collect them for their designs and the history behind who or what is on the stamp. I have a bunch of strays that I keep in envelopes or wax paper, but my main obsession is Australian stamps.

I think this was all an excuse to just talk about my stamps.