My Most Prized Possession (other than a unicycle :))

[yoopers]

I thought it would be neat to see what type of items are of value to you. What little something or story has a lot of memories wrapped around it or what takes on a special prominence in your life, maybe something that you will hand down to the next generation someday.

Here's one for me. I spent some great high school years in the late '70s in southern Maryland living just off the beach of the Chesapeake Bay. We lived in an all cedar home in the woods and had some great family times. One of the things to do was spend time on the beach hunting for fossilized sharks teeth. Here are two of my favorites (sadly one has broken over the years).

The biggest one I'd ever seen was an 8 lb., 8 inch tooth found by a park ranger friend. I believe the tooth is now in a museum somewhere. We also found many horseshoe crab shells, sand dollars, and other great stuff. Just don't swim in the Bay when the sea nettles are running. Other great memories are of grand Maryland blue crab feasts (I even had my own crab pots) and bluefish fishing.

I keep these two sharks teeth on my desk as a reminder of good times.

[Goats_On_Unicycles]

I have a picture of my best friend ever.
He got me through so many rough times and even saved my life twice.
He died from a heroin overdose.

[wobbling bear]

I am not oriented towards the past so prized possession is something I need to use in the future but I can't replace if broken:
first in line : my Boosey & Hawkes fluegelhorn ... they don't make it any more :( (so I am interested in buying one more just in case .... none found for the moment).

[SqueakyOnion]

Those old Boosey & Hawkes horns play like no other. Built like a tank, too. Nice thick silver plating and thick brass, before all this perfectly proportioned computer controlled stuff. Is it from mid-20th century?


My most prized possession is my Willson 2955 Euphonium.

[monkeyman]

My guitar. It's only a beginner Fender Strat, but I've still had it for almost two years, and it's been kind to me.

[yoopers]

My guitar. It's only a beginner Fender Strat, but I've still had it for almost two years, and it's been kind to me.
Got a photo, Alex? Would love to see it.

[idiorythmic]

Out in the garage I have an 8" reflector telescope which I take out on clear nights. I get no end of fun hunting for other galaxies and studying the moon and the planets. Lately I've been trying to find Comet 8P/Tuttle (http://www.itwire.com/content/view/15917/1066/) but on the nights when I could get out there my skies were clouded over.

I wonder if there are any other astronomers in here, (amateur or professional).

[Bondo]

http://www.unicyclist.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=24232&stc=1&d=1199282118

That is indeed a very nice quarter.

[UniTyler]

Here's one of my most prized possessions, a money clip that I got from my uncle's small estate after he died of a heart attack at age 50.

Steve lived in a small trailer in Eastern Washington, and lived the life of a cowboy. He worked in construction, never earning much, but he loved his three horses. He also enjoyed photography, sometimes selling his stunning rodeo photographs. Rodeos were one of his favorite past times, as well. He rode bulls in his younger days, and then moved to team roping.

I loved visiting Steve from time to time (I was about 8 when he died, so this was when I was pretty little), and we'd spend all weekend riding horses and attending local rodeos. It was fun "roughing it" in the extremely rural community for a few days, and doing "cowboy stuff."

I would look at all the neat stuff he had: antlers, guns, knives, ropes, old coins that my grandpa had collected, rocks he'd found in the desert, belts, blankets from trades with Native Americans, and of course, his money clips. I'd never leave for home empty handed - Steve always had something I could keep.

He'd given me an older, simpler money clip of his when I was visiting one time. I prized it, but the money clip he used was even cooler. I admired it, and he said I could have it one day when he got a new one.

Well, he never got a new one. Less than a year later, he died of a heart attack that was initially misdiagnosed as pneumonia. This money clip was in his pocket when he died at the hospital 4 days before Christmas.

Now I have it, and it is definitely one of my most prized possessions.

[yoopers]

Here's one of my most prized possessions, a money clip that I got from my uncle's small estate after he died of a heart attack at age 50.Very cool story!

[yoopers]

That is indeed a very nice quarter.




:)

[cathwood]

I get more attached than most people to my 'things'. I love my cameras, mp3 players, computer, PDA, photo albums. I suppose my favourite is my computer.

[UniTyler]

I get more attached than most people to my 'things'. I love my cameras, mp3 players, computer, PDA, photo albums. I suppose my favourite is my computer.

That, too. :)

[maestro8]

My most prized posessions are my flintlock rifles. I'll have to get some pics up for y'all to appreciate them.

My poppa spent many an evening in his shop, whistling along to Beethoven on the radio or watching Night Court on his little B&W TV while making these beautiful relics.

Nearly every part was made by hand, with tools also made by hand: forged in our wood stove and hammered out on an anvil made of a tree stump and a section of railroad track. Some rifles could be made in a couple weeks, others took months.

He'd even go to museums and libraries to study actual rifles from the 1800s, to learn the details and differences that'd indicate the rifle's region of origin, the status of its owner and its intended purposes.

He'd hammer out bits of silver and gold to lay in to the rifle's stock. He'd hand-carve elegant scrollwork and details into the wood, then cover it with a couple dozen coats of stain and oil to bring the grain out and make it shine as if it were metallic.

Some of these rifles are museum pieces... stunning beauties that could also be used to knock a fly off a dog's butt at 100 yards. What makes them so valuable to me are the memories associated with them... the best times my dad and I had together were working on his rifles, then taking 'em out into the yard for target practice.

[yoopers]

My most prized posessions are my flintlock rifles. I'll have to get some pics up for y'all to appreciate them.
Wow! Can't wait to see them.

[monkeyman]

Jason, those sound awesome.

Bruce - I would post a picture of my guitar, but I don't have a digital camera I can use right now (I'm at my dad's house in AL right now)...however, this is a picture of the model I have right now.

http://www.diecastauto.com/catalog/images/strat-2.jpg
Mine's got this leather strap that I love. It's fairly simple, but it's thick enough that it doesn't hurt my shoulder, and the holes are small, so it stays on the guitar without coming off easily. It also looks pretty cool.

[ħǻřрέŗ]

You might think it is my giant slide rule but it is in fact my Lego watch.

[UniKid2]

mmm i have a peice of the Berlin Wall (small).... i like it ....

[ħǻřрέŗ]

mmm i have a peice of the Berlin Wall (small).... i like it ....

That's a cool one. One of our faculty was in Berlin when they were tearing it down. He picked up a fist sized chunk and brought it to the lab. It resides in our lunchroom.

[jamessd]

I don't know how special it is to me yet, however it's a tiny bit interesting.

On new years day I stole a loose screw from a plank of wood at the end of southend pier. It's the longest pier in the country (or world (or something like that)) open to the public, and I may well be responsible for it falling down :p .

[Bondo]

http://www.diecastauto.com/catalog/images/strat-2.jpg

Do you keep your guitar on a unicycle stand too??
:)


My most prized possessions are the three ladies in my life; my Girlfriend, my step-daughter and her daughter.

[UniTyler]

mmm i have a peice of the Berlin Wall (small).... i like it ....

I've got a small chunk, too. It's concrete (I think) with some yellow paint on it.

[Into the blue]

My most prized possesion involves me talking about the most interesting man I have ever met.
This all takes place around fifteen years ago, back in my small home town.
It involves me, and a guy with the nickname of Titch.
Let me tell you a Little about Titch...

I used to call in an old fashioned pub, The Vale of Neath.
Good pub, good beer, good characters.
It was the kind of pub where, when you walked in, people would shout out your name and say hello, and you didn't need to ask the barmaid what pint you wanted, she knew.
Anyway, I walk in one night and there's a stranger sitting in the corner.
Late forties, an 'interesting' face, longish blond hair and dark glasses.
He's got the newspaper in one hand, and he's asking the barmaid what the clues are to the crossword.
She's reading them out for him.
I stand next to him, order a pint and get chatting.
We hit it off instantly.
Turns out Titch used to work in the movie business as a set and backdrop painter.
We get talking more, and it turns out as a result of his diabetes he's blind.
He tells me of all the films he's worked on.
Being a sci-fi nut, I'm in awe.
Titch, of course, is in his element.
Over the next few weeks he regaled us with stories of how he met Charlton Heston in a public lavatory and invited him to his birthday party.
Of how he married his partner when she was riddled with cancer and on her deathbed, and how she passed away the next day.
Stories of how, as an expert sprayer, he had a sideline in repainting stolen cars, and could get one out on the street within an hour.
And how he played the drums on pop songs that were on the juke box.
We became friends, drinking buddies and crossword solvers.
He was damn good at crosswords.
And I became his eyes.
We would often go on a pub tour, and when walking was to be done, he would put his arm in mine, and I would tell him the number of steps to the next kerb ("Kerb up in three"), and whether doorways would have hidden steps, how far urinals were from the toilet door, and things like that.
One memorable night when we were both walking down a dark alley back to the pub, it started raining.
"Ah, sod this!" said Titch, "Let's run!"
And he ran. Blind as a bat, down a dark alley in the middle of the night, with me trying to keep up behind him shouting "LEFT, LEFT!"
I remember getting to the pub and just laughing so hard.
Laughing.
We were bonded by the diabetes (I'm a diabetic myself), and I could often tell if he was feeling a little low sugar-wise.
He also rented a room next door to the Vale, so getting there and back was not a problem.
He had plans of going to college as a mature student and becoming a lecturer for the blind.

Then, one day I was walking past the pub, and I saw a hearse parked next door.
I knew what it was straight away.
I walked up to the open doorway, feeling numb and cold.
The landlord was there, and I asked where Titch was.
The landlord looked at me like he didn't know what to say, and at the same time the coroner walked by.
He told me he was very sorry, but Titch had had a hypoglycemic attack in the middle of the night, and hadn't recovered.
He was dead.
I didn't cry at first. I went for a long walk. I didn't know what to do.
I'd never felt like this, even when relatives had died.
It was only when I went back to the pub that it came out in floods.
I had to go to the men's room for about ten minutes to get myself together.
I'd only just started to get to know him, and now he was gone.
And I'd lent him a fiver too, the bastard.

He left the biggest fucking hole in my life, you wouldn't believe, and I still think about him nearly every single day.

About a month before he died, he turned to me in the pub and said, "Ere, you like Star Wars don't you?"
It was one of the films he's worked on as a painter. All the Star Wars movies, all the Alien movies, all the Indiana Jones films.
I nodded. Of course I did.
"'Ang on." he said, and went back to his flat.
He came back with a t-shirt for me.
"What's this? I asked.
"This is a t shirt that the cast and crew were given when we made Star Wars," he said. "Not many of these about."
It's the best thing anyone's ever given me. And I've treasured it since.
Not because I like the movie.
Not because it's worth a couple of hundred pounds.
But because it reminds me of him every time I open my shirt drawer.
I swear to God, if I were penniless and on the street, I still would not sell that damned t-shirt.
There's a picture of it at the bottom of this post.
And it is my most prized possesion.

So.
That was my friend Titch.
His real name was Adrian Price, but no one called him that on his insistence.
The most interesting person I have ever met.

[harper]

My most prized possesion involves me talking about the most interesting man I have ever met.
...

Ding. Winner. Fantastic story, Sean. Thanks.

[MuniAddict]

Morty.:)
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24259

[maestro8]

I'd only just started to get to know him, and now he was gone.
Damnit, now I'm gonna have to run to the men's room.

*sniffle*

Edit: yeah, great story. Thanks for sharing.

[ridingwithscissors]

Ding. Winner. Fantastic story, Sean. Thanks.
+1

[oneisenough]

well have a lot, but other than my unis i think the first inline would be my BMX bike(the one i use for jummping and whatnot(i ride that more than my BMX race bike;) )

ill post a pic, but how do you resize it so it will upload(its almost 2x the allowed size:o )

[john_childs]

ill post a pic, but how do you resize it so it will upload(its almost 2x the allowed size:o )
Assuming you're using Windows
XnView (http://www.xnview.com/), IrfanView (http://www.irfanview.com/) or Picasa (http://picasa.google.com/features/index.html)

[UniKid2]

I've got a small chunk, too. It's concrete (I think) with some yellow paint on it.
HA! me too ;)
i Wonder...:rolleyes:

[One on one]

That was my friend Titch.
His real name was Adrian Price, but no one called him that on his insistence.
The most interesting person I have ever met.

Thanks for that touching story. What a great relationship you two had. He had such a terrific life.

[maestro8]

Here's some pics of my pop's rifles:

The stubby little guy got "the chop" when my pop didn't like how heavy it was... and he was looking for an excuse to make a "shorty" rifle.

[maestro8]

Here's a detail of the rifle named "Baby"... the crown jewel of our collection. Details made of inlaid silver, copper and brass, and hours of chiselwork on the wood.

[maestro8]

The other side of "Baby's" stock. The rectangular block of wood is actually a lid; he made a small box in the butt of the rifle to store extra flints and such.

[maestro8]

Here's a detail of the lock and trigger guard on my pop's "Tennesee mountain rifle". Note the shaping in the metal pieces... lots of curves and scrollwork.

[maestro8]

I doubt you can see much in this photo, but IRL, the wood grain nearly jumps out of this stock. After many layers of stain and oil (pop would sit in the living room and rub the stock with a soft cloth while we watched TV together, many evenings in a row) the wood becomes almost translucent... very, very shiny.

[maestro8]

Here's a picture of... HEY! GET OUTTA HERE!

Afhiena being an overly curious kitten, as usual.

[Ducttape]

Hmmm, I'm thinking.... My teddy bear that I got when I was born, My baby blanket, and my inherited fire safe full of my grandpa's matchbook collection. I'll get pictures up soon. My grandpa was really cool, he always had a joke to tell, a smile on his face, and could sing any old time song you could think of, He was a Diabetic from a young age and his body finally just gave up on him(he lasted longer than the doctors ever thought.... they said he wouldn't live past the age of 16.... he died at the age of 65 or something....)

My grandpa's collection even includes a few matchbooks from Air Force One and the crew of the plane..... I need to find a way to display them all, I want to be able to look at them instead of stuffing them in a fire safe. My teddy bear no longer has a nose I can't even remember when it fell off, but it's gone now, he's been through thick and thin with me, there were times not long ago where I couldn't sleep unless I had that bear with me.... my blanket has been through as much as my teddy bear has, maybe more.... it's tattered and torn but still one of my most prized possessions.

[Ducttape]

long very good story about Sean's friend Titch
Sean, I had no idea you were capable of such good write-ups.... very cool... the story I mean... I dunno what else to say...

[john_childs]

Sean, I had no idea you were capable of such good write-ups.... very cool... the story I mean... I dunno what else to say...
Yeah, but did you notice the t-shirt? It had some Photoshop work done on it. It's still Sean.

[wobbling bear]

Those old Boosey & Hawkes horns play like no other. Built like a tank, too. Nice thick silver plating and thick brass, before all this perfectly proportioned computer controlled stuff. Is it from mid-20th century?

agreed: a fantastic mellow sound! a "big" horn . I dunno the year of make but I suspect that mine was in fact built by Kanstul (it does not look like a "normal" fluegelhorn but like an incestuous hybrid between a trumpet and a bugle).

[Ducttape]

Yeah, but did you notice the t-shirt? It had some Photoshop work done on it. It's still Sean.
yeah, didn't pay attention to the shirt.

[GILD]

"Ah, sod this!" said Titch, "Let's run!"

That sentence will stay with me for a very long time.


Being a radio professional I guess it's no surprise that mine is somewhat radio related.
It's my original Shure 556S microphone.
It was given to me by a good friend of mine.
We hunkered down and shared a flat for quite some time while we both battled economic forces seemingly intent on dragging us under.
His father passed away and while going thru his possessions, found this mic, along with an Electrovoice from the same era.
Both solid chrome, giving the mics a fabulous weight and the Electrovoice the look of a hood ornament from Detroit's heyday.

http://www.oaktreeent.com/web_photos/microphones/EV_664_Vintage_%20Microphone_web.jpg

I keep the mic on a stand in my house. I have used it for broadcasting in the past but have now reached the level of radio where idiosyncrasies like bringing in your own microphone are not smiled upon.
Sadly.
I did get to use it in promo pics taken for this new station tho.
You can see pics of my mic her (http://www.mpowerfm.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=40&Itemid=59)e.

[GILD]

Oh yeah, I also wanted to say, 'Kewl Thread Idea Bruce!'.

[yoopers]

Here's a detail of the rifle named "Baby"... the crown jewel of our collection. Details made of inlaid silver, copper and brass, and hours of chiselwork on the wood.
Wow, very impressive, maestro.

[Triball]

HA! me too ;)
i Wonder...:rolleyes:

I have a piece aswell, but it's green. :D But I'll remember Berlin as the city where I bought my first unicycle:p

[yoopers]

Oh yeah, I also wanted to say, 'Kewl Thread Idea Bruce!'.
Kind of like elementary school Show and Tell, only for us big people.

[GILD]

us big people
Speak for yourself...

[yoopers]

Speak for yourself...
I'm sorry, I meant to say, "Us more mature people"...wait, that doesn't work either. Older people? Chronologically challenged people?

[Goats_On_Unicycles]

Sean, that's the bestest story I've ever heard!!

*cries*

[GILD]

I'm sorry, I meant to say, "Us more mature people"...wait, that doesn't work either. Older people? Chronologically challenged people?
Have you read The TimeTraveller's Wife yet?
A quick search will confirm that I may well be on retainer by the publishers.
It remains a stunning book.
Speaking of 'chono-impaired people', and endless love.

[yoopers]

Have you read The TimeTraveller's Wife yet?
A quick search will confirm that I may well be on retainer by the publishers.
It remains a stunning book.
Speaking of 'chono-impaired people', and endless love.
Haven't read that one. I don't seem to have enough time to sit down with a book.

[dudewithasock]

Hm...I can't really think of any one thing I have that is most prized...I don't have anything of that much sentimental value.

There's a couple for our entire family, though...these two beautifully monogrammed containers with the ashes of our two long-time canine friends, Sparky and Lucky. Sparky lived with us for like 15 years, and I don't really even remember life without him...he passed several months ago. And Lucky was a big mutt we rescued off the street when he was still really small, and my mom got insanely attached to him. He had a brain tumor that led to us needing to put him down due to frequent seizures.

Now our rhodesian ridgeback Lucy is our most prized possession, I suppose. Pictures of her in the pet pictures thread if you're interested.

[Into the blue]

Yeah, but did you notice the t-shirt? It had some Photoshop work done on it. It's still Sean.

Well spotted.
I submitted a photo of it to this website a while back...
http://theswca.com/index.php?action=disp_item&item_id=35862
I couldn't help but tidy the picture up.
It's just the way I am.

And many thanks for the comments.
Titch would have loved the fact that I'd learned how to unicycle.
It would have appealed to his sense of humour.

[phlegm]

You all have some neat stuff. I don't have anything irreplaceable, but if I had to pick one thing other than my unicycles, my Dave Smith Mono Evolver Keyboard (http://davesmithinstruments.com/products/mek/index.php) would be it. Oooh, pretty lights. :D

http://www.unicyclist.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=561449&g2_serialNumber=1&g2_GALLERYSID=5180d8db80edced57017e46141257c16

[oneisenough]

well have a lot, but other than my unis i think the first inline would be my BMX bike(the one i use for jummping and whatnot(i ride that more than my BMX race bike;) )

ill post a pic, but how do you resize it so it will upload(its almost 2x the allowed size:o )
http://a278.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/109/l_2c3d9314dc0a3c32e4674158031b0485.jpg
yeah...i should get a pic from the other side
but this thing is awesome...hardly anything is stock

i forgot it was on my myspace:o :p

[johnfoss]

I have too much stuff that's important to me. My wife is not my possession so she can't even be on the list.

So I'll change it up a bit and see what I come out with:

Stuff I'd try to get out of the house if the flood/fire/earthquake were imminent and I only had a few minutes to evacuate:

- Wife and dogs would of course be first!
- Backups of my photos and other computer files. I guess those are the winners. One book of CDs/DVDs and an external HD. I have a lot of negatives from my pre-digital days, in 8 fat binders. Total weight is probably at least 50 pounds so they'd be much lower on the list.
- Wife's jewelry box. It hangs on the wall so it's easy to take out, too!
- My wedding ring (which would be on me anyway)
- Computers and cameras

My mom has something kind of like the Berlin wall. It's a piece of the big meteor from Meteor Crater, Arizona. I don't think there are many of those in private ownership.

[Tyler_N]

i love me new television

[seanrquinn]

Don't think many of you play paintball, but I just thought I'd throw up a picture of my "honda civic" of the paintball world. It started as a 200 dollar ugly piece of crap, now it's turned into something that cost me almost a thousand U.S. to make. Shame I traded it for a better gun :D
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c360/seanrquinn/ion%20pics/gunpichand.jpg

[Ducttape]

picture quality isn't very good because I didn't want to screen stretch too much but it's a few of the cooler things I've found in my grandpa's fire safe and my teddy and blanky..... the one with the note next to it is from my uncle donavan who is and airplane mechanic in the air force, Air Force One Planed in Seattle where he was stationed and the crew gave him a match book from the plane to give to my grandpa. The brochures are from when my grandpa went to New your a long time ago and so is the match book. the Presidential matchbook is grover cleveland. cool stuff.
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[Goats_On_Unicycles]

You all have some neat stuff. I don't have anything irreplaceable, but if I had to pick one thing other than my unicycles, my Dave Smith Mono Evolver Keyboard (http://davesmithinstruments.com/products/mek/index.php) would be it. Oooh, pretty lights. :D

http://www.unicyclist.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=561449&g2_serialNumber=1&g2_GALLERYSID=5180d8db80edced57017e46141257c16
OMG!!!

That's so hot!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

[Mikefule]

Well, Into the Blue goes down as the first poster ever to bring me to tears.:o

Harper: my wife had a Lego watch, and she was crazy. She was so crazy that she thought it was me who was the crazy one.:confused:

My most prized possession? Well, the thing I most hate to lose is my temper. I'm on an anger management "kick" at the moment and doing very well for about the last two months.

It was pleasing to see how many people nominated musical instruments. Of my physical possessions, my Marcus deluxe G/D 30 button anglo concertina came to mind first. http://www.marcusmusic.co.uk/concertinas.html

My one irreplaceable special personal possession is a glass tumbler, a souvenir of Cranworth County Primary School in Norfolk. I went there until the age of 7. Then my mother left her no-hoper partner and married a man I'd only met twice, and she sent me to live with my father over 100 miles away in Nottingham. (She waited until he arrived to take me for the Christmas holidays, and then told him not to bring me back.) I left school at the end of term saying "See you in the new year" to my school mates, and I never saw them again.

I was uprooted from an idyllic rural life living here: http://www.lettonhall.org/dolphincourt/dolphincourt.shtml
It wasn't called "Dolphin Court" then; it was called "Garage Flats, Letton Hall."

I moved to a rented terraced house on the outskirts of Nottingham. My father's new wife had her first child two weeks later, so you can imagine how welcome I was.:(

At the age of 18 or 19, I made a pilgrimage by bicycle, back to where I used to live. My old school was closing forever that year (I didn't know this until I arrived) and I helped at the last sports day ever. Etched glass tumblers had been made as souvenirs for the pupils and staff, and I bought one.

I still find myself heading "home" to Norfolk when I'm feeling low. Nearly 40 years later, and it still feels like unfinished business.

But the uplifting thing about all this is that I'm not bitter.:)

[Mikefule]

Well, Into the Blue goes down as the first poster ever to bring me to tears.:o

Even if I now infer from later posts that your account of events may not have been literally true in every respect, as such.

[dunawan]

My guitar...

EDIT: the guitar really does look prettier im person.


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[spazdude222]

My new (to me) laptop!

[Unibugg]

Stuff I'd try to get out of the house if the flood/fire/earthquake were imminent and I only had a few minutes to evacuate:

I absolutely couldn't think of any possession I prized more than my unicycle until I read this. In case of evacuation for a major hurricane (realistic for these parts) I would reach for 4 volumes of scrap books that have artwork my 2 sons made from their toddler to teen years. I'd reach for them before I reached for any possession at all.

Just the thought that they could be destroyed makes me choke up.
I'm going to a thread that can make me laugh.

[Naomi]

After some considerable thought I nearly gave up. I had been trying, as many others have done here, to think of a possession. And I was getting nowhere. Nothing seemed to be that much prized. Few would be missed that could not be easily replaced.

But finally I realised that memories are probably my most precious possessions. Memories of events in my life, of people , some still alive, others not. Memories of funny moments, of idiotic things I have done, achievements, some of my own, many of others I know, or knew.

Nao...(back on line after three weeks of being no where near a PC).

[bennet]

my drums, bike. but unicycle will always be #1

[maestro8]

But finally I realised that memories are probably my most precious possessions.
Good thing the doctors have developed an early-warning test for Alzheimer's disease!

[harper]

Harper: my wife had a Lego watch, and she was crazy. She was so crazy that she thought it was me who was the crazy one.

Your wife and I have three things in common.

[unisteve]

My computer.

When I look at my computer I think about all the time I've spent around computers, learning about them and spending time with my brothers and my dad.

When I was 3 my dad bought a brand new IBM 486 DX2 100 with 4MB of RAM. I think he spent over three thousand dollars on it. My dad taught himself how to use it and he became very proficient. He made batch files so that my brothers and I could type the name of a game and it would load automatically. For anyone we knew, he was always the go-to guy when it came to computers. Now that my dad has officially retired from his military career, he runs a small computer repairing and building business.

I learned from my dad and my brothers about the inner workings of computers and computer hardware. From a young age I could list out all the parts of a computer and tell you what they did. I knew which piece of hardware was the limiting factor for the speed of a computer (which is why it has always puzzled me when people think that adding RAM will make a computer faster in every way...)

I didn't become interested in overclocking computers until I had my own. My oldest brother bought a Duron 650 that he overclocked to 950--until he destroyed it. Dad and his dad always said that water and electronics don't mix. This same oldest brother acquired a Pentium Pro 200 with 256MB of RAM from I can't remember where, and eventually gave it to me.

Jon overclocked the Pentium Pro to 233MHz using the jumpers on the motherboard, but that's all it would do. Running Windows XP on such an ancient machine proved impractical, so steps had to be taken. I removed every extraneous, non-essential bit of anything I could find in hopes of making Windows faster. To some extent, it actually worked.

I became obsessed with performance and kept far away from bloated, inefficient programs (which is becoming much more difficult lately). I spent hundreds of hours reading computer hardware and overclocking forums to learn about hot rodding PCs.

In grade 8 I bought and built my own computer with my own money. Very soon after it was completed I constructed a water cooling system for it and ran an Athlon XP-M 2500+ at 2.7GHz. Since then none of my main rigs has not been water cooled.

In high school, I spent most of my spare time and money on my computer. I got a job and spent my first paycheck on a huge computer upgrade. Around the same time, I used to play Counter-Strike: Source with my older brother, David, for hours every day after school. I mastered the AK-47. I was a headshot machine. When Dave and I were together, we were unstoppable. I like to think we're still unstoppable now, but we don't get as much time to practice. :)

Computers have been the backdrop to most of my life, and I really enjoy the fond memories I have because of that. I've gotten a lot closer to my oldest brother, Jon, who I didn't know that well during my childhood, because of my overclocking and computer cooling escapades. I also have a lot of respect for my dad. He's definitely taught me a lot of what I know about computers, and he's always a good sounding board when I've got a crazy idea. After 15 years of living with a house full of geeks, even my mom's getting sucked into the vortex. :)

So isn't my computer per se, but the memories it evokes. I like what Naomi said, and I would venture that for a most of those who have posted, the story behind their most prized possession item is more precious than the item itself.

[Naomi]

Good thing the doctors have developed an early-warning test for Alzheimer's disease!



Er, who are you, do I know you?

Joking aside, would I actually notice a lost memory, would I miss it? Would it still be precious to me?
I am sure there are many things I have forgotten. Were any of them important?

Nao

[maestro8]

would I actually notice a lost memory, would I miss it? Would it still be precious to me? I am sure there are many things I have forgotten. Were any of them important?
I watched my grandfather become consumed by Alzheimer's disease, and shortly thereafter, Parkinson's as well. In the early stages where he was still mostly coherent, he would often become quite agitated that he could not remember the names of his family members, or where he lived, or other simple details. It was quite depressing to see.

Forgetting important things... that's quite a paradox. I know it happens to me quite a lot, unfortunately. I guess my mind is wired differently than others... I can't even remember my parents' birthdays unless they're tattooed on my forehead.

[monkeyman]

While we're on the subject of memories, I have a question I'd like to pose to the psychology-literate folks on here. I have a really strange face memory...it seems like the closer I am with someone/the more time i spend around them, the less likely I am to remember their face. I can remember almost vividly the face of a few people who came into the restaurant where I work tonight, but I have to strain to conjure up a memory of my own mother, or a good friend. I can still do it, but it seems like the other ones are more "alive", if that makes any sense. i can manipulate them more, whereas the faces of those close to me are more static images.

Any ideas?

[maestro8]

Any ideas?
I've read a few articles about Prosopagnosia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosopagnosia) in the past, but they generally suggest a brain injury is the source of the disorder.

I doubt you've got that disorder, but you might read the related material and see if anything clicks with you.

FWIW, I have a very hard time remembering dates but I have all my credit card numbers memorized. That's super strange...

[harper]

I have a very hard time remembering dates but I have all my credit card numbers memorized.

Your dates must find this very offensive...until you're ready to pay.

[hansc]

My guitar. Or, maybe I should say friend. Nothing specific, but we share many memories together.

Sorry, no camera. But it's the same model as this one:

http://hometown.aol.com/fraryguitar/Images/alhambra-5p-front.jpg

Alhambra 5p. Random fact: the piece I've been trying to learn for a while is "Recuerdos de la Alhambra' (Memories of the Alhambra).

[monkeyman]

Nah, I'm not anywhere near that bad. I can recognize faces just fine, it's just remembering vividly that's the problem. I'm strange.