On The Possibilities of Collections

Recently, JJ and I had a discussion about a particular action figure that I was thinking about getting (and still want to get) that she didn't (and still doesn't) want me to get because... well... just check the link and I think you will see exactly why I like it so much and exactly why she's so opposed to it.

I know that sometimes my favorite hobby drives her crazy, and I sympathize with her about that and do my best to keep it contained (at least until I can get my own office when we have a bigger house... then I'll let them expand in to another display case or so and keep them somewhere that she won't have to look at them).

And, of course, some of you may be sympathizing with her right now, thinking, "Oh, poor girl. I wouldn't want those nasty things in my house either. Raoul, you're so lucky to have a girl who even lets you own them in the first place! You'd better be treating her right!"

Believe me, I am well aware of how lucky I am to have an amazing woman like Jumping Jayhawk, who not only puts up with my collection, but went out of her way to buy me the very first (and my all-time favorite) figure in my current collection - Pickles the Sea Monster (whom comes with a severed head, mind you, and whom JJ insists is "adorable" and "If [I] ever get rid of him [she] will be super, super pissed!"). Not only that, but she doesn't really mind the aliens and the dragons and some of the monsters... she is just bugged by some of the gory stuff... specifically the Zombies. And, though I love zombies, I really can't blame her too much for being grossed out by them. I mean, hey, I love zombies, but I'm a guy, and guys like zombies (well, most of us, anyway). Again, take a look at the figure we were disputing over. I can definitely understand why she would have a problem with it.

However, I just wanted to make a very important point: It could be much, much, much worse than leaky old "Earl", there. It could even be more tasteless. Hell, it could even be way, way more expensive. In fact, there so many things out there that I could collect, but don't simply by virtue of personal taste.

Compared to other action figures collectors, I'm VERY picky about what I buy. I mean, VERY, VERY picky. There is a whole world of things out there that I could be in to, but have decided to stay the hell away from because... well... let me just show you...

For starters, I'm not in to collecting things like this Texas Chainsaw Massacre Boxed set. I don't mind certain kinds of gore, but stuff like that boxed set and other things like the Tortured Souls line just take it way, way too far, as the very act of torture is equalized with artwork. Well argued cases to support that tenuous point of view or not, I absolutely will not buy an action figure of someone being tortured. Period. I could go in to reasons why to back up my argument, but I don't think I have the time or the energy to delve in to it now... perhaps I will get in to it in a later post.

Moving on from violence to sex, I could be in to collecting tacky anime girl statuettes like this... and if I ever did get in to collecting them, someone please beat the hell out of me and leave my body in the middle of the desert so the vultures can pick my bones clean before all of my dignity is entirely destroyed. No, really... please.

The thing that pisses me off about those anime girl statues (besides the fact that they horribly objectify women, specifically underage young women) is the fact that they're super popular among action figure collectors. I just cannot understand why. Seriously. I really can't. I mean, there is no point to that awful thing apart from the obvious, right?

Now, just because I don't deviate in to collecting certain things doesn't mean I have no respect for that particular avenue. There are some directions in collecting that I think are fantastic and have really awesome products, but just aren't my cup of tea. For example, there's the genre of "high end" collectibles like these things, or massive busts like these things.

Please note the price tags and the sizes of the last two items. A LOT of collectors are moving towards these nowadays, but I just don't have the taste for them.

Here's why:

1.) I think a well done action figure looks better.
2.) a well done action figure is way, way, way less expensive.
3.) A well done action figure is much more FUN!!! :)

However, the high end collectible route is a very respectable way to go if that is your thing.

Next up, there's the world of collecting vintage toys.For example, look what one of the moderators at spawn.com recently picked up. That's right... I could be a vintage toy collector, filling my shelves with very old, VERY expensive Transformers, G.I. Joes, He-Man figures, and so on. But I don't. Why? Well... for starters, I don't think they look all that great. The primary reason I got back in to the hobby was because the sculpting on a lot of the newer figures was mind-blowing, and they were doing some really creative things. The older stuff just doesn't have that for me. Well, that, and it costs an arm and a leg. A classic Transformer, out of the box, costs around $80.00 nowadays.

On the other side of the coin, though, vintage toys have a very strong appeal to the inner child of a great many people, and there is something to be said about tracking down that long-lost childhood favorite toy. Some say "they don't make 'em like they used to" quite a bit when it comes to the newer G.I. Joe products, and I would have to agree with them there. But, still... it just isn't my thing.

Then there's the massive world of ROLE PLAYING GAMES!!! Dun dun DUNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!
Scroll down the thread to the pictures of the dioramas that people made for their gaming miniatures... then try to picture them completely filling a room in the house. There's just no good way to store those things. You can see, however, how much work they put in to each of those dioramas... but again, it just isn't my thing.

I could go on for a long, long time. I haven't even mentioned the Living Dead Dolls, Urban Vynil collectibles, Music Figures, Kubricks, Snap Kits, Headknockers, variant chasing, or the cult religion of Star Wars collectibles. Hell, I didn't even touch on comic book collecting (which I do in moderation by sticking to graphic novels).

Then, there is always the other direction I could go... not collecting anything at all, as JJ often suggests to me. Just think about it... a world where Raoul doesn't collect action figures.

*takes moment to picture it in his head*

I would have more room to put books on my shelves, I would have a little bit more cash (believe it or don't the hobby really isn't my most expensive passtime... that would be DVD's and CD's for five hundred, Trebeck!) and JJ would not have to deal with the little plastic monsters lurking in my appartment any more.

*shudder*

Yeek. I tried that for a few years. To be honest with you, even when I stopped collecting the first time around tenth grade and got rid of my original collection, I really missed it. I mean, REALLY missed it all the years that I didn't collect. Hell, I would wake up from dreams of running through toy stores my first few years in college. As I've said before, I am very thankful to have JJ, who would never force me to get rid of my collection.

Until then, I am sure we will continue to debate over what figures get included in that collection and which ones get excluded... and figures like Earl the zombie (seriously, I still want to get him) will continue to spark that debate. ;)

(By the way, I love you honey, and thanks for being a good sport about this.)

Prep Week

Before I begin this post, I am happy to announce that Jumping Jayhawk and I have set a date for our wedding...

... June 9th, 2007. :)

Now, we just need to keep the planning train rolling and get some of this stuff in order. Now we just have to iron some things out with the reception, and start getting things like flowers and the rehearsal dinner locked in. It's getting there.

Now, on to the update of... um... the rest of life! :)

This is what I call "Prep Week." This is the week when the department "wakes up" and sets about its work of getting things ready for the year ahead. I've moved in to my new office, bought my textbooks, printed out my schedule, and started locking down my student loan information.

I also turned in an application to become a Washington resident. That means I'll get in-state tuition and save the department some money, making them very happy.

*Edit*

I just got off the phone with the Graduate School. I am now officially considered a resident of the state of Washington, and am entitled to all the tuition benefits inherent to that status. :)

*End Edit*

In the meantime, I have a lot of reading, writing, and organizing to do this week.

I've begun writing my Masters Thesis. Yes. The real deal. Once I have an intro and a methods section down in stone, I can propose. It's all coming together now, and I'm very excited and scared out of my mind at the same time.

I never really felt fear in the form of a sinking dread-like feeling at the bottom of my stomach until I came to Graduate School. All of a sudden, it's up to me to demonstrate my learning and my academic skills in activities that I largely have to structure and execute rather than showing my know-how through prestructured hoops to jump through.

And it's kind of scary.

It really is.

But I think it's healthy to be afraid like this. It keeps my edge sharp, keeps my nose to the grindstone, and keeps me on my knees constantly praying for God's grace and wisdom to carry me through.

And man, have I ever been praying a lot recently. There's a TON to do, and just not enough time in the day to get it all done.

The real battle this year will be to keep myself from allowing all my work to rob me of my times of peace and rest. I am one of those people who cannot function unless I get major downtime to just sit, relax, and do nothing. Once I have that time once a day to just be a vegetable (usually this happens in the evenings), then my batteries are charged and I'm ready to go for another day. If I don't get that time? Well, I get cranky. And I don't get work done.

Imagine that... doing nothing helps me get work done. ;)

But anyway... JJ and I did a lot of work on her new duplex yesterday. We took down old curtain rods, patched holes in the walls, drilled new holes, put new rods up... all that fun stuff. The place is really coming together. Hopefully, the cat-piss smell will go away once she gets her new carpet in... and I won't suffocate every time I walk through the door.

We're going to be co-teaching Sunday school for the high school student group with the pastor's wife this year. We're looking forward to it, as neither of us have really worked with this age group before. Well, that and we're excited that the pastor's wife shares our vision for presenting the basics of the Gospel clearly and simply so the students really have a grasp of what it means to say "Jesus died on the cross to save sinners." Good stuff.

So... yeah. That's pretty much the low-down from the PNW. Lots of things are going to be changing around here this year: New focus in my research, new people in the department, old friends living closer, new friends yet to be made, a new place to live for JJ, and the fact that I'm getting married in less than a year.

Truly, change comes with the Autumn winds as more than the leaves begin to turn their colors. Lord, help us to be stalwart to face it.

Frail Words

This is one of those nights where my thoughts are so disturbing even to myself that I erase the whole post and start completely again. And believe me, this almost was a very long, long, needlessly disturbing post.

I often find great comfort, as my faithful readers may have gathered, in staring the beast of human nature straight in the eye. Perhaps when you've locked horns with it, it's easier to catch the surprises it throws at you. Perhaps not, and I am in for a great thrashing at its hands someday.

But that is not what bothers me tonight. What does bother me tonight is that sometimes the things I see in it are so disturbing that trying to articulate them leaves me with a horribly dark and despairing post that runs the length of about five pages with no clear lesson or point or resolution in sight other than what I have already made very clear and have arrived at by countless other paths already - that people are monsters.

Sometimes I can see the faded image of God stamped on that monster, and for a moment the beast is beautiful in spite of itself. Other times, like tonight, I have a difficult time in seeing any value in mankind at all, and the eyes I stare at are crowded with gnashing teeth and bloodied hands.

I have seen a great deal of evil this week, in the actions of others and in my own heart, and I am troubled by it. Part of me keeps thinking that I should be above it, but I am not. Though I labor to be a salt and a light in this world, I clumsily spill the shaker and choke the flame at every turn, the hot wax burning my hands.

I am trying my hardest to get out of the way of the Gospel, but sometimes it is difficult, as I trip over my own feet in trying to move. All I desire is to give a glimpse of the Eternal "I AM" that inspires me to live, a taste of the All-Powerful Almighty who gives a boundless Life that death cannot even lay claim to, of the unfathomable Grace that calls the most depraved and despicable and despised in all the world its loved ones and servants and friends.

In staring into the eyes of the beast, I find myself staring into my own blackened heart, and all too often become entranced with fascination. I, the morbid narcissist that I am, allow my own faults and preoccupation with my own evil (and my wicked delight in it) to blind me and distract me from my own purpose sometimes, and to you, my reader, I apologize for that.

But what troubles me more are the times when I can pry my gaze away long enough to try and say what I want to, and find that I know not how to say it at all.

How on earth can a man precisely capture the depths of darkness in the human soul and clearly illustrate with these limited words that reflect even more limited perceptions the Unparalleled Glory of God's Love in Jesus Christ calling, catching, and cradling that black, damned soul, setting it aright, and breathing Life Anew upon it?

In frustration, my frail words collapse.

"LORD, I cannot. You must."