I know I have been promising this for awhile, but I will try my best to get back into my usual weekly review posts! Since classes ended last week (I got all A's this semester I'm so excited!) I thought I would have a bit more time, but instead I'm just working more at my job.

On top of that, a lot of things are coming up as far as spring/summer events that I am trying to go to, currently most of it has been sort of "traditional" things I do with my family. I feel I have kind of been neglecting spending time with family lately so when my mom or anyone else asks me to spend time with them I really feel compelled to do so, the only problem with that is it's usually my day off and we spend almost the entire day together!! But I really do have a lot of fun.

However, at the same time I have a lot of work to do around my apartment cleaning up, organizing, and so on to get ready for my friend coming to visit. I have hardly started with that so I have a lot of work ahead of me. I also need to really update my last of places I'd love to go while they are here. It's exciting for me because I will get to go to places I've always wanted to see, but didn't want to go by myself!

I suppose this post is mostly a way for me to say that I really have not forgotten about my blog! I try to check my Tumblr one every day but that is mostly because I really enjoy some of the posts I see there and there's a lot more activity going on, but besides the occasional re-blog and/or comment I'm not creating any new/original content there so you're not missing out on anything!

In any case, tomorrow I have a full day off and I'm hoping I will stop being lazy while I'm home enough to get the Friday post ready for this week and do some cleaning. I have a few posts I started editing/setting up awhile back but it really does take a lot of time to find photos and information about various items, especially when I run into things I know very little about.

I hope people will stick around a bit! As I'm cleaning/organizing I'm hoping to do some more "documentation" of my collection, so hopefully I will have some more collection updates soon.

Weekly Review- Collecting

Sorry, I don't have a item review this week, rather, I wanted to share a bit of my story on how I started collecting and what collecting means to me. I tried to make it as short as possible but it's still rather long so please bear with me. 

I have been collecting Sailor Moon items for over 10 years.
I started watching Sailor Moon in Middle School and started collecting by High School. Back then I only got $15 a week in allowance for working hard on a farm and doing chores around the house. I was in a few clubs at school so I didn't work a "regular" job outside of school.

At first I bought the manga and DVDs, and anything cheap I could get my hands on! I would sometimes beg my dad to let me use his eBay account. The star locket I own now is the same one I bought in high school, I saved up for weeks and finally dropped $50 to buy it on eBay, and I thought that was expensive!

It has taken a lot of searching, saving, and yes, maybe even some luck to get my collection to where it is today. I am by no means rich. I am a full time student who works part time, and I now live on my own paying rent, bills, etc myself. It's harder to save up for buying items for my collection now, but it is not impossible.

Maybe I'm just fortunate that I'm a very frugal person, I've always been a saver. I saved up twice to pay my own way to go to Germany, it might have taken me two years(+) each time, but I did it.

Maybe some people think "you must have credit card debt". Well, you're wrong. I don't even own a credit card and never plan to, the only debt I have now is student loans. Some say that it's stupid to spend so much on "toys" look around you, chances are you have a collection, too. Be it books, coins, shoes, purses, clothes, etc... I do a lot of things to save up for what I have. I save money where I can, and it's my money to spend how I want.

Ask yourself: Why do you buy things? Why do you keep them?
Because they most likely make you happy in some way (or you really need it).

So, my collection is not “big” because I am rich, and by sharing it, I am not trying to rub it in anyone’s face... I’m trying to say “I’ve worked hard on this and I’m proud of it, so I want to share it with you” and I hope that you will enjoy seeing it, too.

Of course I get a little jealous of items in other people’s collections, but I’m jealous in a way that I think “wow, their collection is neat, I hope people think the same of mine”. I look to anyone who has a collection for advice, I’ve seen very small, focused collections have an item I never knew existed, and asked them to tell me about it.

A collector is not defined by the size of their collection, I don’t think there are good or bad collectors, you’re all sharing the same love for something, be it Sailor Moon, or whatever. It takes a lot of love, time, and devotion to be a collector. Big or small, your collection is something for you, and that’s what matters most.

Picture of the Day

I found this image of a Bonsai tree by Timothy K Hamilton to be very inspiring.  I feel that the image displays a lot of power coming from a very small object. As individuals we can often feel alone, like a small and perhaps insignificant part of the world. However, as individuals we can hold a lot of power in ourselves, and also in numbers. As individuals we have things that we love, this love for various items brings us together and creates a common bond. When we all come together the power of many is stronger than the power of one, we uplift and support each other just as the base of the tree supports everything above it.

I believe tree represents the fan community as a whole, with the single base representing a love for a common theme, in our case that would be Sailor Moon. The first stronger branches are various forms of how we show love as a fan, one of which being collecting. From this branch we progress to smaller branches or “twigs”, these are collections that are more focused, more concise. Finally we reach the leaves of the tree, the individuals who host these collections, there are many of them. They may seem like a small, insignificant part by themselves, but they are part of a much larger group of belonging. The leaves are what bring the most life to the tree, they bask in the warmth of the sun, and they collect the light and contribute to the tree as a whole. After all, what is a fandom without its fans?