Sentimental Belongings

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

Or 'how I almost lost a decade of memories'

While on a job last month I accidentally dropped my iPod Touch gifted to me in 2010 in the snow. Someone thoughtfully retrieved it and when I got it from them, I bought them a triple scotch at the bar. 10 years of music, some of which was given to me from my Dad's collection, had gone missing. Until it was returned, it felt like a roommate in my life had just vanished with all their stuff.

Its not as if it would be expensive to replace with a more modern mp3 player for my car and its not insurmountable to find all my music again piece by piece but the way I have things now is how I like it. I've become set in my ways.

So as I'm backing up all the music today as is prudent (and I've been too lazy to), do you have any devices or objects that if it just vanished one day would cause you great distress?

 

[Marter]

This site. <3

 

[Silvanus]

I'm sad I don't know what became of my vast Pokemon card collection. I think I might have sold it at a car-boot sale, in that period when Pokemon had stopped being cool but before it became cool again.

 

[Xprimentyl]

Here in the US, people need to have the mass produce detritus of popular music readily available everywhere, so back in the mid-to-late ?90s, there wasn?t much space for my beloved Electronic music on store shelves save for niche campus record stores, and even their offerings tended to be slim, so I found myself spending inordinate amounts of time and thousands of dollars buying CDs online, often from overseas (mind you, this was well before easy access online let alone streaming services.) Over the years, I amassed a collection of over 300 CDs which I kept in a huge binder and toted with me everywhere, i.e.: home, my car, my desk at work, basically anywhere I could listen. One day, I returned to the offsite parking lot where I parked my car during my day classes at school to find my rear window busted out and my CD binder fucking gone. The blind outrage I felt aside, it hurt even worse to know with 99% certainty that 1.) as they were without cases, they couldn?t be sold, and 2.) whatever fuckwit asshole cocksucker stole them to sell them probably wouldn?t even APPRECIATE them if he was stuck with them; my years of collecting, my money, my passion and so much great fucking music likely ended up chucked in a ditch somewhere where to be forgotten. I cried for the first time in my adult life that day. I kept all the empty cases. Man, I?m STILL angry?

 

[tippy2k2]

Not really

I'm just not a sentimental person. There's really nothing I have that would devestate me if it was lost.

The closest thing would probably be my "Hole in One" golf ball as that isn't replaceable but even then, I wouldn't like...rush into a burning building to save it.

 

[twistedmic]

I still have the teddy bear I got when I was around two, and a small stuffed rabbit a preacher gave me when I was young (under five) that would upset me if I lost them but that's about it.

 

[JoJo]

Over time, I've developed a tradition of keeping the best of my Pokemon on a single game, my "centre of everything". Each generation this moves to the latest game, and my Pokemon, including competitive teams, legendaries and event 'mon, all come along for the ride too. It's convenient, but if the single game card hosting all those Pokemon was ever lost or destroyed then the fruit of countless hours of game time would be lost forever. Doesn't bear thinking about >.>

 

[Gordon_4_v1legacy]

Over time, I've developed a tradition of keeping the best of my Pokemon on a single game, my "centre of everything". Each generation this moves to the latest game, and my Pokemon, including competitive teams, legendaries and event 'mon, all come along for the ride too. It's convenient, but if the single game card hosting all those Pokemon was ever lost or destroyed then the fruit of countless hours of game time would be lost forever. Doesn't bear thinking about >.>

Invest in Pokemon Bank.


For me, its my collection of Transformers, and the only stuffed toy I truly wanted: a blue shark whom I named Thomas.

 

[JoJo]

Over time, I've developed a tradition of keeping the best of my Pokemon on a single game, my "centre of everything". Each generation this moves to the latest game, and my Pokemon, including competitive teams, legendaries and event 'mon, all come along for the ride too. It's convenient, but if the single game card hosting all those Pokemon was ever lost or destroyed then the fruit of countless hours of game time would be lost forever. Doesn't bear thinking about >.>

Invest in Pokemon Bank.


For me, its my collection of Transformers, and the only stuffed toy I truly wanted: a blue shark whom I named Thomas.

Yeah, I have Bank but only have spares on it for... reasons I'm not sure about. I would say accessibility, but I haven't really picked up the 3DS games in the past year or so anyway. Maybe my collection should live in the cloud.

 

[ObsidianJones_v1legacy]

Much like Redlin, my media is very important to me. Our time collecting it is probably comparable. I remember when my last PC died on me. There was nothing I can do. I had so many files and stories that meant so much to me. By the time I've learned about external hard drives, it was too late. I couldn't turn my PC back on again.

Now, I have 3 back up hard drives. I keep them all current. I'm a strong believer in Military Counting. Two is One and One is None.

While I'd hate to lose my media (HATE). But if we're going to get really sentimental, we should talk about what's on me daily.

The year is 2003. The month is August. It's a Thursday. Some of my friends are up to no good, But I'm chilling at home with nothing really important to do.

Then the lights went out. "No biggie, brownouts happen" I kept telling myself. But anyone who was in the tristate area during 9/11 looked at every disturbance as a possible new attack. It's been hours, but the power didn't return. My mother gets worried, and sends me to pick up my grandmother (who was starting to present with Dementia) from the Bronx.

From there, I had to figure out a way into her building, remind my grandmother who I was (which was super scary in hindsight because anyone could have just told her that they were their grandchild and robbed her), and then lead her down 3 flights of stairs in the dark.

I swore to myself never again. The Northeastern Blackout of 2003 [https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/2003-blackout-five-years-later/] was the first time I really, truly grasped that everything we take for granted depends on a really frail infrastructure that can go out without a care to how it affects you.

From there, I made sure I always had a flashlight on me. I went through several iterations until I found the one that's been with me the longest.

Spoiler: My Sidewinder

In honesty, I use the flashlight a lot more than I ever thought I would. Dropping things, searching for things in between the seats in my cars, actual lowlight areas. There was a blackout due to windstorms here in Rochester just last week, but I already had enough stuff that it didn't stop me other than my modem being out.

I built on my edc kit over the years. I got a leatherman charge that I use almost every day. I have a battery charger for my phone for one full charge because I have an offline map function. That's helped me a few major times in the past. I have a form of weapon that I'm trained in that I thankfully never had to use. And more over, I have an emergency money belt.

Out of anything, I would stress people here look into something like that. For those who wear bras, I know they make a bra wallet. Just a few days ago, I had to cancel my card because I found out that it's been hacked. But I was on E with no way to get back home. I freaked for a split second before remembering my money belt. I filled up on gas, got some food to last for a few days, and had money to spare.

So, to sum up I'd have to say my Sentimental Belongings are my kit. I firmly believe my safety is my responsibility only. I can't look towards people to take care of me because we know they already have their own lives to take care of. But my kit has seen me through small incidents and dire ones. It helps me be self-sufficient. And you can't put a price on that.

 

[Chewster]

I have a box that my first girlfriend in high school made me. Though we've long since broken up and gone our seperate ways, I've kept it over the years as a reminder of my first love and I've filled it with small mementos from other loves I've had.

I imagine that if I lost that, I'd be rather upset. I am, if nothing else, a sentimental bastard and I often have trouble throwing things away as a result.

 

[Trunkage]

I have just about every card from Revised to Time Spiral sitting in so many folders. Also ICEs Lord of the Rings CCG, including the balrog set. A few thousand dollars worth I could never get rid of

 

[CrazyGirl17]

My beloved teddy bear, the one my grandparents gave me for my first birthday. I even named it Fuzzy after the old children?s rhyme. You know, ?Fuzzy wuzzy was a bear...? Anyone remember that one? Just me?

 

[Thaluikhain]

My beloved teddy bear, the one my grandparents gave me for my first birthday. I even named it Fuzzy after the old children?s rhyme. You know, ?Fuzzy wuzzy was a bear...? Anyone remember that one? Just me?

Fuzzy wuzzy had no hair...that one?

 

[Aerosteam]

If all my Chrome bookmarks disappeared I think I'd quit technology and live in the outskirts as a hermit, because at that point my life is pretty much over.

 

[Tanis]

I still have my original copy of Chrono Cross, on PS1, it was my first 'impulse by' and the first NEW video game I ever bought with MY money.

That the game turned into one of my favorite ever...doesn't hurt.

 

[Elfgore]

Over time, I've developed a tradition of keeping the best of my Pokemon on a single game, my "centre of everything". Each generation this moves to the latest game, and my Pokemon, including competitive teams, legendaries and event 'mon, all come along for the ride too. It's convenient, but if the single game card hosting all those Pokemon was ever lost or destroyed then the fruit of countless hours of game time would be lost forever. Doesn't bear thinking about >.>

Invest in Pokemon Bank.


For me, its my collection of Transformers, and the only stuffed toy I truly wanted: a blue shark whom I named Thomas.

Yeah, I have Bank but only have spares on it for... reasons I'm not sure about. I would say accessibility, but I haven't really picked up the 3DS games in the past year or so anyway. Maybe my collection should live in the cloud.

Just a warning, JoJo. The bank has a reputation for deleting Pokemon when your subscription is up. There seems to be a grace period, but nobody seems to have any idea how long it is and it seems to vary. I'm pretty sure I've had Pokemon deleted only a few months after my subscription ran out.

Figured you might want to know, as I'm pretty sentimental to the Pokemon I've been gathering from Platinum as well.

 

[Baffle]

A sledgehammer I inherited from my dad. I actually broke the shaft a few years ago and felt terrible, but I can't decide whether it would be the same hammer if I replaced the shaft, so it's just taped up and unusable. I think I'd prefer to keep it that way and buy a new hammer if I need one again.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

 

[Lil devils x_v1legacy]

I am a pretty sentimental person, so most of what I actually keep is for sentimental reasons, other than that I usually give my non sentimental stuff away. I have My Dad's Drag Racing world record certificate, his last pair of shoes he wore before he passed because I would bring them to him every day to be able to take him home because he asked me to, and his video games and consoles collection he left me after he passed away. I also have some jewelry items from my grandmothers and great grandmothers, and I have this unique plate that belonged to my great grandfather that he ate every meal on. I have boxes of photos and cards and letters that have been written to me.The box of family heirlooms and the boxes of photos and letters are the first things I grabbed when my apartment building was on fire years ago after safely getting my cats into the car, so those I think are what mean most to me. Although I dreaded the thought of losing everything else in my apartment at the time, I went back into a smoke filled apartment where you could not see your own hand in front of your face due to the black smoke with flames shooting out where the ceiling and the wall meet to get the heirlooms and pictures, so yea pretty much risked my life to get those out and was put on oxygen by paramedics afterwards. Then sat in my neighbors boat that was parked across from my apartment and watched a waterfall pouring out of the apartment directly above mine into mine and couldn't help but laugh at how awful it all was, but was okay because at least I was able to get those out.

Of course now I would have to grab the stuff my dad left me too in case of fire, but at least now I have a gas mask that would help me last a little longer to do so. Yes, I know it is not safe to go after such things in a fire, that is why I now keep the most important things in a fire safe or have them easy to grab in case of emergencies. After having survived numerous catastrophes though, you tend to think about these things in advance and have plans in place. Between the flood, fires, tornadoes, and balcony collapse you start to be prepared for just about anything.

I am not sure what to do with my Dad's last pair of shoes he wore really. I don't want to get rid of them but have no idea what I could actually do with them. I can't imagine that any of my brothers or sisters are going to have kids who want them some day to hand them down to, as they only hold sentimental value, and I hate the whole " bronzing shoes thing" so would have to come up with a better artistic idea of what to do with them. They are men's dress shoes, so any ideas that are not bronzing them would be appreciated.