Shipwrecked & Comatose

I never ceased to be amazed at how people attached to their phones as if the phone were a  limb or a vital organ. I was on jury duty this past summer. On my first day my phone was confiscated at security.  Once our juror cards were issued later that day, the court deputy retrieved all our phones.  It was only half a day with no phones and my fellow jurors were freaking out.  How could they spend a day detached from the outside world?  A week later I saw a new juror come through courthouse security on her first day.  The security guard tried to take her phone and she refused. It’s crazy.  Who does she think she is going to call in the courtroom?  The whole point of jury duty is to be kept away from the outside world.  She couldn't go a few hours without her phone?                                              ...

In today's world of minimalism and de-cluttering, the experts tell us our society is contributing to its own misery by having too many possessions.  Collecting tchotchkes, particularly ones that have no value or purpose, is considered tacky.  If one is going to collect something, it should be items that have some use, or are expected to have some monetary appreciation.   For example, my husband collects hand-carved duck decoys, a collection whose current value could probably be a down payment on a home.  He has an assortment of musical instruments, which as a musician, he plays and doesn't merely put on display.   Some people collect comic books or baseball cards.  Not only can these be put away to be sold at some future date when they become scarce, one can read the comic books, thus deriving some use from them.   Does anyone out there still collect items of questionable value as a hobby, for the mere pleasure of having them? The paragr...