About a year ago, my watch tastes shifted from the oversized garish to the functional toolish divers, a very good move. My collection went from 55 to 14 by the summer of 2013 and I was very happy with my streamlining. But then like an alcoholic, I craved the attention-seeking phony fashion watches a month or so ago, only to be quickly full of displeasure for this "bump in the road," compelling me to put many of these fashion watches on the selling chopping block.
If the watches I have for sale move on to happy customers, my collection will be thus:
Nine fashion watches (which shall remain unnamed)
Three Seikos
Two Citizen Eco-Drive Divers
Two Orient M-Forces
One Deep Blue
One Molarity (a big watch, a sort of Nicorette to get off the nicotine of cheap fasion watches)
That's 18 watches in total, not bad. I could see myself selling a few more fashion watches, which I'll keep in a red watch box, hidden under a cloth on top of my book shelf, unseen, like those curtained rooms within the video stores for discreet shopping. My little shameful chamber.
I still want another Orient M-Force or two, a Boschett Harpoon, and perhaps a Deep Blue Juggernaut or two. These acquisitions, I'm sure, will compell me to sell more of my fashion watches.
With my legit watches getting all the rotation, I'm sure it will be easy to "die" to my fasion collection and eventually sell them all off.
No looking back, as Ulysses has said on this blog.
Ulysses's (not sure if that should be Ulysses' or Ulysses's but I should take your lead since you teach English) not only didn't ruffle me----but his contributions are always great. In fact, the only comment he made that ruffled me was the last one about outstaying his welcome. My sarcasm about the street festival was an attempt at humor, not belittling. As for the music variety analogy---my alltime favorite music is P.Funk (George Clinton, Parliament, Funkadelic). But I can easily transition to Glen Campbell or Rick Ross. My eight year old, for some inexplicable reason, caught onto Steve Miller, who I was never a fan of. But I bought a Steve Miller Band Greatest Hits album for my kid and I to listen to on trips to our weekend place, and it's great. And I'll add----this discussion gave me the idea to use smashed Captain Crunch crumbs as a coating on salmon---perhaps dipping the salmon in beaten eggs first----then coating with the Captain Crunch and baking.
Posted by: Angelo | September 07, 2013 at 04:21 PM
I had a feeling Angelo was joking. So it's official: Everyone wants to hear Ulysses' continued comments.
About 2 years ago, a reader was combative (he didn't mean to be; he was that way with everyone) and another reader, taking it as personal insult, left this blog and was never to return. It was very sad as the latter reader made a lot of great contributions.
Posted by: herculodge | September 07, 2013 at 04:39 PM
Ulysses, I really enjoy your comments here and even have learned some things about watches from you, so I for one would be disappointed if you stopped contributing. No feathers ruffled here, beyond a brief gust of breeze.
I also didn't take offense to what Angelo said - I thought it was kind of funny, actually. I can only speak for myself, but I do have a sense of humor about my sometimes neurotic watch obsession - and I think its safe to say that Jeff does as well.
Posted by: jonnybardo | September 07, 2013 at 04:53 PM
Ahh, I missed this second page. Angelo, I'm a big fan of funk, especially jazz funk. I actually did a bit of amateur funk DJing back in the 90s - at parties and such, only once or twice for money.
Posted by: jonnybardo | September 07, 2013 at 05:09 PM
Jonny: Interesting story (at least to me): I went into a little, privately owned record store in Shavertown, Pennsylvania---around 1979---to ask for an album by "Instant Funk," that I had read about in a magazine. At the time, I was in 9th or 10th grade. The old lady who owned the shop, said she didn't know who Instant Funk was----and thought I might mean "Funkadelic." So I bought "Funkadelic's Greatest Hits" which was on sale. Got home and played it----and it literally changed my life. That sounds crazy----but it changed my image---it eventually led to making some new friends in college, years later. It also got me into record collecting----and there were so many offshoots of Funkadelic (Parliament, Bootsy's Rubber Band, Parlet, Brides of Funkenstein, P. Funk All-Stars, George Clinton solo---and many, many more), I went on a mission to get as many as I could. Long story short----there WAS an Instant Funk too, that this woman apparently wasn't aware of. I bought a couple of their records too, and they sort of had a jazz/funk/disco sound, which has actually aged well, unlike other similar music of the late 1970s.
Posted by: Angelo | September 08, 2013 at 06:37 AM
Nice story. My "funk odyssey" occurred in a slightly different way. In high school I was into "emo" alternative, but then in my senior year I became obsessed with King Crimson, which opened up a whole world of music. KC led to other fusion - Mahavishnu Orchestra, Miles Davis' 70s outfits, etc - but then I discovered Herbie Hancock & the Headhunters, which was the "gateway drug" to the world of funk for me. I've always enjoyed jazz-funk, but I also got into P-Funk--especially Funkadelic as I preferred the tighter band to the full orchestra--as well as James Brown (of course), and a bunch of others, including acid jazz from the 90s (I love Jamiroquai).
My favorite P-Funk albums are probably Funkadelic and Let's Take It To The Stage.
Posted by: jonnybardo | September 08, 2013 at 09:07 AM
"Let's Take It To The Stage" is a classic. I always liked "Standing On The Verge Of Getting It On" a lot too. I do like Jamiroquai---very good stuff. And one of my good friends from high school----is now a professional musician (keyboardist) and I think Herbie Hancock's "Headhunters" blew his mind open back in the 70s and put him on this path to doing this professionally.
Posted by: Angelo | September 08, 2013 at 09:51 AM