I feel a strong, inexplicable urge to procure and align items or images that share some defining attribute. I’m first drawn to an item based on its individual merit. When I run across a variation of the first item, I feel an intense pressure to put it with the original. This has snowballed, leaving me with a lot of stuff to deal with.

There isn’t a rational reason behind this, but I can point to patterns in what I find appealing. I’m drawn to replicas of relatively obscure mammals, such as spiny echidnas and anteaters, and common but unappealing lower forms, such as crustaceans, reptiles, and insects. I’m drawn to rocks and shells in particular colors or textures. I’m also intrigued by plastic replicas of foods, and awards for less-than-exemplary accomplishments. I have an abiding fascination with random cultural absurdities, most notably newspaper head shots of people whose names happen to be verbs or nouns in common usage. Other cultural artifacts I find absurd include items created to look like a particular device when, in fact, they are another, such as clocks shaped like televisions. More obscure groupings might consist of a common shape (a clothes pin and the Eiffel Tower, for example) or a common pattern, such as spots both on a golf ball and an oak gall. On the other hand, things that would be considered “cute” hold no appeal for me.

Needless to say, this area of the website will be growing constantly.