Ok, folks, time to get deep. Or not, as the case 
may be. 

I've been sitting around and thinking (which is 
of course always dangerous) about the nature 
of collecting. You know, why people collect 
(anything, not just cels), where the point is 
when it becomes unhealthy, and so on. Some 
of these issues have been discussed on this 
forum. But my question is a little more 
specific. Have any of you had to explain your 
motivations in cel collecting to someone with 
no interest in anime or cels? If so, how did you 
go about it? Is it possible to explain to 
someone why you collect, and how do you 
show the difference between a passion and 
an obsession? (If you think there is one.)

As I'm sure you've guessed, I have 
encountered this issue and have been at 
something of a loss. Is it possible to justify cel 
collecting as a passion the same way that one 
could justify, say, purchasing art (I'm not 
talking Degas here, just ordinary art)? 

Well, okay, this is actually many questions. But 
I'm really curious if anyone has had a dinner 
party or something and had to explain the stuff 
on their walls and why they are willing to 
spend significant amounts of money for it. Or 
also for the younger forum-goers, how they've 
dealt with cel purchases and their parents. 

Ayaka