> think about all the times you've sacrificed
> food, rent, sleep, or sold other things just to 
> maintain a hobby.

I'll admit I've woken up at weird times (or 
stayed up late) in the name of winning an auction 
or catching an update. However, that's rare for 
me to do. Usually I'm asleep or awake at weird 
times simply thanks to my job's weird hours. I 
can say that cels have never come before food or 
rent/mortgage. I've never sold anything to "keep 
up with the hobby". (I do sell things, but only 
what I would have sold anyway.) You may be big on 
traveling, but the only place I really want to go 
is Egypt and it's not cels keeping me from 
getting on a plane to the middle east. ~_~

My thoughts on this are that if cel collecting 
for you was nothing more than trying to "stay 
ahead of the competition" -- as some kind of 
status symbol -- then you were collecting for the 
wrong reasons from the BEGINNING.

Here are my thoughts on the people who leave cel 
collecting. . . People should do whatever amuses 
them. If they're no longer amused by collecting 
cels, then it makes sense for them to do something
else in the name of amusement!! Whatever it may 
be, I think it's great when people are doing 
things they enjoy. If they change their mind 
about what they enjoy, that's fine too. But for 
some reason, many people who leave cel collecting 
seem to feel the need to suddenly declare how 
much more "mature" they've become, and that us 
why they're not collecting anymore. Suddenly, 
it's not a hobby for "mature" people.

That is both garbage and insulting.

Believe me -- there ARE plenty of immature people 
who collect cels. I know plenty of people in this 
hobby who DO blow the rent, spend themselves to 
nothing, let themselves be driven by nothing more 
than the need to outdo the next person. . . These 
are the people who REALLY need to rethink what is 
no longer a hobby for them. But there are also 
LOTS of people who are plenty mature, who simply 
are amused by spending spare cash on colorful 
pieces of plastic. People who collect images they 
like without doing it only to be able to "outdo 
the next person" and who DON'T overspend what 
they can afford in the name of fun.

When people leave cel collecting in a snotty way 
by declaring their newfound "maturity" and 
looking down their nose at all other cel 
collectors, all it does is underline how IMMATURE 
they are. . . They can't recognize that, even 
though they're no longer interested in cels, cel 
collecting remains a legitamate hobby.

Many Sharp Smiles,
--Drac