Collector or Packrat?

I love wearing things I have not donned since last year in whatever the new season happens to be (in Wisconsin, it's winter or NOT winter: 9 months of winter and 3 months of bad sledding). Sometimes, it's spare change, but lately, it seems to be those portable dental floss things I find in every pocket...seriously, dental health is important! It is always interesting, however, to go back through things I've kept,whether because they were seasonal or because I just couldn't get rid of them and discover "new" things. Whether it's a book or a pair of shoes or a concert T-shirt (today it was from the lates tour by The Police...at Wrigley Field) or a CD that I've "misplaced" in my wife's care, it's entertaining. (yes, I have a distorted view of "fun," but I'm older and must be allowed such foibles). Anyway, this weekend, it was music discovery weekend...mostly because of my technoidiocy (new word, like "ridunkulous").
As I was attempting to clear my computer in the false hope that I was getting a new one, I mysteriously rid my hard drive of a way to open my iTunes selections. The tunes themselves were safely stored in a portable drive, but I could not get them to open up successfully when the new computer idea got trashed and I was forced to reload files. I must have unwittingly deleted something that I needed, and I could not for the life of me get them back. My genius son tried his best to help me on the phone several times, but none of his suggestions worked. Like a true professional troubleshooter (that gets $75/hr.) he said, "Well, I'd really have to take a look at it." And he said it in that tone of voice that meant he'd be looking for a nursing home for me soon,anyway. OK, so I fooled around with it some more and finally discovered a way that I could get the music to open up...if I reloaded the song titles ONE BY ONE! Mind you, that's a time-consuming task when one has more than 10,000 tracks to copy; at 1:30 per album,...well, you do the math...and, no, I couldn't get the whole file to load at once. After a solid weekend of downloading titles, I have about half of my collection back into the iTunes folder. Why the rush? Big garage sale coming up in two weeks, and I want to see if I can get rid of some of this stuff...meanwhile...
I have rediscovered some music I have not heard in quite a while, and it was quite enjoyable listening to approximately 2 seconds of 5,004 tracks. While doing so, I've also formulated a preliminary list of favorites which, like discovering money in a pants pocket, gave me some pleasant moments.

1. Favorite album in my collection...well, there are three...I can't decide: "Rubber Soul" by The Beatles, "My Aim Is True" by Elvis Costello, and the self-titled first album by Marshall Crenshaw.

2. Favorite reggae artist: Phyllis Dillon

3. Favorite punk album: two again..."Ramones Mania" by The Ramones and "Drunken Lullabies" by Flogging Molly.

4. Favorite Neo-Swing band: Big Bad Voodoo Daddy

5. Favorite "Greatest Hits" album: John Mellencamp "The Best That I Could Do."

6. Favoite box set: "Beaches, Bars, Boats and Ballads" by Jimmy Buffett.

7. Favorite 50s artist: Buddy Holly, no contest.

8. Favorite 60s artist: too close to call, but giving the nod to Gary Lewis and the Playboys.

9. Favorite 70s artist: Tie between Elvis Costello and Jackson Browne

10. Most recent album favorite: "Don't Tell Columbus" by Graham Parker...runner-up Green Day's "American Idiot."

While I realize the term "album" dates me somewhat, tough crap. I'm older...you have to make allowances for me...and I can do and say what I want with impunity.
Life is great at 58!