My Collection

Everyone collects something. Some people collect shot glasses. Others collect stamps. Some even collect sexual partners. My friend Ashley collects picture frames from cities she's visited. My ex-boyfriend collects wine corks. I collect ties. It wasn't a conscious decision on my part to start a tie collection. It's just something that sort of happened. My first tie that I will consider my own (I don't count clip on ties I wore when I was a child) was my grandfather's. My mom decided to give one of his ties to me after he died. I have no idea why and I didn't wear it for about three years. I really wasn't interested in wearing ties when I was in high school. I first purchased a tie when I was a freshman in college. I joined a fraternity and would be required to wear a tie at our Chapter meetings. I grew very accustomed to dressing up in business attire one night a week, and a tie was my way of putting my own individuality into my ensemble. Over the three years I was a member of the fraternity, formal chapter meetings became less frequent, and thus my opportunity to wear a tie diminishing. I mean, who wants to wear a tie to class?

Of course, bar hopping and clubbing presented new occasions to deck myself out. Like any self-respecting man, I always want to dress to impress. And I do love to stand out in a crowd. Believe me, wearing a tie out in Columbia, SC definitely helps a person stand out. I began develop a slight obsession for my ties. I can't walk into a mall (hell, I can't walk into a Target) without checking out the tie selections. I love every tie I own, some more than others admittedly, and each one has a story of its own. So while some people collect stamps or koozies, I collect ties. I'm up to 43 so far. That number should be 44, but sadly I lost one of my favorite Geoffrey Beene tie somewhere between Harrah's and McDonald's in Lake Tahoe. That was a sad night.

I'm very proud of my tie collection, yet, despite the title of this blog, I'm not going to blog about ties. This blog is intended to be a new collection for myself: a collection of my thoughts. It doesn't have a theme exactly. If there is something I wish to share with the world, I'll put in here. I'm hoping that it will be cathartic for me and interesting for you as well. And if it's not interesting...Hey, no one is making you read it. Until next time.