Laowai

Brian has this funny collector streak running through his veins. Let me illustrate:

There’s the record of how many miles he rides on his bike. I think he started this in October of 2003. He put 11,700 miles on his old bike and he’s up to 1,900 miles on his new bike (purchased this spring). He keeps this little pile of papers taped to the inside of one of our kitchen cupboards.

Then just to make his biking hobby more interesting he marks his progress on a map. He already went across the US a couple times and now he is going all around the edge of europe. He uses the little ruler and a black Sharpie to mark out his miles according to the scale on the atlas. He often goes 50 to 70 miles in one day so he has been moving around europe at a pretty good clip.

Then there is the Opera related stuff. He keeps all the tickets to all the operas he/we have been to. The first one is Aida at the Detroit Opera House in 1997. There are some really memorable things in there for Brian. Lots of favorite singers and some neat places like the State Opera in Vienna and a performance in Brussels.

Next collection – wine stuff. Whenever he opens a bottle of wine Brian takes the label off and puts it in a book. I personalized the covers for him – he’s on his third book. If we shared the bottle of wine with friends or we celebrated a special event like a promotion or anniversary he’ll make a note. It’s fun to look through the book and remember special meals together. Also, I like to look through the book to get design inspiration from the wine labels.

He can’t just throw the cork away – here’s part of the big pile of corks that we have. Right now they sit in this big vase on our bookshelf. I need to think of something to do with them that’s not too cheesy.

Last but not least. Brian has a huge CD collection. Someday when we move Brian will have his own special place to keep his CDs and listen to his music.