Calling all non-stamp collectors

[SourRoses]

I hope you have fun with your discussion, and I hope you can keep it going for a while so it might make you feel better about other people talking about what they believe in other topics.

 

[AquaEyes]

Let's take another direction -- let's introduce ourselves in order to show that non-stamp collectors are a varied bunch leading varied lives. I'll start.


I'm 35 now, from Long Island in NY but now in Buffalo, and a returning student. I started out as an Animal Science major at Cornell University fresh out of high school, intending to be an exotics veterinarian, but soon learned that I don't have the stomach for surgery (dissection was OK, but seeing things pulse and bleed and ooze when I cut into them was just not my cup of tea -- more power to those who can stomach that beverage). I left before finishing, got a job, and took classes on and off for a few years. But I never stopped learning. Aside from an addictive following of Anne Rice's novels, I read only non-fiction books and publications for pleasure. My bookshelf contains works on genetics, evolution, psychology, anthropology, gardening (especially old roses and tropicals), zoology, avian and exotic mammal husbandry, freshwater aquariums, animal behavior and ethology, and a host of other geeky topics.

I performed in live theatre for a few years (just for fun...but I did manage to score two television commercials that actually paid), and I've been "out" as a "friend of dorothy's" since I was 18. I lived on my own (usually with roommates, but by "on my own" I mean that I paid rent for an apartment or house) since I was 22, and have been a non-stamp collector since I investigated the subject deeply by reading original texts from various "stamp collectors" beginning in high school, though I was never raised toward an inclination that being a stamp collector was the thing to do.

For work, I started in a bank, then moved into preparing credit reports for mortgage applications, then took a stab at being a mortgage loan officer. When I realized that I didn't enjoy that job, I started waiting tables as a "temporary" thing has gone on for 12 years now. I was actually making a comfortable living, with a nice set schedule that could be made flexible merely by finding someone to cover a shift, or pick up a shift from someone else. After a while, though, I realized that there was an image I had of how and where I wanted to live "when I grow up" that couldn't be had doing what I was doing, so I decided to return to school.

Deciding on a path of study leading toward a career was accomplished by looking through my bookshelves -- the bulk of which were devoted to biology, psychology, and anthropology. At first, I thought of becoming a high school biology teacher, but by the time I moved to Buffalo and sat down with an advisor to plan my course of study, I changed my mind and decided to pursue clinical psychology. I needed only four semesters to fulfill the requirements for a Bachelor's, but decided to do a double-major in physical anthropology and stay for six. Since my next goal was completing a doctorate in clinical psychology, and the programs are very competitive, I sought to make myself appear "extra different but extra desirable" by broadening my scope of "human study" by coming at it from two different directions. I currently have a 3.79 GPA (it WILL be over 3.8 when I'm done...dang those two B's and one B +). As of right now, I think I want to focus on children at the high-functioning end of the autism spectrum, but that could change in the next few years.

I don't have much of a personal life at the moment -- I am taking 4 classes now and work in an animal behavior lab 7:45am-11:30am MWF, as well as working 3-5 nights a week at a restaurant, so I'm usually reading or sleeping (or on here...hahaha) the rest of the time. Plus, I'm about 8 hours away from everyone I know, save for the people I've met in Buffalo the last two years at school and work, whom I see only when I'm at school or work. But I'm alright with that -- time to get things done.

My ultimate image of a home has always been the same since I was a kid -- to live in a regular home on a few acres (4-10) that gives me the privacy of not seeing my neighbors, be able to have space for gardens and outdoor aviaries, be about an hour or two away from the city, and live where frost is only a rare visitor. I've set my sights on some areas in Miami-Dade County in Florida, but it will be a few years before I get there (I graduate from here this spring, but grad school is 5-6 years long). I came to BYC because I've always had an interest in poultry (besides my favorite chicken breeds -- B/B/S and Lavender Ameraucanas, BC/BC/SC Marans, and B/B/S Jersey Giants -- I also like guineas, peafowl and muscovies), but knew little about their husbandry. I also love parrots (Sammy, my amazon parrot in the pic, is 20 years old now but as handsome and playful as ever), softbills and finches, and am entertaining the idea of emus someday. And then there's the exotic mammals that have fascinated me -- fennec foxes, kinkajous, binturongs, genets, palm civets.....

OK, enough about me......who's next?

 

[redhen]

**Redhen wonders if she can get a sex change..**

 

[AquaEyes]

Quote:
The purpose here isn't to talk about WHAT we don't believe. The purpose here is to list and describe the PEOPLE who don't believe, to serve as a reference point for those others who don't have religious beliefs but may be leery of mentioning it in this community. I have received a bunch of PM's from such people, some of whom have posted here but others who haven't (yet), who have expressed such a feeling. I wanted to make a safe thread where they can say "me, too" and find out they're not alone, and that having a religious belief is not a necessity to being a good person.

 

[mom'sfolly]

I don't collect stamps. I have some in my house; but I simply don't find them very interesting. I know many people are passionate about them, and have every stamp from certain countries. While it may give them comfort, it seems unnecessary to me.

I guess that makes me a non-stamp collector, but I really don't care that much.

 

[speckledhen]

We are reopening this thread after removing some content considered to be flaming against other members. Tread lightly, people, and stick to your subject. No more personal attacks or this thread will be gone with the wind.

 

[canada-goose]

Quote:
Thank you!

 

[ebwy2]

I used to be a stamp-collector, but then I realised I didn't like stamps very much and that I'm more interested in stickers

my brother even went to stamp-college, but these days he's a very outspoken non-stamp-collector

 

[Kelly G]

I collected stamps when growing up....or more accurately...I was GIVEN stamps by my family. Wait - even more than that! I was given stamps by my family, my teachers (private school), and seemingly everyone my family knew.

I didn't want stamps. They didn't make any sense - even though, as a child, I thought I should collect stamps since everyone I trusted LOVED collecting stamps!

For me (and I only speak for myself), stamps have no real relevence.

I am proud to say that after a lifetime of considering the pros and cons - I do not collect stamps.

 

[michickenwrangler]

I was raised in a household where Catholicism and Football and Polish heritage fused into a very interesting version of stamp collecting.

As I got older and began looking at more stamps, I liked parts of every stamp but no one stamp is right for me. So therefore I collect no stamps at all.

Currently, I have a 5.something acre homestead in northeastern Michigan. I have a garden, chickens and horses and dogs right now. I have plans right now to add wind generators and possibly sheep over the course of the next few years.

I have a dual major in both History and Spanish and currently teach middle school Spanish as an itinerant teacher in a large rural district, including at a Catholic school in addition to a high poverty rural middle school and a fairly well off middle school which makes things interesting.

Also trying to complete my masters via distance learning from Eastern Michigan University.