Parts Obsession

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Any Wrong Planet members ever had obsessions with parts of objects?

I can remember as a kid, (around 8 ), getting all excited about the tail lights on cars. I would talk about their shapes and configurations with great enthusiasm to whoever was in earshot. So much so I recall a reprimand from a cousin of mine about this , as I was annoying my family with this interest.
He said," what's up with you about the tail lights on all these cars?". At this time my uncle bought a new 1973 Chevelle , and I positioned myself behind the car and calling my cousin over to share my enthusiasm .

Another interest I had was with the instrument clusters in cars, and I would ride my bike up and down the street peering into parked cars to see the instrument layouts .
I thought nothing about the possible consequences as I was putting my forehead against the window glass of a neighbor's car and staring at the gauges.

And I would fixate on the wheel carriage assembly on trains ( the trucks) ,and would carry and brandish an HO scaled "one" in my pocket.

What about you?

I remember being obsessed with those dials and knobs, on those old TV sets.

Whatever it was in the world that I saw, I was asking about it to my mother. I made my mother go crazy from all the questions I would ask in a day.

But I was especially obsessed with radio waves and electricity, parts of electronics that made electronics work. It started with the radio, then VCR/tape and worked it's way up into computers.

does a part of human anatomy count? because that was my special interest around 13 & 14, but i still have it just not the main focus

Vacuum tubes and speakers. When I was little, my dad and I would drive around out in the sticks and find older style TVs that people had illegally dumped, so I could take the tubes and speakers out of them (not the CRT, but the tubes used in the electronics before transistors came about). While TV tubes are practically worthless these days, I was collecting them because they fascinated me.

That interest is still with me. I've built and restored old-style radios. As I post this, I'm playing music through my vintage pre and power amps that use tubes. In fact, I just bought a brand new matched quad of output tubes, since my original (circa 1959) set was starting to show problems, both in the system and on my tube tester.

When I was VERY little, I would check out the doorstops anywhere I went. I also collected sprinkler heads.

Not sure if it was an obsession, but I did– and still do love shock absorbers a lot! They're so good looking on cars. XD

When I was younger I was younger, I always wanted to look at the pantone color code (IDK what it's called) on cereal boxes. My mom still makes fun of me about it, she'll ask if I want to see the pretty colors lol. When ever someone was done making a pot of coffee, I asked to see the bottom of the kettle. Sometimes I watched TV shows just to see the station identification or logos.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1hfUBb8GD8[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bks909m8zl0&playnext=1&videos=yBb57GIUlms[/youtube]

When I was 4 I was obsessed with carwashes (the kind you drive through). I was particularly infatuated with the dryers (the ones that roll up over the top of the car blowing air). I called them whoo-ers because of the sound they made.

I also liked to take things apart and play with the peices. I annoyed my parents by constantly taking the batteries out of the TV remote. I was obsessed with pushing buttons on everything as well.

I've always been more into taking things apart. My parents had to hide all the screwdrivers to keep me from exploring the inside of the VCR. Funny thing is, I've fixed more things than I've broken by disassembling and reassembling. I do collect parts though, and have boxes of sorted computer components.

I would take everything apart when i was little, vcrs tv's and the microwave