The 'bug' is hard to shake...

Hello. My name is Stainz. I am an H-L addict. I have been styrofoam-free for four hours now. I really don't know how it started, but it was innocent enough. I have always liked lighthouses...

I began this madness less than a month ago... it was April 6. A Mexican restaurant was late opening for lunch, so I walked with my wife to a chain card store nearby - we were on vacation - she likes little do-dads. I was drawn like a moth to a flame to the back of the store - and an H-L display. I left with two GLOW's, 402r Hatteras & 431 W. Quoddy. I had a 'taste'.

I found ads... other stores back home - some with old stock and some 'deals'. My MC was getting worn. More trips... a flat tire one day - hurry, that store closes in thirty minutes... I am a grown man - I survived my G scale train craze, how did this happen?

Incidently, those big red LGB boxes are hard to find a storage spot for - the attic is getting full - now I have grey-blue ones to store - gads, what must my R value be in that attic now, anyway?? I cannot admit how many of these goodies I have acquired in less than a month - I am sure it is over fifty... my MC finally melted, while my debt now rivals the GNP of many third world nations.

How do you handle this??? Is there a cure?? When is that 2002 Society 'Gift' going to get here? Hmmm, I saw some marked-down A-B at a gift shop... they don't close for another hour.... styrofoam, ID tents, I must have more!! Help.

Stainz

We're all addicts but we will never admit it because of all the drawback to the craze. It's hard to wear the same shirt all week because there is no money left to buy clothes. And hot dogs, I'm so sick of eating them for 4-5 times a week. It's either hot dogs or no fresnel lens. We all know how you feel but at least you admit it.

Welcome to the Forums!

Rich

Welcome to the forums! There really should be a 12 step program for this, but the reality is that none of us would go. The truth is, we all love our addiction. It is worth eating hot dogs (or the Texas version - rice and beans) 7 days a week. Lucky for me I wear uniforms to work so I was already wearing the same shirt everyday! Enjoy your passion and we will worry about storage space for boxes later. Terry

Very cute post! The only thing worse than the HL addiction is photographing the real thing- Every day is gauged as to whether it"s a good lighthousing day. Of course that's true about just visiting them. Or just checking out pictures of them. Or just getting on line and checking out websites about them.Or just finding the forums and just joining other wackos in discussing them. Or just-----zzzzzzzzzzz

Bud

Don't worry Stainz. You are not alone, far from it! You are still in the early stages. As time goes by and you start running out of places to display the lights and stash all the boxes you will probably ease up a bit. And yes you may become addicted to all the items Bud has mentioned. The HL's are nice to have but the enjoyment of seeing and learning about the real thing and the friendships to be made here in the forums are worth more than all the HL's you can find!

Welcome!

Love the post Stainz. You`re more than welcomed here.

terry

Ease up.... I did after some 400 plus lighthouses....

I love the addiction
I'm just glad I still have some room left to get more

Larry

[This message has been edited by lkeasyliving (edited 05-04-2002).]

Hi Stainz. Welcome to our little group of co-dependant addicts. If you catch Bill Younger at just the right moment, he will admit to you that they do have a magic dust at the factory which is sprinkled upon the lighthouses, and which results in a strong addiction starting as soon as you handle the first HL that you pick up. Also, the more you handle, the stronger the addiction becomes. Even if you "get them all" the quest continues, you look for lower numbers, or California pieces, or every variation known to our webmaster, or even a new variation that you discover yourself, such as the Fred Kuhl Gray's Harbour twist. The positive side of this illness is that you will meet a pretty neat group of folks, and get to deal with the best company that has every produced a Limited Edition Lighthouse. Good luck, look for a local meeting-it will help!
Jim
Johnson

Welcome! What a great post! I tried to fight the addiction for several years before I purchased my first HL. Now I regret that I waited, missed out on some great lighthouses.

Suzanne

Funny post, Stainz. It may be difficult to believe but few of us are addicted. HL...HL...HL....We simply enjoy lighthouses and the related trappings. HL....HL.....HL.... We could easily walk away from our collecting habits if we could only stop from typing HL....HL....HL...!

Welcome to the forums Stainz. Only a month? Wait till you've had the addiction for 10 years or more like some of us! Just like JJ said, after you get them all, then you'll start looking for lower numbers and variations! It never ends! Good luck in your quest to get all of them! You seem like someone who has that addiction and will give it a try!

Hi Stainz!
Yup, you are hooked! I am a pharmacist and know that addictions can be a very powerful thing. I have yet to see anyone check into my hospital with the admitting diagnosis of HL addiction, so I guess no one really wants to kick the habit! Good thing, because I don't know what type of treatment we would even use!
Yes, I even found myself taking old clothes to the resale shop just to earn more money for HL! I even thought about selling my kids, but didn't get that far.....
Welcome to the bunch..

chris g

Thanks, gang, for the kind welcome here. Sadly, I couldn't work in the yard - or on my comotose car - due to the rain here in C.A. (central Alabama) Friday or Saturday, so I started calling H-L dealers... I needed to stay around the house. After all, one of those orders could be delivered by Friday - maybe Saturday if they used RPS/FEDEX... I found several more I didn't have... a little discount, add the ST & shipping, and I could have bought them locally for less! Oh yeah, no one had those...

Ahh, hot dogs, indeed - my Sunday dinner! I needed to lose weight. Actually, I am reminded of that great TV show, 'Married With Children'. Al, the father, was attempting to raise the funds to send his daughter Kelly to a beauty pagent by selling his blood. His son Bud looked down on his glassy-eyed father sitting on the couch, bestooned with bandaids on both arms, and said "Don't forget, dad, the brain hides a pint!".

Seriously, thanks for the welcome... I am sure I will enjoy this 'hobby'. I am also quite certain where my next vacation will be... NC, if we can hitch hike that far...

John (aka Stainz)

PS I am a retired college teacher. I am considering having my teacher's retirement check forwarded to the local H-L dealer...

Welcome to the HL Forum, John.

As I read your delightful post, I was reminded of my own addiction and how the quest followed the steps you have been taking lately.

Traveling and photographing lighthouses is the best part of the addiction. This is made even more special when you get a group of the HL Forumites to go along. You have some in AL that are nothing but pure adventure getting to, but it can be done.

I would invite you to join in the International Lighthouse game that we play each and every day. You will get an opportunity to see all kinds of lights from all over the world.

Welcome,
Derith

[This message has been edited by Nana (edited 05-05-2002).]

John - Stainz. Can you send me an email, I have something I want to email to you.

webmaster@harbourlights.com

Stainz,

LOL! Very funny but oh so true. We ramped up pretty quickly in my house until we ran out of space on the fireplace wall & mantle. Not just HL's but photographs and framed HL prints, too. The only way I was able to ease up was through my girlfriend. She laid down the law and declared that we're not allowed to get any more HL until we visit those specific lights, full well knowing that my current schedule doesn't leave us much time to visit lights outside of the quarterly NJLHS meetings. And I certainly don't want to upset Liz - she still wants HL to be special for us (& she can be pretty tough when she's p!ssed).

Enjoy! And welcome to the club.

[This message has been edited by Mitch (edited 05-06-2002).]

Hi Stainz,
Your post reminded me of when my husband and I got started a few years ago. We were out every weekend visiting the HL dealers we thought no one else could possibly have wiped out yet. We purchased so many in such a short period of time we were actually denied another credit card when we applied. Now, our house has been remodeled to accomodate our 4 soon to be 5 curio cabinets and our lighthouse decor...you know, wallpaper border, curtains, pictures(oh yeh, my husbands latest purchase was the Thomas Kincaid Cape Hatteras canvas print) for the living room wall. And I don't plan on taking any days off work for my daughters upcoming wedding...I am saving them for the lighthouse vacation we have planned the following week. The bug gets worse...believe me, but have fun anyway.
Kat

I have other hobbies - most notably recently had been my G scale model trains (The large 'garden' type.). I had hung some display shelves of zebrawood, oak, and several other interesting woods, 7" deep by 3.5' - 6' long, in my home 'office' to display my favorite engines.

Well, those engines, crocodiles and F7's alike, are back downstairs lined up on my glass 5' & 6' display cases. Lined up - in somewhat geographical order - on those shelves are my nearly eighty lighthouses. Stacked over my head on a banquet table in the middle of my den downstairs are those boxes... I have even dug out my old Bluejackets model of the West Quoddy lighthouse to build. Sadly, my office has a wallpaper border - a Euro street scene for my unfinished overhead train layout.

I am afraid curios will have to wait a bit - I've heard that a local shop will have some markdowns... slow movers... gotta go 'look'... with my credit card, of course...

Stainz

Hello from LA (Lower Alabama) Stainz.

Good to see another AL HL fan! Rain?!!! Send some down here, we need it, my grass is all but dead due to the lack of water.

I love your post, it reminded me so much of my own addiction! When I bought my first HL I bought 8. Then the next day I bought 7 more. We were on vacation so by the time we got home we had a car load. That was only 17 months ago and I now have over 200.

Although the R rating in my addic will help out to save on my A/C bill, so I guess I'll take that savings and buy more HL's. LOL

You said a local shop is haveing a markdown? Let me in on this! I'll drive there, can't be more than a couple of hours away!!!!!!!! send me an email

And welcome to the Forum.

Stephanie

Hi Stainz
The persuit of those HLs are the most fun. Keep a log of when, where, how, and cost - so you can relive your conquests 3 years done the road,
Have fun,
Bob

Welcome Stainz,

You are not alone as we are all "addicted" to some sort of degree (some more than others).

After window shopping around for awhile and reviewing the various brands of lighthouse replicas (a few years back), I became "hooked" to HLs. I just simply love these things. In the past 2 years, I have become "really" hooked as my collection is following an exponential curve. Since then, the credit cards are now official "high level nuclear waste" waiting to be sent to Yucca Mountain in NV for disposal as they have been used so much that they have melted beyond recognition.

And as for HOT DOGS, or "Hot Dawgs", as properly pronouced around the NYC metro area, here is another addiction of mine. I can't wait to have one for snack as soon as I get home from work today! Dang, now my mouth is watering....(Gotta luv those Coney Dawgs)

The only problem I have run into with my HL addiction is that I can no longer afford to support my other collections at the same time. Truly, HL rules.... so I guess the Olympic Pins, and Star Wars collections will soon be ceasing. It has become a fine balancing act.

As for a cure, I don't think there is any; (and I don't wish to be cured as I love these fine lighthouse replicas). They are as good as a tasty Hot Dog!!

Welcome to the world of bliss.

Christopher