I am blessed with the notorious "mommy brain" and a general distrust of hotel workers. Which means, I am a total idiot sometimes and need to stop acting like an idiot. And probably stop valuing my posessions so much. But mostly the idiot stuff. Here's why:
In the last year, I lost/misplaced/had stolen some of my favorite things [cue Julie Andrews]: robot sneaks, black and white enamel bracelet, stripe-y tank top that went with EVERYTHING, the real camera, the silver "brass knuckles" that keeps me from leaning to the left, my fav black practice skirt... I mean, there's more, but it's just embarrassing to list them out.
The robot shoes (well, the one shoe that was stolen) reappeared, but the other items, not so much.
Since I discovered ebay (Google helps out, too), I've been searching and searching for replacements. Much to my delight, I've found some very similar goods to my lost loves.
But also to my horror, I've found some very similar goods to my lost loves. It's like replacing your dead dog.
I know they're only things, but I really enjoy anything I spend the time and effort to buy. I research Amazon reviews and ask for recommendations via Facebook and compare prices and ponder the value before I decide to get something, so when I own it, I love it. And since I lurve it so much, many of my things become sentimental.
Good... and bad, if you have a nasty habit of losing things.
Lesson learned? Take care of my shiz. I was leaving my jewelry and tech stuff out in the open in hotel rooms and in dressing rooms at competitions, but now I'm carefully stashing them in those weird dresser things that hotel rooms have and tucking my gadgetry in hidden pockets in my dance bag. Namely, I'm very conscious of where I'm stashing my goods (because I'm not all sure that theiving hotel employees are to blame; I definitely have taken off earrings in the dark without my glasses on and "put them on the table").
What do you do with your Stuff when traveling? How do you replace sentimental items? Do you cry when you lose stuff? I get angry, but to each his own.
One year ago: LLLL, in which Zoo learns to crawl.
