The Essence of the Machine

ob·ses·sion  (b-sshn, b-)

n.

1. Compulsive preoccupation with a fixed idea or an unwanted feeling or emotion, often accompanied by symptoms of anxiety.

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Yep, that's pretty much it, right down to the anxiety part. It's been chronic now for about six months. I've found many ways to rationalize it, the strongest being that not only am I in complete control and can stop collecting at any time, but also that my typers get used pretty much daily. They write letters to my kids, grandkids, other family, and friends.

And often I get letters back. Today one arrived from my 16-year old granddaughter. Thanks to her other grandfather she has a typwriter of her own. And she gets it. She gets it better said and more concisely than authors I have read who have written entire books on typewriters without ever quite getting to the meat of it the way she has.

She not only gets it, but she's also got the hair standing on the back of my neck as I turn around to see if my typewriters are talking behind my back.