In life, you are occasionally granted with certain subtle signs that reveal to you the levels of desperation that lurk within you. For me, I had one just the other week. Want to see it?

Here it is. Proof positive of just how desperately, pathetically far I’ve sunk.

In case I’ve never mentioned, I’ve been a borderline obsessive fan of Pearl Jam for about fifteen years now, a full half of my lifetime. Which is depressing both for how long it’s been and for how fucking old I’ve become (Seriously, what the hell?). So when Pearl Jam decided recently to remix their first album, Ten, and re-release it, I guess they thought it’d be funny to test the level of devotion each fan had by releasing three different versions: The Legacy Edition, the Deluxe Edition, and the Super Deluxe Edition. The Legacy Edition had two CDs, the original Ten and the new version remixed by Brendan O’Brien. The Deluxe Edition had the two CDs plus a DVD of MTV Pearl Jam Unplugged. And then, of course, the Super Deluxe Edition, which had the two CDs and the DVD, plus:

• A cassette replica of the original recordings of Once, Alive and Footsteps
• Ten on vinyl
• Ten remix on vinyl
• The Drop in the Park concert on double vinyl
• A replica of Eddie Vedder’s notebook filled with vintage photos of the band
• A two-sided print commemorating the Drop in the Park concert
• Mookie Blaylock rookie basketball card
• Replica of ticket to Drop in the Park concert
• Replica of backstage pass to Drop in the Park concert
• Prints of vintage photography
• Photo sheet of vintage photography
• Mookie Blaylock rookie basketball card
• Three postcards
• Sticker

So take a wild guess which one I got. Wait, actually don’t. I already told you the answer earlier.

So what exactly is it that not only compels me to not only buy an album that I’ve already owned for the last fifteen years, but to buy it along with an entire box full of useless trinkets that, in all honesty, I will probably not ever even remove from the box, let alone use for anything? The answer to that is simple. I have more money than sense.

Also, this thing is fucking awesome. And I’m not too proud to admit that I’ve hugged it at least fifteen times in the last two weeks. Possibly more than I’ve hugged my daughter.

Anyway, just thought you might like to know what things I’d rather have besides money. Turns out, this.

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