Collection size and how did you start?

well i started collecting anime in 84', when my little brother bought a synoposis guide of baycon 84' at uc berkeley. mostly artbooks, pencil boards and posters was what i got from such places like book nippon mail order club and nikaku animart. anyone remembers buying the macross dyrl vhs tape for 150 dollars? both my cousin and my younger brother did. a strange memory now.
saw my first cel at animecon 91' at the anime-wink table in san jose and thought whooah that's expensive and continue on my way. wasn't until macross II premired at the con did i get my first cel.
then i just bought 3-6 cels per con until the latter part of 2004 when i discover yj auctions.
total cels-60
fancels-26
fan art-11
artist sketch w/autograph-32
vance hu cels-13
misc-5

I started collecting in March 2004. I was interested in finding about how animation was done, and why the animation in some new shows looked so different. So I went looking for answers and learned about cels and CG. I thought it would be cool to own a piece of the show so I went to the place that you can get anyhting from keychains to human lives, Ebay. I thought cel collecting would be a cool, rewarding, and a cheap hobby, hahahahahahahahahahahaaha, ya it is cool and rewarding but cheap, I think not. I currently own only 10 cels, 2 non matching sketchs, and 1 fan cel. I have owned up to 30 cels at one time, and I think around 50 in my total collecting career. I go through these in and out phases. Sometimes I am into it and buy stuff, then other times I'm selling lots of stuff trying to survive. Part of that is bad budgeting but its also an attempt to stop collecting all together, it is very expensive and addicting. I'm in an out phase right now but for once its not because of my poor budget skills and I'm not quiting. Like one of our mods E I have a big buy in the future, just not as much as a car.