An Australian librarian has claimed the Guinness World Record for his unprecedented collection of belly button "fluff."
That's right. Graham Barker, 45, has dedicated the past 26 years to staring into his own navel, carefully extracting 22.1 grams of multi-colored lint which he stores in clear jars.
"Some think I must have too much time on my hands, which always strikes me as an illogical thing to say about a habit which only occupies ten seconds per day," he told the Daily Mail.
Barker says he "harvests" his crop while waiting for the shower every morning.
Shockingly, he says his revolting hobby was inspired by boredom.
"I noticed the lint in my navel and became curious as to how much of it one person can produce," he said. "I decided the only way to find out was to collect it for a while and see."
Barker, who describes "The Incredible World of Navel Fluff" on his website, says his collection has landed him numerous world records and notoriety.
So far, he has sold three of his fluff jars to a museum, but won't reveal how much they went for.
Whatever he got, it was worth it.
"Collecting lint costs nothing and takes almost no time or effort so there is no compelling reason to stop," Barker told the Daily Mail, explaining his plans to continue picking fuzz out of his bellybutton as long as humanly possible.
"I wouldn't call it an addiction because it's not something I feel any need to do. If my belly stopped producing lint tomorrow I might feel surprised but not disappointed."
Barker says the pastime is not uncommon.
"When I ran a navel lint survey many years ago a handful of respondents, who were all men, confessed to having saved up some of their lint at some point. But none had continued with it," he said. "One guy might have persisted, but he got married and his wife ordered him to stop."
For those cringing at the thought of jars of belly button waste, Barker will have you know you're a small minority.
