Confession...

***Okay, before I even start writing, I'm sorry for the CRAPPY pictures in this post. The lighting in my parents house is amazingly bad and these pictures were photoshopped as much as possible.

I haven't done a confession style post in a little while. I meant to write this one over the holidays but forgot all about it until I was going through iphoto today and noticed these craptastic pictures. So here we go. :)

Confession #2
I'm a bit of a loser when it comes to collecting stuff...

While at home over the holidays, I was forced to clean my bedroom quite thoroughly when I discovered my mother had claimed it as her 'Holiday Gift-Wrapping Room, 2007.' There was literally like two square feet of floor space clear and everything else, including my bed, dresser, and desk was covered in boxes, paper, angel figurines in every shape imaginable, and Christmas do-dads of all sorts. After my initial frustration (extreme anger) I decided I would do her a great favor by organizing her mess, therefore making it easier on both of us. I could actually get in and out of my room, and she would be able to find what she wanted without tearing apart her various boxes of Christmas-ness. Well she wasn't impressed and claimed I messed up her 'system' but that's for another post.

During my frenzied cleaning, I also decided it was time to properly box up some of the items I had left behind since moving out. I've meant to do it for years now but have only done a half-hearted job. I finally got around to it over the holidays when I noticed that several of my book spines had been destroyed by the cats my mother swears have never been in my room. uh huh. I also realized that it was a better idea to have things safely stored rather than gathering dust and nicotine stains so away I went.

I realized something rather quickly. Although I lead a very organized and clutter-free life presently, I was once a little collecting machine. I have a lot of stuff, yo! Fortunately, or I guess unfortunately depending on how you look at it, I'm not the type that holds on to meaningless crap (MIKE!!!!) but rather, I tend to make large collections of things that strike my fancy.

Example 1: Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

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When Buffy was on the air, I was a pathetic. I had watched the (awful) movie years before with my brother and fell in love with the campiness of it. When I saw the TV show on my channel guide, I tooned right in. Luckily, I managed to catch the very first episode and watched every one after that on its original air date as well. I was literally obsessed. I know the writers names, the stunt double names, all of the cast, including supporting and many guest stars, almost all of the episode titles, etc etc. I read spoilers fanatically, memorized cast bios and got so bad that I could even recite every line Sarah Michelle Gellar said in Scream 2. (it was mostly comprised of the word 'shit' so it wasn't all that difficult.)

Even though I video taped every episode, I bought the VHS box sets and then the DVDs. I bought the script books, every comic I could find in my area, magazines even if they only had one article about one of the Scoobie Gang, all of the Fan Guide collections like the Monster's Guide and almost every novel that was released - some in hard cover and soft.

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I also had the first generation Buffy action figures given to me as a gift including all the varients such as Angel in Vampire face, Willow in red leather, Buffy with blue jacket, and Buffy in homecoming dress from the Season 1 finale episode. I also have the limited edition Buffy figure in homecoming dress that was given away exclusively at ComicCon. None of them have been taken out of the package. :)

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Perhaps the most pathetic part of my Buffy collection is my Chupa Chup sucker set. Not only do I have the small collecters tin, but I have the large Chupa Chup bucket, as well as several of the boxes meant for convenience stores. I also have a complete collection of every sticker from the sucker wrappers.

What's even more insane is that these pictures don't even show everything. I also have several Buffy calendars, two claddaugh rings, many, many posters, a Buffy and Angel pewter pin set from England, two Buffy mugs, and countless other magazines and comics not pictured.

I. Am. Pathetic. I can honestly say that for a few years of my life, I was a raving loon over some frigging T.V. show. Fortunately, I've grown out of it and now have all of that crap boxed up at my mother's house. The only Buffy memorabilia that I keep with me now are the DVDs which I still watch every so often.

But wait, there's more!...

My collections aren't limited to Buffy, however. I also have a rather large amount of Archie comics. Why are all my collections so damn lame? Jesus.

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Once again, these aren't all of them, but the only ones I could be bothered to lay out on my bed. You get the point. My mother was in love with the comics when she was young and was determined that I be as well. For years, I received comics for birthdays and Christmas well after I had expressed my desire to stop reading them. When I was younger, I would draw the characters religiously and actually got really good at it. I should have scanned some of my old artwork but forgot to dig it out. Thankfully, my mother now respects my wishes and my collection has stopped growing. :S

And finally, I have a series love for books.

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Now these pictures REALLY don't show everything because these are only the books that I've left behind at my mother's place that weren't already boxed up. I have several boxes that I couldn't be bothered to untape, as well as a small collection of novels at my new place in Edmonton. I freaking LOVE books.

Growing up, I bought a new one every single Friday. I was known by name at the local bookstore and they often saved me copies of my favorite series. All I wanted for Christmas for several years were gift certificates for Chapters. I would ask for certificates because almost every time I requested a book, I would have already gone out, bought it myself, and had it read by the time I received the gift.

I'm one of those really fussy people too. I don't dog-ear my pages, don't crack the spines, NEVER highlight or make notes, and even try to  hold my books a certain way to prevent warping. I have them organized alphabetically, by genre, and by size. I know... I'm fucking nuts. I am also extremely reluctant to loan my books because people are never as insane as me and I'm bound to go a little nuts if the book doesn't return in the same condition as when it left. My brother once got so sick of me nagging him to hold my book the right way that he returned it to me completely cut in half from a jigsaw. Bastard. :)

So there you have an extremely long and boring account of some of my collections. I'm glad that I'm no longer as intense as I used to be. The only things I still collect are books but I've even slowed down a bit on those. I still buy them quite frequently but am having trouble finding new authors that really grab me.

So... yeah. :D