Confessions of a Recovering Pack Rat

In order to re-carpet my childhood bedroom, my parents packed up every thing that I left behind into boxes for me to go through. What I realized going through all of this stuff is that I have pretty much kept every random thing I ever acquired through my entire childhood. My mom gave me two options: a trash can and the back seat of my car headed back to Ottawa. It appears that I have been completely cut off -- even though I left home 4 years ago, I am now officially moving out. Anyone who knows me well, knows that throwing things away is really hard for me to do. I like having things around me that remind me of home or old friends, I find it comforting. Translation: If you gave me a valentine ten years ago that said something I thought was sweet, I probably still have it! That said, I spent the last two years living in the smallest closet of a room so I am becoming better at throwing the less important stuff away. Its easier for older people, they don't have to throw stuff out they can just give it away to their children knowing its going to a good home-- especially in my case, my parents know I will probably hold on to it for years. Plus older people are allowed to keep things, they've likely had it for so long that its practically become an antique-- whereas no one trusts that my thimble, glass tea animals or bottle collections will ever be worth something.

Last week, I spent several hours going through the many boxes, trying to re-live my childhood and convince myself that I dont need any of the 8 french grammar and verb booklets I filled out in Public School and evidently thought I would need someday, or the 5x5 foot giant, and I mean giant, picture of Celine Dion that literally takes up an entire wall of my room (It used to hang from the ceiling in Wal-mart if that gives you some idea of how big it is!) -- Thinking back on this now, I'm surprised it didn't give me nightmares! I ended up throwing a lot of things away, but some things, like plane tickets and concert stubs, I couldnt bear not to keep for fear that I might forgot these little details of my life and also because I'm hoping I will one day become a better Mormon and learn how to scrapbook.


Some things, on the other hand, I was not only unsure why I kept them but equally why they were ever made in the first place. I'm hoping that by sharing these, it will help cure me of my pack-rat-edness!
Witness Exhibit A:



Again...
This was 1 of 4 of an Andy Warhol inspired artwork I did in the 8th grade. Yup thats me as the Statue of Liberty.... yup there is a person waving out of my head...



I was also clearly a classy child. When asked to make a cd cover this is what I came up with:
(Those who attended a recent trip to Algonquin Park will understand this better!)



For anyone, including myself, who ever doubted my soccer experience, more like prowess really, this is all the proof you need! (Looking back I think I should have kept this and used it for my cereal every morning)


And my prom corsage. You know you're a pack rat when you've kept flowers that are over four years old... Just putting it on my hand, it started to fall apart all over the floor!



It wasn't all bad though, I found a newspaper clipping from my very first fashion show in grade nine! I was in the formal scene and I remember being soo terrified--- also for a fashion show, my dress was kind of ugly!



And probably my favourite find/treasure of the day is a ridiculous story that I wrote in Public School. My grade school friends will appreciate it because they are all featured in the story! I’m not sure how old I was when this was written, I think 10 but I'm embarrassed because based on the quality of the writing I wish I had been younger! I tried to resist commentary as much as possible because this story is so ridiculous that I really wanted to comment after everyone line, what I did add is in brackets! Enjoy!

The Killers Ghost

As I was walking to Brianna Hurley's Halloween party, I saw a new house. It was like it appeared out of nowhere. Did you ever see that house before I asked Mrs. Hurley and Brianna. "No! We haven't", they said. Everyone in the class that was at the party went to see the house except Bram and David, because Brianna killed Bram because he was a killer. She also killed David because she thought he was a killer, but he wasn't he was just telling Bram to stop killing. But Brianna thought they were planning who to kill next. But she was wrong. As we entered the house, a ghost of some sort passed by us. Cory was so scared he fainted and fell over a little hole in the floor. As we went to see him his heart beat stopped so we turned him over and we saw a knife in his back. As we stood there astonished we joined in a circle, we looked at each other to make sure no one was hurt. As we turned our backs we noticed that two of our friends were missing, Amelia and Michael. We had nothing to do but move on. As we moved down the dark hall we saw something, it looked like Bram or David. We couldnt tell which. We started running down the hall but we came to a dead end. The wall started to enclose on us. Brianna saw a crack in the wall so she pushed on it and a door opened. A big stairway went downwards. We went and the door slammed behind us. Out of what we saw inside the house this room was the most vibrant. Brigette stepped on a loose board making us all fall through to the dungeon, where we saw Amelia and Michael.

Chapter 2

As Brianna and Brady unchained Amelia and Michael, in the distance David came with a gun. As Brianna noticed the gun she dodged out of the way trying to push Brady but not succeeding. The bullet hit Brady in the stomach, another friend lost and then he disappeared. We werent out of this yet! We were stuck in a big room with a dead person. Then Caroline, amazed at all of the books in this room, ran to one of the books called Famous artists. As she did a ghost came out and she fainted. Then the ghost went past Jeremy, he froze not knowing what to do. The ghost suddenly disappeared and we all saw a big wet mark on Jeremy's leg. We laughed very hard and Jeremy said "O Mama!" and fell to the ground. Stevie, who had a secret passion for him ran to him and said, "Oh my darling don't leave me!" But it was too late. He was gone forever.

Chapter 3

Abby screamed 'Look a secret passage!' We were very happy. We saw a water filter but instead of having water in it, it had blood, 2 eye balls and an arm. 'Oh! Cory', Amelia exclaimed, 'thats Cory'. 'How do you know?' said Kyle, who was getting annoyed that she cared for Cory instead of him. 'Well Cory told me he was getting a tattoo of a squall that said something on his right arm.' It says, Dying Sucks. (Oh the irony!) "Thats ttt..aaaaaahhhh!!!' shouted Vanessa, 'something hit me on the back', and with that she plunged forward. Someone had stuck a cleaver in her back. 'No heart beat' said Stephen and he touched her and fell down dead. Everyone wished they were home warm in their beds. We moved on scared,very scared. (yup I had actually underlined that part!) We saw a ghost with a shot gun, he seemed like Bram, very mad that Brianna had killed him. (It’s not confirmed whether it was or was not bram.. it only seemed like him) He pointed the gun at Brianna shot and hit her arm. Brianna was badly hurt but was still alive. Very hurt Brianna, decided to keep going with the other's. (I'm so brave!)

Chapter 4

They managed to slip into a tunnel in the wall. Daniel Stairs went last and was a bit too big to get through and suffocated himself to death. The others kept going and at the end of the tunnel into a graveyard. There were skeletons. Nobody noticed but one had a needle and poked Bradley, he fell and hit Abby who also died. (Now it seems like I'm just trying to kill everyone before the end) I was mad, Abby was my good friend, I will miss her dearly. (as opposed to all of the other friends I had just lost) We kept moving, very upset at all the deaths. And Bram and David came out and said 'we are sorry', no one noticed but they had their hands behind their back. Zoe went up to David and stuck her hand out to shake hands. David did the same, he had a zap on his hand. They shook hands and Zoe was electrocuted. Brianna screamed out, 'Stop! Its not them you're after, it is me!' (Clearly I had watched waaay too many movies) She ran towards Bram with the cleaver that he had stabbed Vanessa with. Bram pulled his hand out behind his back and shot his shotgun at her and..... To Be Continued


I never actually wrote the end of this sadly. I'm not sure if I ever had any idea of where it was going to go. Considering the time period when this was written it probably would have ended with David not being dead and him and Brianna falling in love. Anyways this story gives some weird insight into the messed up imaginative mind I had when I was younger.
Frankly now that I'm older I'm considering another angle, possibly throwing people off guard by killing off all of my friends at Christmas or Valentines day-- something unexpected! Seriously this could be big, I can already hear the tag line for the movie they will make when they buy the rights.... "New City, New Crowd, No way she'll get away this time!" Please send your requests as to how you would like to die, to www.KillersGhostTheSequel.com

-B