treasure trove

my room is cluttered, untidy and busy, but at the same time welcoming and exciting. have you ever realized how much shit you have in your room? besides necessities, which for me are books, hair things, makeup, ihome and perfume, there are all of the little things you've collected throughout your life. 

i have quite an accumulation of concert tickets, as well as the "souvenirs" i've received at the shows. i have the signed cd from peter bjorn and john, the skull maraca from whispertown2000, the plastic flowers from tilly and the wall, the drum stick from death cab for cutie, a couple photo/press passes from music festivals and random shows like rilo kiley at soma and sondre lerche at the troubador, the handwritten set list from jenny lewis and the watson twins...etc. 

i have a collection of books including used, new, coffee table, and collections of poems, essays and art, plus old text books, sat/act study books and 5 or 6 old diaries. none of them are filled completely. i tend to buy new ones when i think i'm gonna make a change in my life and i need a new journal in order to make my personal goals official. plus stacks of  magazines and The Vista.

i have about 5 different perfume bottles, most empty. some i had to stop using because they reminded me of certain events or people. the one i've stuck with is ralph lauren rocks. 

i have all kinds of posters from different concerts, drawings done by my sister, old pictures, old letters and records up on my walls. every single piece of art means something significant to me. my room is a visual haven.

tiny collectibles from grandparents, such as brooches, ceramic animals, a tiny carved giraffe...plus candles and their holders and little crystal bowls, new zealand money, a box of old awards and birthday cards, cds.

don't get me started on clothes, shoes or jewelry. one could get lost in the descriptions of such treasures.

being home and in my room has reminded me of better times, worse times and current times. but most of all it has reminded me of how lucky i am to be alive and happier and has made me grateful for all of the opportunities i've had. how many people get to say that they've met their favorite musician at their favorite concert venue? (jenny lewis at the troubadour.) 

if room raiders were a real show and i was on it, the entire world would know every little detail about my life, just from what i'm surrounded by when i sleep.

on dreams

(Henri Rousseau's "To Dream")

i wrote my last column for The Vista about dreams and how weird mine have been ever since i went home. as an avid dream analyzer (i reference either glamour.com's dream dictionary or my own physical one that my creepy neighbor gave me), i have made an interesting and disturbing discovery. i will first begin with a description of the two dreams i've had that apply to this theory:

i had a dream that a guy i liked was taking candid pictures of me on a digital camera and that i was looking at the pictures and deleting the ones i didn't like and praising others. we were then laying in a barren field as thunder rolled all around us. we decided to wait till the thunder ended and then go to a party we apparently had planned to make an appearance at. an overall enjoyable dream.

the other dream consisted of me watching tv with my sister. we put on the news and heard screaming. it was a live shot of a mudslide happening at la conchita again. the mud knocked over a cement truck which then spilled a never-ending supply of cement. the news crew's helicopter cam zoomed in on the people being overtaken by the cement and then getting stuck and suffocating. it was absolutely terrible and resulted in me waking up terrified.

now here's the discovery. the first dream's meaning was extremely negative. dreaming of a camera is a warning dream signifying insincere friends around you and deception. to dream of thunder signifies that your suspicions of false friends are well-founded and portends great loss and disappointment. to dream of a field indicates dreary prospects for the future. as you could imagine, i was a little freaked out and mad that my cute dream had lost all levels of cuteness.

the second dream's meaning was extremely positive. to dream of mud predicts "glorious good luck" and to dream of cement signifies a rise in status/income. WTF