I'm a gatherer. I've had the revelation... finally. I'm a gatherer; always have been and always will be.
Some examples of I've collected throughout my life thus far:
- Stickers
- Stuffed Animals
- Beads
- Craft Supplies
- Angels
- ANYTHING ABOUT CATS
- Magazines
- Movies
- Music
- Costumes
- Make Up
- Nail Polish
- Perfume and Body Splashes
- Containers
- Furniture
- Electronics
- Pictures/Videos
- Books
- Home Decorations (wall hangings, bits and bobs, mirrors, art, wall stickers, etc)
When I was little I had such a hard time keep my room tidy. I had shelves and furniture lined with my "precious" possessions. I would collect my various items and then want to make sure each one had it's perfect home, but they never found that home. Looking back, I think I had a hard time putting them "away." I felt like I wanted to display ALL my little trinkets. I still feel these urges today, although I've gotten a lot better than I was.
As I got older, I began buying, subscribing, or otherwise acquiring magazines. This started a whole new level of gathering. I began turning down pages that had anything that I liked. As this progressed, I realized I had way too many magazines and had to downsize. That started the clipping. I began clipping pictures, articles, or even whole pages of anything I liked. Article about proper eyebrow shaping? *RIP* Picture of a cute bunny? *RIP* Funny little comic or artsy picture of world comprised of water bottles? *RIP and RIP* I then would have a stack, box, tub of clipping all relative to my interests.
I knew I needed to do something with them; to showcase them again. So I would create collages with the clipped picture. I'd plaster them to notebook covers and binders. I taped them to paper and put them in page protectors and filled up yet another binder. I still to this day have a terrible time with magazine collecting, and clipping.
As I was introduced to the internet, my gathering was given a new platform. I would run across information, and again pictures that I liked and I'd save it all. I'd send info to myself in emails. 300 page list of vampire movies? *Copy Paste* Link to download the original BBC radio broadcast of Hitchhiker's Guide? *Copy Paste* That uncanny comparison between Lincoln and Kennedy? *Copy Paste*
I'd waste hours scrolling through the wallpaper board on 4chan, saving it all (not the porn lol.) I'd save all the memes. I'd save cute animals, or make up looks, or bands I liked, or products I wanted to buy. I still have several full hard drives of these images. If I wanted to take a new myspace or facebook picture, I'd have to take hundreds of pictures... then save them all.
I also would acquire as much music and as many movies as possible. I feel like it's not enough to just listen to a song, I need to download the whole Discography of the artist. Or if I see the trailer for a movie that looks kinda good I'll get it. Even if I watch a movie on TV and like it, I then need to get a copy of it.
Whole TV series aren't safe either. For instance, I bought season 1 of True Blood when it was first released on DVD. Then as season 2 was airing, I downloaded the episodes to watch (much to my ISP and parent's chagrin. Then I moved out on my own and got HBO to watch season 3 and on, but I still download it. I don't know why. I'm likely never to watch it again, or at least not for many years. I just feel like I NEED to own it.
But I think the solution to some of my gathering needs. PINTEREST. Seriously, it seems like it was made for me. I pin EVERYTHING. I have so many boards at this point that it's actually become sort of a chore finding the right one when pinning something. I'm almost to 400 followers and am over 5,000 pins. If you google search "hummingbird tattoo" my pinterest board is the 3rd result!! (FAME IS EXCITE)
This whole epiphany came to me as I created a Music board on Pinterest, and began taking the songs I've liked on Pandora, searching for them on YouTube and pinning them.... ONE by ONE.
BONUS NOTE: I'm an insane person to watch play Skyrim. Gathering is an understatement there. I will go around and pick up EVERYTHING POSSIBLE in towns, and meticulously scour dungeons. I think that's why I've been a fan of strategy guides. Also these tendencies harken back to my pokemon days as well LOL.
