CLEANING OUT MY CLOSET

Not the skeletons, but rather, my compilation of pin-ups, centerfolds, and posters that I've accumulated during my teen years. Quite a collection, let me tell ya. And because I'm so Oc-oc (obsessive compulsive in our med slang, as oppossed to ocd, the disorder) even then, they're all placed in clearbooks that number, gosh, 12-13, I think. It was during 6th or 7th grade when I started buying magazines and I continued to do so until near the end of fourth year high school. That's a long time to be collecting magazines, when my average rate of buying is about one per month.

I was such a kid then, a teeny-bopper kid! LOL I was taking out the pin-ups, centerfolds, and posters from the clearbooks and - yeesh - I can't believe what a, well, teenybopper kid I was! It started with Devon Sawa, then Brad Renfro, then moved over to the Backstreet Boys and all the rest of them. It's just funny to look back through all these magazine souveneirs I have and realized... I was/am waaaaay too boy-crazy LOL at least, I know that nobody will ever, ever make the mistake of thinking I'm not straight (as if they'll ever have second thoughts, knowing me).

And yet, even though I might sometimes cringe to look back at my tastes in guys (hello? Devon Sawa, Brad Renfro, and let's not forget my ex-future-husband, Nick Carter... and the rest of the BSBs), I am so very thankful that I never, not once in my entire life, crushed on Leo DiCaprio. Not even through his "Romeo & Juliet" and "Titanic" years. Or any of his years for that matter. At least, alam kong may taste ako! At mga tunay na lalaki ang mga crush ko! I'll never forget one of my kabarkadas who crushed on Taylor Hanson during their "Mmmbop" era LOL he was a guy and thought that the Hansons were girls!

Looking through my *ahem* collection, though, I realize there are a whole lot of actors and actresses, as well as singers, who were "in" before and yet now, I have no idea where they are, least of all what they're doing. And some of them are never-heards, even during that time! I mean, whoever heard of Jaason Simmons (I kid you not about the name)?? And what does Greg Vaughn do? His name sounds familiar, and so does his face, but I don't remember anything he's done. And whatever happened to JTT? Ryder Strong? The icky Andrew Keegan? These were the "hotties" back then and now they're... gone.

It was also very amusing to see the young Backstreet Boys, Spice Girls, Boyzone, N*Sync, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, and 98 Degress. They all looked so... so... clean. Yknow, these were the tattoo-less days, the pre-boobjob, pre-wacko-dyes era. When they were oh-so-young and fresh and... and... clean and... and... virginal.

Nick Carter looked so young and innocent and now he's fat and ditched by his Paris over-sex-ed girlfriend. And I can't believe he was stupid enough to get a "Paris" tattoo. Hello?!! Rule number 1 in tattooes: never tattoo another's name. I don't care if you're married to the person, or even enggaged; nothing lasts forever. Don't mar your body with a person you're not even gonna end up with. Or even with a person you'll end up with forever. Symbol, puede pa, but name?? Forget it. That's just stupid.

Kevin and Brian were so hot and manly before and now they're married and... boring. AJ, pre-rehab, was wild and funny and now he's just... a cheater who cheated on his fiancee, has a smoking and drinking problem and he ain't cute no more. Howie used to be a sweetie, but now I think he's just gay :p

Justin used to have bleached-blond hair before getting Britney-tized, which just made him icky. Actually, I'm glad I had no opinion of Justin whatsoever so his getting together with Britney didn't really matter any to me. JC, my gosh, his hair transformations are too harsh, I miss his old 'do. And the others don't really matter because, really, back-up lang naman sila, diba?

Britney, pre-boob-job looked fun and young and innocent and really nice. But then we now find out that she's a snob (refuses to sign autographs), obsessed with her body (else, why the boob job?), and can't stick to her principles; only until the first guy comes along who's willing to give her some (remember her famous promise to remain a virgin until marriage? *snort*). Christina was also young and fun and nice looking now she's slutty and definitely not a virgin and definitely not a girl-next-door type.

98 Degrees didn't really change much... they just added more tattooes. Spice Girls, please, don't even make me go there.

But all the others? It's just... funny to think how time flies. How it flew for the "rich and famous" and glamorous people as well as for me. Funny to think how much I crushed on Devon (I'm ashamed to say I sighed aloud at his blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo in "Casper"), Brad Renfro (oooh, bad boy alert!), and BSB (I was so obsessed with them, I could practically tell you what they were doing any time of the day). Imagine all the energy I exerted for all that (not to mention the money!) and now I realize I still exert the same energy elsewhere LOL kind of makes me marvel at the amount of energy I have for life.