Collections and destiny

I collect many things...some intentionally and others unintentionally.

For example, I have over 30 key chains. This was unintentional, mostly friends and family get them for me when they travel and my collection includes some from Panama, Costa Rica, The Black Sea, Australia, Las Vegas to name a few.

I also have an impressive collection of shot glasses which I started back in college and I now have about 40 distinct ones from many different cities and countries. I encourage my friends and family to get me one whenever they travel and I pick one up whenever I do...I fly a lot since most of my family live outside of the US.

I also collect quotes...from books, movies, billboards, tea boxes (celestial seasonings have lots of quotes on their tea boxes).I save ticket stubs from concerts, movies, plays, hockey games, magazine or newspaper clippings...I have most of these in a scrap book. Not a real scrapbook (I say this b/c my sis is an expert at real scrap booking) but just a notebook I've had for years and keep adding to. I also make note of dates and people next to the stubs...like who I went with or who starred in it, etc. I often read through it and it's like taking a trip down memory lane. Not all are great or happy memories...I have a stub from a day cruise that was a disaster...well not really, but that's when I found out just how big a jerk this guy that I was interested in was...so it wasn't a total waste I guess.

I also seem to collect people as well. Wherever I go, I always seem to meet people who become part of my life. Some only occupy a small space... like the tiny ticket stub from the bargain cinema...and others take up 2-3 pages like the newspaper clipping I have about the last time the Hale-Bopp comet had its closest encounter with Earth.

I thought about writing this down after I read Ann's post tonight. The quote by Brian Weiss is one of many in my scrapbook and its from his book "Messages from the Masters". It got me thinking about collections. And destiny...which I strongly believe exists. I'm not sure how much effect we have on own destiny but I do think that we affect the destiny of others...by our relationships/reactions/responses/neglect...if that makes any sense.

Another quote that comes to mind:
"The incentive is to treat every second of your existence as a possible assignment from God. Everything you do, if you're a physicist or a caregiver, is equally important in the eyes of God."
From Jasmine by Bharati Mukherjee.

Somewhat unrelated to this...I started writing that '100 things about me' and maybe I'm not half as interesting as I thought because I have 56 so far... and can't think of anything else. But I've only been at it for 2 days now so maybe I just need more time.