Gone Straight To My Head

Beginning in my late teens, the focal point of my room decor was what my parents referred to as my "Wall of Men." This term is not quite accurate. While it's true that majority of images on the ever-expanding collage I tacked up over my bed comprised men I thought were hot at the time (I'm sure Eddie Vedder was on there, I think Grant Hill? Who else?), there were also several women (I remember I had a picture of Marlene Deitrich of whom I wasn't really familiar, I just thought the picture was stunning. Audrey Hepburn and Halle Berry also made the cut). So though it may have started out as my adolescent lust-vision-board, it became more of a representation of myself at the time, through people and other things that made me happy. I took it with me when I went to college, and kept adding to it, breaking it apart and lovingly re-assembling it in each new dorm room or apartment. I finally gave it up when I moved in with Mike-- it's not like I stopped being attracted to or inspired by other people when I joined up with him, it's just that our cohabitation coincided with me outgrowing the poster-on-the-wall phase of my life.

Anyway, I haven't thought about "The Wall" in years, but for some reason it popped into my mind the other day and I wondered who I'd be slapping on there at this time of my life. Would it bear any resemblance to the wall of old? Likely not, though I'd love to have access to the old one for comparison's sake, just to get a visual representation of my former self. It's possible I kept all the pieces in an envelope for awhile for nostalgic purposes, but I'm pretty sure that it's long gone. I think I do actually have a photograph of it from my dorm room on year, but I doubt I'd be able to make out much of it. It's just funny how things or people can mean so much to you at one point in your life, and then a decade out you're completely baffled by your old self. Right? If I do find the photograph I'll scan it in, even though I can guarantee the results will be embarrassing.

Tune time: I'm hesitant to classify Def Leppard as "hair metal"--it seems an insult to lump them with the White Lions and Trixters of the genre--but this song is so great and it sort of fits thematically and summer-wise, well, as everyone knows, hair metal is for summer. So here ya go.