Catharsis

Been doing a major bout of spring-cleaning of my room (yeah, i know, its AFTER chinese new year, but what the heck, it has to be done).

It is very nostalgic to be reacquainted with lots of old stuff that's been tucked away for years, such as:

Postcards and maps.
i've actually forgotten i have a veritable postcard collection and now i don't know what to do with this huge stash of cardboard - maybe i should just stick stamps and post them out to random friends. Ugh. fortunately, i STILL collect maps!

Correspondence
Bunch of letters, aerograms and cards from assorted ex-boyfriends, friends and cousins.
I used to write and enjoy receiving snail-mail, esp in my UK university days. I still like it now, but email and e-cards offer so much more instant gratification. Besides, my handwriting has degraded over the years to an untidy scrawl from lack of practice. - perhaps its time for me to revive the ancient art of letter-writing again.
Meanwhile, someone tell me what to do with old love-letters from ex-boyfriends...? Keep vs shred? I read them all over again and remininsced about those trials and tribulations i've gone through. Sigh - i did break a couple of hearts but hey, I got mine broken too (and i got rid of their stuff as soon as they broke mine!)

Miscelleaneous junk.
bits and bobs i can only describe as "STUFF". old jewellery, makeup, stationery, notebooks (i think i had a notebook fetish), bank statements from 1999, photos of my "pop idols" when i was 14 (cringe!!!) , a film compact camera (antique!), discman (before the age of MP3 players), old pay-slips...

Journal from 1997 - full of teenage angst and insecurities. Growing up was/is painful. I wrote alot in this journal when my aunt was in severely ill and i was by her bed-side in hospital everyday until she passed away.

A quick flip-through my 2003 diary and i realised that i used to like running on threadmills (yuck -emphasis on the "used to"). I forgot that i've taken a business chinese course then as well and i think i should put it on my CV! I used to volunteer and i think i should get back to it again when i return to Beijing - you know, be useful and such. I started to enjoy the great outdoors just about then and never looked back since. And, I STILL enjoy drinking for free at ladies nights, haha!

So.. anyway while i sneezed away from all that dust, it was kinda interesting to remind myself of the "me" back then, if you know what i mean - my previous interests, hangups, tastes in music, food, etc., friends i used to hang out with, and take stock of my "evolution". I've changed alot in the past decade. There are some some ghosts that need putting away, friendships that need re-affirming and skills that still need improving (map-reading and navigation is one).

And we continue...
adding to and purging stuff from our lives every single day