Personal Taste

As an adult, I noticed myself getting more receptive to objects, things or subject matter that I used to hate as a child or teen.  Case in point, I loathed classical music especially Beethoven, Chopin (I did develop some love for Mozart) as a child learning the pianoforte.  Nothing could make me sit down quietly for a performance of the symphonic orchestra.  Heck, I didn’t even want to listen to the pieces on CDs.

By and by, as I grew up, I learnt to appreciate classical music.  And gradually, I have a stronger yearning to re-learn some of the pieces I learnt to play when I was younger.

Is this a sign of growing up?  I cannot decide, because by logical deduction, adults should be less receptive to things they are not accustomed to because of deepy-seated habits, prejudices, likes and dislikes.

The late appreciation of classical music is not the only thing I noticed about myself.  For one, I have become a lot more adventurous where food is concerned.  I’ve also changed in many other ways, like how I have come to accept and even like the music of Queen and Super Junior!  Ask me two decades ago and I wouldn’t even give these 2 groups’ music a chance to vilify my taste.  And world history.  I never liked history in the past although it was a subject I was good at (with my elephant memory, is it not to be expected?) but of late, I’ve become increasingly more interested.  This, I think I can explain why – the travelling has definitely helped pique my interest.

There are still subject matter that I am ambivalent towards, like politics and gaming.  I will never learn to appreciate them.

Then again, never say never.

Project: Declutter

Almost a month had passed since I stopped working.  It may be hard to believe, but I have been very busy.  With what?  A thorough decluttering of the house.

The good thing with decluttering is how I manage to dig out items or things I’d long forgotten about.  Everyday is like a treasure hunt and I look forward to more surprise finds.  That should give you an idea how a declutter project is sorely needed around the house.

These are by far my biggest finds – my iPod Mini and iPod.  I’ve been using my iPod Touch for several years now and never gave much thought to where the other 2 predecessors which served me so well went to.  The answer is now clear – I just chucked them aside and forgot about them.  And surprise surprise… the iPod Mini is still working perfectly fine, albeit with a much shorter battery life!

Some rules I’d come up with to abide by as I declutter slowly, day by day:

1. If you’d forgotten that you ever had it and didn’t miss it, it probably meant that you don’t need it.  Chuck it without a thought.
2. Clothes not worn in the past 1 year and you are unlikely to wear them ever again even if you do slim down to your pre-wedding weight belong to the bin.  Or donate them to Salvation Army if they are in good condition.
3. Soft toys are cute and nice to look at, but you have grown up and you don’t cuddle them anymore.  Moreover they collect dust and makes doing household chores more challenging.  Chuck them unless they have special significance, e.g. graduation bear.
4. You don’t need to hang on to the receipts of your overseas spendings, hoping one day to tabulate how much had been spent per trip.  You don’t and will not remember where the receipts come from.
5. You can no longer use the sugar gum paste flowers and stars (bought 3 years ago) for baking even if there are no expiry dates on the boxes.  Throw them away.
6. Ditto #5 for the flours and sugars.
7. Do you really need to keep all the old cell phones you’d ever owned?  Evaluate that.
8. You really do not need to keep the wedding and home renovation magazines from years ago.  The styles would have been outdated even if you might need them again in the future.
9. You do not need to keep the boxes of the Norton Antivirus etc. for your PC.  Heck, you don’t even own a PC now!
10. Find some books to give away to the community library.

I cannot even begin to describe how painful some of the rules are for a hoarder like me.  That’s why I need rules.  But I’m not throwing away my iPod Mini and iPod.  That’s for sure.