Stacking things in order was something my brother and I took very seriously as kids, so much so that it became our daily job at our mom's salon. Who knew two boys under seven could find joy in doing that? Whoever knew surely didn't guess I would develop a weird knack for keeping certain things.
My parents had a lot of tapes in the house. I don't ever remember them playing tapes growing up, so they were all just lying around the house. Inspired by the domino scene in the Robots (2005) animation, we often made our own dominos out of them. And when we're done, we'll also keep them arranged.
The sight of things organised in an orderly fashion often appeals to me. And I guess that's how it all started...
Do you know the Smart Collection body spray series? I don't know how many are out there, but I seriously wanted to know when I was about 14 and collect them all. I started with my favourite that I always recognise, No. 332, Boss Orange.
I was always buying a new one every now and then, and then I was able to gather 15 of them. And what I did was just line them up in a gorgeous manner—to me, anyway. Whatever happened to them all, I don't remember, but I think they vanished when we moved houses. I suspect my brother had something to do with their disappearance, though.
Anyway, I never stopped there. My new "thing" is keeping boxes of tech products I own, especially the ones I buy with my money. I just never lose them. They were the exemptions when I was simplifying my room some weeks ago. Let go of many things, but not these guys.
"Bro, you should be hired as a brand ambassador for Oraimo." My friends say this often when they see how many things from the gadget company Oraimo I have gotten. My woman knew just how to make me jump by gifting me a hair clipper I had been needing for a while now, and it was, of course, Oraimo. And, yes—you guessed right—the box has now been "collected."
These boxes add or remove nothing from my years or even my bank balance, but having them around makes me happy somehow and always reminds me how invested in tech I have always been and how all that enthusiasm has led me to this point and will take me even further.
Speaking of further, I have added yet another box. It's a microphone, and there is no way I am losing this box with how much I spent on it. Now it's just there, sitting in one corner of my room. But that, to me, is decor. If you near it, we shall enter the same trousers...
Even the phones I have owned. I keep their boxes. And on and on.
Surely, these boxes take up space. My room could be much simpler if I just threw them away, but my room would also be empty without things like this. And just so I wouldn't just pile them up in one place is the reason I kind of repurposed them as decor. Some just stay on my desk, some on my bedside tables, and the rest just stay stacked in their corner in my wardrobe.
These days, I focus on what's meaningful, necessary, and valuable by living intentionally. That's been leading me to make a few adjustments in my lifestyle, like my travel habits, letting go of redundant possessions, and keeping things organised. These things I hoard, however, add value to me in ways that only I would fully understand. I guess that's what matters—meaning—and so I make the exception for them.
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