5 August 2021, Somewhere in the Metaverse - UplandDood (@Just1Dood)

Want to hear something surprising? We all like to hoard. You will need to swim against the tide to fight this strong desire to hoard. That is why YouTube is full of tips and ideas on how to de-clutter and how to be a minimalist.

Without checking, I am quite certain some of these clips have millions of views. But would you like to know the truth? Watching and knowing all the tips and steps are one thing; acting on it is another thing altogether. I've watched them. My thought after watching these? It's like asking me to eat one meal a day after I've been having three all my life. It's a near-impossible task. It's near-impossible because there are always the outliers who can achieve it. I'm not one of them.

If you are in the same boat, fret not. I have learned to look at the bright side. You should too.

I revel in the satisfaction that I'm a collector, not a hoarder, even though I have a room and a few closets full of ... errr...hoarded stuff.

I am a Collector

I can't remember at what age that I have started collecting. It could be during my early school years. I believe it was around the age of 12 years old that I have started this hobby. It was around this time that I have begun drawing. I remembered quite clearly that I was good at it. I wish that I still have some of these earlier masterpieces. All these were drawn on drawing paper using colored pencils.

The only thing I remembered collecting before that age was probably postage stamps. Some of you from the future may not know what that is for. It's for what some call snail mail. No stamps, no mail. It's the cost of delivery. I still have albums of these.

I collect Comic Books

It was around my secondary school years that I got bitten by the comic books bug. I started devouring and collecting comic books. Each month, I couldn't wait to get the next issue to find out what happened to Peter Parker, or Matt Murdoch, Bruce Banner, Tony Stark, or Bruce Wayne! These were my buddies. I care about them. I want to know how have fared against insurmountable odds and onslaught from all manners of evil. With them, I get to escape into another world. And I make sure that after reading, I took good care of them. This was the beginning of a long relationship. One that carried into my university years.

I collect Toys

It was also around this time that another collecting bug had bitten me. I'd started collecting some Star Wars toys. I have no idea why I collect them. Given the chance, I'll still collect them now if I have lots of BCH to spare! I think it could be due to the tangible touch and feel of the movie magic in my own world. I could have an X-Wing fighter in my hand. Or an AT-AT on my desk! It's magical. I still have some of these toys. Unfortunately, again due to numerous shifting of house, I've lost some of them. Thinking of that made me sad.

Everything is Collectible

During my university years, I had started another collecting habit/hobby. There was no explanation for this one. It just happened, if you can believe that. (Here's a tip: there's no such thing as "it just happened" when a collector tells you that about his collection).

This time, it was "old" cameras. How this came about was that during weekends, I love to go check out other people's junks. There was one time, I saw a vintage Nikon camera on one of these flea markets. I'd asked the seller how much he wanted for it. He said someone had already "reserved" it. I was pretty pissed off. What? My money isn't good enough? Not sure if that had imprinted in my mind an angry response to that slight. I started a vintage camera hunt in flea markets. Though I have never come across another vintage Nikon camera, I did however managed to find a few vintage Polaroids and a German-made camera. All these have lenses that pop out like an accordion.

I collect Sponsors

[Start of commercial]

These are my most precious collection right now. I learn so much from each of them and many of their articles inspire me to be better and challenged me to get out of my comfort zone.

Wouldn't you want to have such a collection too? The good news is that I too can end up being in their collection. And you can too. We collect each other. Isn't that fun? LOL.

[End of commercial]

A period of non-collecting

After university, I had stopped collecting. Things have changed. I have other priorities. Work was more important.

This was an extended period that I did not collect anything. It was all about work and more work. Well, not exactly. I did start collecting some CDs and DVDs briefly. Remember those? Those were more of a distraction from a hard day's work than anything else. It's not unlike someone looking forward to a chillax evening watching Netflix. There was no Netflix then. The closest thing was DVD collections to binge on.

The Return to Collecting

Have I mentioned that it is hard to get rid of the collector's bug? Well, let me say it again - it is hard.

Not many years back, I had started collecting again. This time it was ... wait for it ... of all things - coffee-related stuff!

I love coffee. I love it so much, I must have at least a cup each day. I know it doesn't sound like someone who loves coffee a lot. But I need to be careful not to upset my stomach. Sometimes I push the limit to two cups and very rarely more than 3 cups per day.

I love coffee so much that at one point in time, I had thought about opening a ... not a cafe but ... again, wait for it ... a Coffee Museum! Hahahaha...

It started innocently enough with a coffee grinder. Then it speedily spiraled out of hand. I have many coffee grinders (mostly manual ones) and some coffee brewers in my collection. One dating back to the 1800s but not enough for a Coffee Museum. LOL. Epic fail. It's expensive to collect vintage and antique grinders, so it stopped. I'm now stuck with these grinders. Anyone wanna buy and start a collection? LOL.

Once a Collector, always a Collector

Though I have not collected anything in a long time, my fear is that one day, I'll get bitten by another bug. Who knows what it will be then.

You know what? As I was typing the above sentence, I was corrected by myself. I have been bitten again. It's the NFT bug. I have lots in my collection. Although a few are worth something, not much but something, most are junk that's worth diddly.

It's in the blood. Call it DNA, call it a bug, I can't escape it. Once a collector, always a collector.

Fortunately, these do not take up physical space.

What can I say? I'm a collector. How about you?

Now, excuse me while I search for a YouTube clip on how to de-clutter my virtual world and live as a minimalist metaperson.

[Edit after publishing: I'm adding this as a writing prompt. The topic is: I am a collector].

Sources:

Header: Unsplash.com - Mick Haupt

All other images are my own.

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