Posts Tagged ‘hoarding’

Imitation is the Highest Form of Flattery, or is it?


10 Jun

Day 11 of the #Trust30 writing project- Write down in which areas of your life you have to overcome these suicidal tendencies of imitation, and how you can transform them into a newborn you – one that doesn’t hide its uniqueness, but thrives on it. There is a “divine idea which each of us represents” – which is yours?

 

Being a creative, I am always looking for inspiration in everything around me, whether it’s what I am cooking or half-cocked idea I’m thinking of developing into reality. They use to say that ‘imitation is the highest form of flattery’ but is it that or just a way for our own thoughts and ideas to commit suicide.

For years I have been killing myself. Trying to fit in and adapt to what is hip, cool, etc. The high school syndrome if you will. It’s taken a while, but I am starting to finally feel comfortable at being me. Wow, only took how many years?! 32 If I have to list the areas out like the prompt says, then let’s start.

  • Clothes
  • Culinary
  • “Gadgets”

Clothes harkens back to the high school syndrome that I mentioned earlier. Fashions are always changing, but mine really hadn’t changed at all in 18 years. Trying to update myself has ended up with a closet full of clothes that don’t really fit anymore or don’t get worn. Thankfully I’m on a healthy streak at the moment and should be able to start fitting into those again by the time cooler weather rolls back around. Lesson learned- Just be yourself and who cares what others think about your clothes.

Out of our group of friends, I am the go to gourmet, with one exception that I gladly bow down to. (You know who you are.) When it comes to cooking we can always follow recipes and modify them a bit to make them our own. However, it’s truly art when we develop our own recipes and share them with others. That’s what I am trying to do right now with a side project I have going on under the table. I can’t mention too much about it, but if you know me, then you probably have an idea what it encompasses.

We all need more toys…right? After years of being a materialist, I am learning that we really don’t NEED things that we THINK we need. In an effort to declutter my life, I am posed with this dilemma everyday. Do I really need this or that? Is there something else I own that can do the same thing, but perhaps not as quickly or flashier? Just because Jim Bob bought the new iPad 2 just a week after purchasing the original iPad doesn’t mean that I need to get one too. Ooooohhh! They’re releasing a new Wii! I NEED to get it! At this point I’m pretty much over it. The way funds and the economy are these days, I have to make my hardware last as long as possible. Having said that, we just got iPhone 4′s a week or so ago so that we could actually make calls if the wife wen in to labor. For the record, we’ve had iPhone 3G’s, not 3GS’, for almost 3 years. It was time to upgrade. That is acceptable. On a side note, being a materialist, I have always held onto old tech and repurposed it. These days I am donating, selling or giving away old tech. We’ll see if I can make a little diaper money on the side.

I may not have fully delved into the real topic of this article, but as I see it, I have touched on it enough to just touch the tip of the iceberg.

The Minimalist Geek


20 Mar
Coffee Cup with shadow

A New Day Dawns

As some of you may know, I have a little boy on the way; which has put my perspective on possessions in a new light. Trying to make room in the nursery and the house for the little guy, the wife and I have gone through and started giving away things to family, friends and Goodwill. One of the biggest things I am starting to find in the “Box of No Return” is a bunch of tech. Books, laptop bags (man purses), keyboards, cords, etc. As I start to prioritize the things I actually ‘need’ versus the stuff that I actually use, I find that I have made a lot of impulse purchases over the years.

Living the life of a minimalist, after years of living life as a materialist, has proved to be daunting. I have started to get rid of books I never read and download others for use on my Kindle. That old kitchen laptop that rarely gets used-going away. Parents old CRT iMac in the garage that the display doesn’t work on-getting recycled (after being wiped clean first). Clothes we never wear anymore- donated to Goodwill. It’s just amazing how much we accumulate over short periods of time. Being a bit of a tech-hoarder who tries to repurpose old tech has been proved to be an enlightening experience. Granted, you would never see me on one of those shows like that, but there doesn’t seem to be that same attachment to the devices that there was before. Growing up? Maturing? Nah. Who’d want to do something foolish like that. Priority shift would probably be a better description. I suppose it had to happen sometime. (more…)

Crecraft digital Media

- The Missing Element in Design