Getting Rid of the Useless Stuff

The past few months for me is a lot about getting rid of the useless stuff. I have thrown away many things I have been keeping for a while and occupying much of my space. I've got so much stuff in my room, probably four times of the volume of what my roommates have combined.

For most of them, I just applied a rule: anything that I have been keeping but haven't used for at least a year, I dispose of. Magazine, old bank statements, manuals of some gadgets, some clothes, etc., all went falling down through the garbage chute. Little trinkets like souvenirs from countries I went to, from trade fairs and some odd stuff, like canisters of play-doh, my old PDA, etc. were also thrown away.

I feel a certain satisfaction on doing this and I guess it can be translated to real (personal) life in some way. Well, it wouldn't be like useless stuff to "useless people", which is pretty harsh. It would be more on habits or activities, choosing and not choosing which ones I allocate my time and money into. And it is working well for me.

Maybe, I'll drop 'blogging' too. But maybe not today.

Lenses and brushes.

I attended a photography workshop last weekend with the objective that I will be able to do my camera settings in an objective, technical approach rather than "by feel", which was mostly my primary way of doing things in all my creative-led activities (like designing at work, painting, etc.)

My objective was fulfilled, but suddenly I realized something. That I am not very excited with photography that much. And that I really missed painting. I compared, and knew how much more satisfaction I get doing paintings than taking pictures.

I used to have painting sessions with different people back in Manila, but here in Dubai I don't know anyone yet who does painting as a hobby. I am thinking of attending art classes just to have a venue to paint. But then when I look up workshops; I'll be attending like four to six beginner classes with fixed topics, which is quite restricting, and I thought that this is not the practical way to start my hobby again. With the money I'll be paying, I can go to ten to twelve sessions in JamJar (a painting studio "for everyone" in Dubai, you can Google it) or just buy more materials and paint at home.