Declustering
Hmmmm, can’t hide my satisfaction after spending hours declustering. The weather is just so right for activity like this. Oh yea, just in case you might wanna know what exactly declustering means, it is actually something like spring cleaning. You basically throw away redundant things, old magazines/college and uni notes and bits and pieces here and there. The fact is, declustering is the best way for someone to unnerve. Well, maybe you wouldn’t feel the magical feeling when you first got your hands on those stuff you’ve been meaning to clean up or put away but trust me, it’s the ‘aftermath’ feelings we are aiming for… Ummm, unbeatable 
See, I am now swelling with sense of satisfaction though I just broke the glass ornament ex-highschool mates gave to me before I left JB……
I must admit going through piles and piles of old stuff isn’t the easiest task, like not easy at all. You have to be determined especially chucking away things that you’ve been keeping for ages. I must have thrown away a couple of shoes boxes, some glossy brochures, piles of Thermodynamics, Organic Chemistry and Additional Mathematics files and some other well, stuff… Saying goodbye to those notes was tough. How could I throw away those notes carefully written by ME… Anyways, those have to go straight into bin…Next up, needed to clear the book shelf to house my new collections. Geez, It’s so dusty in there.
After clearing the book shelf, I turned my attention to the cabinet sitting right beside my bed. I have been shoving things in that little cabinet. Flung open the door, there were 2 pencil cases, 1 with barbie doll printed on it and another Garfield. Those are my favourite pencil cases and am not prepare to throw ‘em away. Maybe I could find some space to keep ‘em. Venturing further into the space, there were 3 shoe boxes. Heaven knows I love to keep letters, birthday and seasonal greeting cards, photos I don’t like and other things (ie. monitress tag, price tags and etc) in shoe boxes. Carefully taking off the lid of one of the boxes, my eyes were tranfixed on an envelope with my name and home address written on it. I haven’t been seeing this familiar handwriting for ages!
Putting my task in hand aside, I lifted the envelope and started reading the content of the letter. One by one I read and got sucked into the time machine and travelled few years back from now. I had been snail mailing a high school friend. We would write each other few pages of letters filled with every bits of what’s going on around us. For years, those letters kept my head up high when I met setbacks, they never ceased brighten up my days. I remembered receiving letters from this friend when I was still studying in UK. Less often that before but still, there were letters wrapped with endless warmth sent from time to time. To be fair to other friends (friends I met in primary school), they too, had been sending letters to me.
For some strange reasons, I don’t get those letters no more. I think it all started exactly a year ago. Perhaps everyone has been too busy moving on with life, getting a career started or juggling between work and boyfriends/girlfriends. As for me, I was and am too, busy adjusting and adopting a brand new working life. Maybe I should have written letters to those friends… Can’t blame them for not writing, after all. Wait, spotted a mobile phone number at the end of one letter. Without thinking twice, jabbed the number and suddenly clutching the receiver harder than ever when heard the first ring on the other end. It only took him 3 rings to answer the call. I could still remember his voice, low and slow.
‘Hi, YY? Adeline here.’, I said. ‘Hi Adeline.’, he said. I couldn’t help but to feel a pang of disappointment. I hadn’t detected a slightest joy or surprise in his flat tone. ‘D’you know which Adeline I am?’, I asked him with a small voice. It turned out that he’s at work, in Singapore and he would ring me back later. I would give him a chance to sound surprised later. Already my hands were opening another shoe box. Staring right back at me was a stack of photographs. For the very moment, Nickeback’s Photograph started ringing in my ears.
Gosh, I almost couldn’t bare to look at some of ‘em. The background was some building in Paris and standing in front of it was a plump girl that remotely resembled me. OK, that’s me and my fatself. There’s no b***** way in the world I’m going to show it to anyone. Moving on, there were photos of me few years back, sitting next to my cousins beaming happily into the camera lens. Look how much I have evolved… I feel like a butterfly and maybe I’d just keep these photos away from anyone….
Wow, I found at least 5 beautiful jewellery boxes in a larger transparant chocolate box. Oh yea, those… You see, guys, no, boys in my school and other schools had the liking to express their feelings via little gifts, eg. necklace and ermm, necklace. Therefore, I have a collection of necklaces which I never intended wearing. By the way, love letters were another mean letting your feelings known. I happened to still…. well, keeping a few of those from a few anonymous boys. I should have thrown them away, which I did but decided to keep a few better written to show my grandchildren, one day
I believe the chi (or is it fengshui??) of my room has improved now that I threw away lots of unwanted stuff. Maybe I should do a wardrobe declustering one of the weekends. I don’t remember where to find my red sweater no more. Lemme jot it down to my to-do list.
By the way, I had been meaning to go in the office this morning. I felt guilty having taken Wednesday off and I can see imaginary work piling up by the desk when I get in the office tomorrow. I also happened to check my work emails and GOSH, there had been emais shooting out from different people, discussing about something I think I should be working on. I am so behind the schedule and am not gonna meet the deadline… I should be panicking and should be on the way to the office but not when I started reading my latest purchase ‘Undomestic Goddess’ by Sophie Kinsella. I ended up curling on my bed finishing the entire book from 10 am to 4.30 pm. I meant to read a few pages but well… Besides, it was raining. I couldn’t resist reading on the bed on a rainny afternoon. It felt too right to just continue. I think I’d go the work earlier tomorrow, provided I could rise earlier… maybe I’d work late.. Hmm, better still, I can avoid the traffic jam too.
Oh yea, my friend did ring me back. This time he didn’t disappoint me. I could hear excitment in his voice down the receiver. He explained he couldn’t talk just now because he’s at work. I guess that’s a valid reason. We exchanged news about ourselves for the next 22 minutes. Lots have happened and changed since we last corresponded. He’s been working for over a year and he thought I was still in the UK! He said there were times, at night he would think about me and wonder what I was doing. Told him I did the same thing. You don’t just wipe out someone you shared your secrets with just like that. I made him promise to write 10 letters to me when he gets home later. That should make up the lost time. I have truck load of stories to tell him. Maybe I’d start writing tonight too.
I think I will spend the night writing letters. Letters to YY, Achille and Giorgio (2 italians I met in uni) and also Steve (Londoner I met in uni). I’ve just found their addresses in one of the shoe boxes. Yes, I miss them dearly. Oh wait, have I mentioned Dennis Current? The nice american exchange student from uni who’s been sending me pressies and postcards.
