The Philosophy of Stuff
Part of me enjoys moving. When I lived in Montreal, I moved into a new apartment practically every year I lived there. It was good practice for coming to Japan. I came here with bags and I'm going back with boxes, true. But it is not all mine. I successfully compressed and compacted six years of life here into three boxes. I'm happy about this because life ought not to be measured by the amount of stuff one acquires. Hard to convince others about this in a materialistic society, but it is something I truly believe: stuff takes over your life.
Mostly I have a penchant for buying books and CDs. After that it is clothes. And recently, I'm interested in computer stuff and other technology (video camera, mainly). But I find my tastes still go toward the compact range: iPod, digital camera, notebook computer, slim compact printer to complement the notebook, etc.
I have a good eye for surveying what I own and classifying it into what is essential (as in, what goes back to Canada with me), and what isn't. God, so much isn't!