1) Collected works

Always getting very philosophical after a major move, where half of my things are now in storage and the other half is in various stages of decomposition on my apartment floor, I have concluded that 99% of the crap I own is inconsequential to a purposeful life. The same may be for you as well. To combat this, I am adopting a new (well, new-ish) strategy, borrowed from a dear friend's parents: the aim being to collect as much genuinely well-edited crafted stuff, rather than branded disposable stuff as possible.

On the other hand, I love most of my stuff: my CDs, most of my clothing, my bike, my shoes. I would be a lousy Buddhist if I were a Buddhist.

Instead, I have opted to employ the "curated stuff" theory of acquisition, which is to say that I am trying very hard not to buy so much junk and to buy much more Better Stuff. I want to think I never bought lousy stuff to begin with, that I always aimed for quality over volume, but one glance at my shoerack illustrates that statement is only half true. I buy good stuff, but a whole lot of it. I think in the interests of supporting the economy rationally, I should buy even better stuff (perhaps this is an upgrade to the blow-the-doors-off quality?) and even less of it. At the same time, I would love a house full of collected treasures when I become old and infirm, and as much as they would have you believe otherwise, Prada is not forever. Nor is Pinarello.

As encouragement, I will begin to post (occasionally, not constantly) pictures of my collected treasures, some from far off places and some just from next door.

2) Wedded Bliss?

I went to a fabulous Indian wedding the other day (I say this casually, but it was closer to "ridiculous" and it was in India proper), which was my first Indian wedding and hopefully not my last. Having never been to an Indian wedding before, I was awed by the enormity of it all and drawn to notice the contrasts between Indian weddings and Christian weddings:

i) The party is not all about the bride, and there is no real expectation that she should be. This strikes me as remarkably refreshing, not the least in part because I have been watching a lot of Bridezillas lately. In fact, while Bride and Groom show up at the festivities at some point, it is usually a few hours late and the party has long since begun by then - it seems the whole concept is built around a party for the guests, and that makes for a marvelously memorable wedding.

ii) There is a huge emphasis on making happiness rather than expecting happiness. This has left me much to think about. I think it telling also, that there was a long, drawn out melancholy procession after the actual wedding ceremony where there were Sanskrit singers (closer to moaners) and free flowing tears on the bride's side...not happy tears per se, but mournful ones. It reminds me somewhat of that Everclear song "Learning How to Smile:"

Life just keeps on gettin' smaller and we never ask why
Why there is no perfect place, yes I know this is true
I'm just learning how to smile, that's not easy to do

I suppose I am then reminded that happiness is really defined as when life is "not bad" and that it is hard work to be happy, or rather, find happiness in what it is you do. It is a lot to think about.