Its the time of the year again.
The time of the year to start clearing the house.
And chase away spiders, cockroach, lizards and whatever uninvited guests from the drawers and cabinets.

Its the one of the rare times of the year, when you revisit the mementos and stash of junkets that you have accumulated over the year, perhaps even over the years. Movie ticket stubs, too-cute-to-throw keychain souvenirs from family vacations and AAA rating Chinese essays to show off to someone one day.

When you start doing the packing, you notice that you have gradually changed over the years. And realize that things you thought were important to retain, weren't really that important after all. You just need to be rational, heartless and throw, in order for the packing/cleaning to be fruitful.

That's easier said than done.  More often, it ends up in a reshuffling and rearranging exercise. From one drawer to another, or to another section of the house.

You can literally hear the voices of the items pleading not to be thrown. It is quite amazing how some items are able to constantly avoid the fate of being discarded by me.

One of them being this fake wooden katana that I have, buried deep in my cabinet. Like an annual ritual, I will pull the katana out, wield it, swing it a couple of times to hear the swishing sound and sheath it back.

It feels strangely empowering, to pretend to be a samurai for that few minutes.

Okay, so much for being a samurai, time to slash the trash.