Two hobbies mixed as one

A Beijing backyard

This is the only picture I took of this backyard, and I cannot recall where I took it.  I sort of walked past the backyard, found it intriguing, lift my camera and took the shot, and I had to move on, didn't even have another moment to linger.  In retrospect, I should have spent another good 20 minutes with this place, it's so graphical. 
I had spent a lot of money in photography, but in retrospect, in the wrong way.  Most, like 90%+, was on gears, and usually in the pursuit of the wrong type of gear.  If I could start all over, I could likely save half of the money spent so far. I live in the age of the digital revolution, and unavoidably I was duly sucked into the vicious cycle of the ever-improving generations of digital cameras.  But the answer to the ultimate question of "have my pictures improved with the acquisition of each newer camera?" No.  The pictures in my 250+ posts are from very different cameras, from the 1st generation digital camera, to the latest and "bestest" crop, scanned film, and phone cameras......... The "quality" (not IQ) of the pictures are independent of the cameras that took them. 
Will I be pursuing the latest and "bestest" technology?  Yes, that is part of the fun, but it has nothing to do with the "quality" of the pictures.  That last part, I am very sure.  Why am I still spending money on new gears when they are not going to improve my picture "qualities"?  Consider acquiring gears and taking pictures as two different hobbies, then you'll understand.