After work I had about an hour and a half to burn through, so I spent my time wandering Queen St. W and poking around at the Eaton Centre. Being that it’s two days before Christmas, indeed the crowds were sizable. I didn’t get the sense of desperation or urgency that I figured might permeate the space. No, instead it felt like everyone was just going around doing business as usual. I popped into a couple of stores, but the lineups were far too long. I was content to just look around like and feel the energy of the crowd. Over at the Apple Store I took a good look at the iPod Nanos on display. Over at Sephora I sprayed a couple of men’s colognes on sticks, trying to figure out which I might want to buy for myself after the holiday. Yeah, more than anything I was basically there to people watch without gawking. Does that make me odd? In other scenarios I’d be perfectly happy just lounging around on my couch. Given a choice though, I think at this point in my life I’d be out walking around looking at stuff. It’s not that home is uncomfortable, but I’m basically on my own. Don’t get me wrong. I’m the type of person that needs to retreat and isolate myself in this sanctuary to recharge and re-centre myself. I think I just have a lot of energy to burn.
Tag Archive: shopping
Mentally blocking my efforts
I was over at the mall hanging out with Sharon who I’ve known for what seems like forever. We didn’t really have a goal in mind, but eventually it turned into a bit of a clothing hunt for me. I was all too happy to take advantage of the opportunity because it’s not often that I have female help to go shopping. After picking up a couple of new shirts, we headed into the leather store on a whim. I originally wanted to skip it because of my goal of buying a new jacket only when I hit 180 lbs. As of this morning I was only 3 lbs. off, but I didn’t want to reward myself early. Still, the signs in the store windows indicated that there was a sale, so I was just curious.
I told my friend that I was looking for a bomber length jacket. When we went in she seemed to head straight for something that caught her eye. As she started looking for a size, a salesperson came by and asked what size we were looking for: “medium or large?” Instinctively I replied “large.” I put the jacket on and it was OK. I don’t think I was too sold on it though. The salesperson picked up a similar jacket with slightly different detailing, and I put it on. My friend commented that she liked the design, but they didn’t seem too convinced. The salesperson suddenly exclaimed, “let’s try a medium!” When I heard that I was unconvinced. Come on. Medium? No freaking way, right? Well, I just wanted to humour them so I put it on. When I did they were both “WHOOOOA!” Apparently it looked perfect. I wasn’t sure, but they were telling me it was working, so I believed them and bought the jacket. I currently plan to just hold on to it up until I hit 180. Still, I’m just shocked that I was able to get into that thing.
It’s amazing how much my experiences growing up play into my sense of self these days. I suppose it’s obvious that it would, but still. Part of me would like to say that I’ve changed and matured enough such that what happened before shouldn’t factor into anything. However, it’s just not the case. I never would have imagined that I’d find myself in a medium-sized anything. Mentally my mind just keeps telling me not to even bother trying because it just won’t work. It never did before, so why would it now? These experiences are telling me that I need to keep an open mind. I’m working hard on changing myself. I can’t sabotage my efforts by mentally blocking myself, right?
The case for Boxing Day from home
I’ve been sitting on the couch just relaxing on the chaise part of the sectional, napping, listening to music, and catching up on reading. It’s been that kind of day. I’ve skipped out on battling against the crowds on the hunt for Boxing Day goodies, mostly because I don’t have the stomach for that kind of thing. Instead, I’ve been living vicariously through people on my Twitter feed who’ve been sending short missives to the universe about being catty to people trying on ill-fitting clothing. Yeah, just think, I missing all that! Right. Though, that’s not to say that I’m missing out on the deals entirely. A lot of places have been posting some good deals on their online stores. I’m sure there would probably be deeper cuts in person, but I’m all right with it. I mean, if it means I can shop from home where it’s warm and I don’t have to bring out my inner Mars aggression just to get a parking spot, then great. Actually, Best Buy posted their Boxing Day deals on Christmas Eve. So, while I was over at my parents’ place I was perusing the goods from this laptop. I ended up ordering an HDMI cable, a Bluetooth headset, and an iPod dock/clock radio all at decent discounts. If I’m in the mood to brave the stores in person, the 26th isn’t the only day to do so. These discounts tend to last for a few days anyway, right?
Anyway, to all of you that went out to get something, what did you get? Were the crowds out of control? Was it worth the effort?
First Ikea experience
Maybe it’ll surprise you, but up until today I had never stepped foot inside an Ikea. With the idea of picking up a coffee table in mind, my mother (who had come to visit to help get my place organized) and I ventured over to the North York location to have a peek around. I had no idea what to expect. As we approached the place, the building looked enormous. Immediately, I kind of felt dwarfed by the scale of it. I parked on the upper deck and we ventured down to the front entrance. As I walked to the front I couldn’t help but notice just how crowded the place was on a Saturday afternoon. I have never seen a furniture place that packed, you know? I passed a lot of families with their little kids in tow. I swear, you’d think they we were all heading into an amusement park. Maybe I was imagining it, but there was some palpable excitement among the kiddies. On my first step in, the fact that I saw kids playing in a ball pit made me laugh out loud. Yup, the magic happens inside.
So my mother and I were wandering around the showroom, kind of ooh-ing and aah-ing at some of the merchandise. Sure, there are some items there that kind of look inexpensive, but if you pick the right item you’ll get that whole clean-line modern thing without much fuss. Now, yesterday I said I was eyeing the Ramvik or the Klubbo coffee tables. When I finally got to see it for myself, I realized that the Klubbo was far too low to the ground for my liking, and the Ramvik was just way too chunky. Even the fact that the Ramvik had storage was not enough to make me want it. However, then I saw a black-brown version of the Expedit coffee table. It was thick, sufficiently chunky, and looked sturdy. The glass on top gave it a bit more character. At that point I knew that if I were to get a table, that would be the one. So, I pencilled it onto my Ikea sheet. It just so happened that beside the coffee table they had the corresponding side table. I figured that if I got the coffee table it would probably be a good idea to just get the side table as well. At $60, why not? I pencilled that in, too. I wasn’t intending on getting a bookcase either, but when I saw the 4×2 bookcase and noticed that it was also Expedit, I just decided to pencil it in as well. I don’t know if I intended to actually buy all of that from the get go, but I figured that writing down what I wanted wouldn’t hurt.
Well, my mother and I wound our way through the store. We tried to minimize the impulse stuff as much as we could, though I did end up getting an Årstid floor lamp as well. We eventually got to that self-pick up area with the flat-pack boxes. Right by the entrance was the bookcase. Sweet mercy, that thing was freaking heavy. I was already wondering how the heck we were going to bring it home. As we went around, the boxes piled up. The cart was heavily loaded. Every time there was a slight slope, the cart really started rolling out of my control. That’s how heavy everything was. All in all, I ended up paying $365 for the day, which, in my mind, seemed obscenely cheap for all the stuff I got.
When we got back to my car, my mother and I sort of had to play Ikea Tetris just to get all of the items to fit into my car. She had all of her training lifting heavy patients at the hospital. Even though I knew that, I was still quite impressed with her ability to lift things to get them in. That bookcase package wasn’t light at all. I’m also impressed with the Corolla. I knew that it was good at holding cargo because of the fact that I was able to stuff all of my boxes in there during my move. Still, the fact that I got all of the furniture in there just amazed me. I really did a lot of heavy lifting today. Moving has that effect, no? Part of me wishes that this process is on-going because this necessary weight lifting must be doing something good for me (or so I’d like to think).
So, it’s late on a Saturday now. All of the furniture is assembled and I swear, my living room is now looking like a proper living room. Yes, there’s more stuff, but no, it’s not cramped. Everything goes well together, and that makes me happy. Very soon, I’m going to start work on softening up the room. I’m a little afraid that all of the pieces together might be a little overwhelming. Maybe adding cushions and other textures to the couch will help. We’ll see.
Yup. It’s been yet another productive weekend.
Insolent sales clerk
So, I was over at the electronics store (not a big box one) to buy a new set of earphones. The current ones I have for my iPod are starting to wear down. The sound cuts off frequently and I find that I have to tilt my head slightly one way or the other, or jiggle the cord just to get the sound back. Ridiculous! Anyway, in the store there’s the display with all sorts of earphones. Up in the top row I saw a set of Skullcandy ones so I tried to get it off the hook. After a moment or two I noticed that I couldn’t pull it off the damn thing. I just gave up and tried a different set. They too were locked in. How the hell am I supposed to comparison shop like that? What if I wanted to check out the specs of different sets to figure out which one suited my purposes? Whatever.
After a minute or two of frustration a clerk came over seemingly smiling at my ineptitude and I asked for the set on the top shelf. He pulled the magnetic key out of his pocket and unlocked the thing. Seriously, so where were you a minute or two ago, jackass? Don’t look at me like I’m an idiot. He brought it to the counter and promptly started ringing it in. I had to put a halt to that immediately, because seriously, I’d like to take a look at what I’m getting first. I went back to the display and started pawing the other brands. He just stood there as I tried to check the backside of the packages for stats, knowing full well that I couldn’t take them off properly. I went to check a cheaper brand and the clerk chuckled as if I had no clue: “[that brand] is not better than Skullcandy.” Gee, thanks. Why don’t you just let me look? Ugh.
In the end, I didn’t leave the place if only because the ones that I wanted were on sale. After he rang it in he asked if I was interested in the extended warranty. Apparently those exist for earbuds. Were you aware of that? I refused. Why would I want to spend 133% of the original cost on a gamble like that. First of all, these are cheap earbuds. If something were to happen to them 2 years from now I won’t be crying a river over them. He tried a second time saying that it could mean two extra pairs of earbuds for free in the future if something goes wrong. I still refused. He insisted, “for an extra $10?” I was already getting annoyed, but I kept it to a simple “no.” Think he’d get the hint, right? He did stop, but he stated while shaking is head “not many people would turn down two extra pairs of earbuds for $10.” AS IF. Don’t shake your head at me, asswipe! You know very well that you’re peddling bullshit. Don’t get mad because I saw through that.
Sorry, I just wanted to let go of all that.
Geek secrets
On my second last day in Japan I headed back to Akihabara to check out what I considered to be a super-geek store. Now, the area is already known for having a lot of the geek shops–video games, manga (adult and otherwise), anime, hobby figures, etc. This one particular store though seems to consolidate it all into one shop. Back in 2006, we’d gone to a branch of the store out in the far west of the city. Being that they opened a store closer to where I was located, I thought I’d check it out.
I wandered around looking for the building being unsure what to expect, but when I saw a tall black tower I knew that I’d found it. I was a little unsure about walking in. Why? Hmm…maybe I was suddenly hit by a little bit of self-consciousness. Did I want to be seen walking into such the place? Then it occurred to me that no one would ever see me again. Point! So, I started wandering around. Eight floors of geek-wares. Second floor had costumes and anime cels. The third floor had all sorts of manga and artbooks. I made a feeble attempt to look for a particular title, but I got lost amid all the kanji. I found two artbooks that I wanted though so I purchased them. In the other location, they put the contents in these heavy black bags which were designed to hide the contents. Now, that’s dead useful if you purchased something pervy, or mildly embarrassing. Thing is, in carrying a black bag, you’re sort of giving away the fact that you’re carrying something that you don’t want broadcast. This time, they put my purchase in a paper bag and taped it shut with three pieces of tape. Still opaque, but branded with the company’s name. I think such a bag still induces curiosity if you recognize the company, right?
So, again, why is an opaque bag important? Well, the fourth floor of the building was purely hentai. There were so many illustrated boobies and flying fluids. It was fascinating. This floor was actually the most popular floor in the building from what I remembered. There were a lot of guys perusing thing, pawing at the good, collecting piles and piles of…whatever. It all caught me off guard. As I walked up to the fifth floor, I saw a sign describing floor contents. I couldn’t make out all of the details, but I noticed that the fourth floor (the floor I was just at) had kanji for “men” on it. The fifth floor had kanji for “women” on it. Well, I wasn’t in the mood to face a full floor of men loving men, so I headed for floor 6. I don’t recall exactly what was on the floor. I think it was a full floor of doujinshi. Floors 7 and 8 had video games and hobby figures. Once again though, they didn’t have much in the way of figures from [that one show] that I would have been interested in. Feh.
Well, walking around with a bag from that store was interesting. I could have sworn that people were looking at the bag wondering what was in it. Or furthermore they were wondering what the foreigner was doing carrying something from the store. Maybe it was all imagined. Actually, I don’t think it was. I did some more general shopping before heading to Sensōji and the Nakamise shopping street. The street is full of souvenir type stuff all leading up to the big Buddhist temple. I’d been there in 2006, so I knew that it was a great place to get stuff. I went into one store to shop for a yukata for myself. I set my bags down as I was trying things on. One of the store clerks had to set them aside to access a storage drawer. As she picked up my bags, the paper bag sort of popped open a little bit possibly exposing the contents. The clerk started apologizing–genuinely sounding like she was sorry that I was possibly ‘exposed’. Oh, she knew. Of course, its not like I was carrying illustrated porn, so I didn’t care too much. In any case, I thought that sort of reaction was interesting.
That store, by the way, forgot to give me a free belt for my yukata. Boo!
Vicious December
When I left work for home, I saw a long line up for the streetcar so I decided to hike up to the station. I love cooler days like this because I find it easier to free the mind of thoughts. In the summer, I tend to focus on sweat which isn’t so much of a pleasant thing to meditate upon. By the time I left though it had just finished snowing a couple of centimetres. So the sidewalk was covered by a layer of watery slush. I was wearing my Rockports, so I found it pretty difficult to deal with the slush. My footing slipped many times as I shuffled along. I didn’t fall, but I very well could have if I kept going. In the end, I gave up after a few blocks and headed for the nearest streetcar stop.
I have boots, which is what I’d normally wear when I’m anticipating this type of weather. It’s just that they’re ridiculously heavy. I wore them for one week a couple of weeks ago. By the end of that period my knees were achy and my legs were constantly worn out. So, I’ve stopped wearing them and have been wearing my summer shoes in the meantime. Of course, that’s problematic. They’re not suited for this type of weather. The shoes need good traction. So, I think it’s really time to buy proper footwear once again.
I need to head into the malls sometime soon. Thing is, do I really want to brave the crowds? I’m really tempted to put this off until later. Besides that, I don’t want to add yet another thing to my growing list of expenses this month. December is a month that’s vicious on the bank account. Spending can easily get out of hand if it isn’t kept in check, right? I’ve still got to buy gifts. I also have to pay for a windshield replacement–it’s been cracked since before my Arizona trip. There’s also an anticipated expense taking place on Wednesday of next week–I’ll talk about that one when the time comes. There’s a lot to do, and a lot to buy.
I figure that I can rest a little bit once the month is over, but meanwhile…eternal vigilance!
Uh…and less long walks to the station.
Blood and clothing
Today we spent a few hours shopping. There are supposed to be a ton of good deals to be had out there on this day after Thanksgiving. Unfortunately for me, I was sort of tied down to where my aunts wanted to shop so I didn’t really get to sniff out anything unbelievable. Even so, I got a lot.
Oh man. Something pretty bad happened to me in the fitting room. This involves blood, so skip over to the next paragraph if you can’t take that sort of thing. So…after trying stuff on, I could feel something starting to drip from my nose. I got a freakin’ nose bleed. This dry weather has been really rough on me–especially in conjunction with my meds. I was trying to balance getting my pants back on and tying my shoe laces with not getting blood all over the place. My hands were getting covered in red. It was pretty gross. I couldn’t touch any of the clothes in that I brought in. So, without any options, I ended up wiping my hands all over the t-shirt I was wearing under my collared shirt. The blood kept coming, so I kept using my white shirt as a way to wipe my hands. That was pretty rotten. Eventually it stopped, and I tried to hide my hands as I got out. I left my clothes with one of my aunts then hustled to the restrooms. I don’t think anyone noticed, but I certainly felt embarassed. I had to go around for a few hours hiding a bloodied shirt which made me look like I’d participated in some sort of gruesome crime scene.
Anyway, I did end up buying some good stuff. Today I purchased three good pairs of pants, a shirt, track pants, and some boxers. It all came out to about US$130 which isn’t bad at all. After swiping my Visa, the cashier asked if I wanted it charged in US or Canadian dollars. I guessed the CAN$ was at around US$1.02, but thought that there would be a small charge for conversion, making US the better deal in this situation. In any case, even if I’m wrong, it’s a tight race anyway so the difference won’t be that much.
Seems I’ve purchased a lot of clothes here. The other day, I got two shirts, a suede jacket, socks, and shoes for just over $100. I’ve been complaining that it’s about time I phase some stuff out of the closet, so shopping like this is valuable to me.
Tonight, one of my aunt’s friends/neighbours invited us all over for dinner. She’s got good friends. Urggh. More eating though. Tomorrow, we’re going to head to Sedona/Grand Canyon. Busy busy busy!
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