Popagandhi

I’m not much of a shopper — I’m that anomaly of a girl who would rather waltz into a store, pick up everything she needs for that year, and finish that job within 10 minutes. Much to the chagrin of the people I date. At work I have colleagues who are constantly checking on the shipping status of their shipments of clothes from the US, or who go off for lunch and return late as they’ve just spent a large sum of their paycheck on an in-house sale of products from our parent company’s other businesses (not good when said parent company deals in Apple products, as well as Armani Exchange and Calvin Klein, amongst others). There’s a small running joke among the girls at work: they all shop for clothes, I shop for toasters and mice on Amazon.

My retail obsession is every bit as real as theirs, I believe, and also manifests itself in the same way: post-breakup, I suppose I display the same urgent need for retail therapy. This evening, for example, I walked around town thinking I NEED to buy something. My task would have been much simpler if I had known what that thing was. For 3 hours, I vacillated. At first it was a Bob Dylan “Modern Times” Deluxe set with DVD (even though I already bought the standard audio CD, as I couldn’t wait to walk to HMV, I needed Bob Dylan too urgently). Then it was the Razer Pro 1.6 Mouse and the accompanying $50 mousepad. After that phase passed I almost bought myself a few kilograms of kimchi from a Korean supermarket, but had to remind myself my aunt could make me a few tubs for free.

Thinking I would have an early night (a thought which always forebodes how I won’t have an early night), I chanced upon this site, which got me to watch my collection of Blackadder and Yes Minister — in no time at all I was on eBay looking for the complete boxed set of Monty Python’s Flying Circus. I thought I would buy myself an early birthday present. The experience reminded me of why exactly I hate auctions.

I never win, though I come very close.

Not rozeflowergirl.

Having to stay up until 6 am to try to outsmart someone trying to outbid you is not fun. Besides, at 35 pounds… I could buy brand new from Amazon Marketplace, rather than the pressed-in-China Asian edition I almost bought. I guess if I had reached that conclusion 4 hours earlier, I would have been US$80 poorer. eBay: Give me back 4 hours of my life!!