Friday Five for November 28, 2003

1. Do you like to shop? Why or why not?

Hell yes !!! Give me a break … shopping is second only to television on my list of enjoyable, non-sexual activities. And when I say shopping, I mean shopping … not that buying thing some people do. I’ve got friends who are, and I suspect some of you are, those type of people that know what they want, go into a store, purchase it … and leave. And that’s about the only time they want to venture into a store or mall. And yes, I do that sometimes too … when I know specifically what I’m looking for and desiring to acquire. But that my friends is buying, not shopping.

Shopping is looking … browsing … acquiring information and securing ideas in sometimes a deliberate, othertimes a random, kind of way.

Take for instance when I was looking for a TiVo … I checked on-line for prices, read reviews, went to several stores, touched and looked at the various models … then made my decision. That’s “shopping” for a specific item.

Or, how I came to make a few recent purchases … a couple of stretch tees, a gloves and scarf set, and a pair of earrings … total time to acquire the items … a little under three hours … total cost … slightly more than $40.00. All acquired by just walking the mall, browsing, looking at things … while searching for nothing in particular. Entering the mall that day … I had no idea I would acquire any of those items. That’s “shopping” in a random way.

Now me … I love both types of shopping. I find it relaxing. I find it fun. I like the crowds … I like the life of mall activity. I like to people watch … I like to scour for deals … I like the quest and challenge of finding just the right thing.

2. What was the last thing you purchased? Hmmm … some lipgloss. Go figure. (In case you’re wondering Oyster Girl and Lovechild. The Oyster Girl is great for wearing by itself or over a lip pencil application.)

3. Do you prefer shopping online or at an actual store? Why?

I do both. I like the store shopping benefit of instant gratification and being able to touch, feel and try-on items. I like on-line shopping because I can check out a lot of things very quickly. I often use both in conjunction with one another. I’m meeting my parents and Bro in about 3 hours (4:30 phreaking AM) to do some post-Thanksgiving early morning sale shopping … earlier I visited the web sites of a few stores I’m planning on going to and checked out some of the sale items, noting a couple items I do want to acquire. Books I tend to always buy on-line, it’s just easier and it’s rare I need a book immediately. Clothes, unless it’s a great on-line sale or I can’t find it anywhere, I tend to purchase in a brick-n-mortar.

4. Did you get an allowance as a child? How much was it?

I think at various times I did, where for limited times we did the “chores for allowance” thing, but it was not the standard mode of operation. I had my chores and responsibilities to do around the house, and I just had to do them. If I needed money, Mom and Dad always took care of me. Though I worked from the time I was 14, so through high school and afterwards, I had my own spending money. (Mom and Dad paid for my school clothes, but if I wanted something other than they were going to purchase, I had to pay the difference.)

5. What was the last thing you regret purchasing? I really can’t think of anything. When I’m shopping for a specific item, I’m just as nauseatingly deliberate in my decision-making process as I am in deciding what to do with my life … just Ask Shaft!, so by the time I actually make the purchase, it’s pretty thoroughly evaluated. Most of my random shopping excursions end up being for items of rather reasonable cost so that I don’t regret a misinformed decision … and when I do … I usually just return it. Regret is something I don’t do often … and when I do … it has nothing to do with clothes.