All My Gettings

Yesterday, due to a thought process that isn't all that interesting or pertinent, I found myself at the Mall (it gets caps because it is, after all, the biggest shopping complex in the world). Going to the mall is alwasys somewhat of a bittersweet experience for me. See, I like stuff. However, I hate spending money. I mean, I spend money, often recklessly, but it's always in bursts and more often than not for things that I convince myself need to be acquired by Alea, Inc. (like a nesting set of springform pans). Yesterday, I was not really in a convincing mood, though. I mean, the brown three piece suit for $129. I actually questioned when I would wear it, as if that stopped me before.

Another reason why mall trawling is less than ideal to me is that it always makes me feel a series of thoughts usually in this order:

1. I'm poor.
2. I'm really, really uncool.
3. I'm a sociopath, as everyone else here seems to be with others.
4. At what point did I teeter into the camp of people who shake their heads and thinks "oh, you kids..." when around teenagers?
5. How can I look at the map without broadcasting to the world that I'm one of those people who needs a map to navigate a mall?
6. So, this store isn't quite what I was thinking it was. How long do I have to spend pretending to look at stuff before I can leave?

As you can tell, not really uplifting, inspiring thoughts. And somewhat stressful. However, I'm always glad to leave the mall and think, "Wow, I'm really glad I went to university and don't have to work retail for the rest of my life." So, maybe it balances out. Plus, this trip ended with me finding a zipper sweater for ten bucks and purchasing Requiem for a Dream. All in all, it was success.