Ah, The Wonders Of Retail Therapy

Seriously you can never, ever go wrong with a bit of shopping to jazz up your life. I mean, what is life without shopping? Incredibly blah, that's what.

I bought my first pair of Converse sneakers today! Yes, yay! Remember how excited I was at the thought of owning a purple pair? Well, turns out, you don't really get the purple ones in India. But I got a nice olive green pair which is apparently called military green now. Eh. They kind of look like this. A shade darker, I think, white laces instead of military green and not so canvas-y and fluffy looking.

I also bought a couple of other things. Two pairs of plaid shorts to laze around the house, two pairs of jeans with which I'm in love, denim capris and brown shorts. I dragged my mom to so many places and she came without a fuss, for which I am eternally grateful. My mom's a smart one, she is. Usually when we're out shopping, I have to spend about 10 minutes convincing her how every little thing I have my eye on is a good investment. If I thought a particular nightwear item was adorable, her reaction would be "Why do you want to actually spend money on something you're never going to wear in public? Wear those (ratty old) clothes that you already have (which were new when I was 10)." Today, however we had decided a firm budget for me and not a rupee more. So when I spotted those cute little plaid shorts, this is how the conversation went:

Me: Ooh! Mom look! Those are soo cute! I want this one. Can I buy it? Please? Pretty please?

Mom: What is that for? [tone getting high pitched] Are you going to wear that outside? Look at how short it is!

Me: Mom, relax. It's for wearing at home. Can I buy a pair?

Mom: Oh. Yeah sure.

Me: [confused about which colour to pick] Which ones? Both are equally cute.

Mom: . . . .

Me: [all hesitant] Um... can I... uh... buyboththesepairs?

Mom: Sure.

Me: Really?! Thank you thank you thank you! Hey, wait a minute. You're only agreeing 'cause the money's coming out of my budget, right?

Mom: [grinning] Yup.

Anyway, by the time I got home, I had so many parcels in my hand (Mom insists on asking that each item be given in a separate bag. She really likes those bags. And free stuff). But I also like carrying all those bags 'cause it makes me feel like I've shopped a lot. Yes, I'm only slightly insane.


And even though I was so tired that I could have fallen asleep climbing up the stairs, and my feet were so sore that I was constantly hallucinating about a hot water foot bath, I was completely happy. Did I not tell you retail therapy works wonders?

P.S. New Converse! Yay-ness!

Apparently It's Diwali!

Well, Happy Diwali then. I can't believe I almost missed the first day of the holiday. I had no idea that it began today; not until I was very rudely awakened by the ghastly cracker cacophony at an unearthly hour this morning. Yeesh!


One thing I love about Diwali is that it is a brilliant excuse for me to splurge on shopping. Yeah, yeah, I know it's the festival of lights and the diyas and rangolis are really pretty and blah; but for me it'll always be the season de shopping! I'm not really a traditionalist when it comes to these things and hello, did I mention the shopping? Sure, the crackers are terribly annoying, but hey, there's nothing like a bit of retail therapy to brighten your mood.

Crackers. Aah. The bane of my happy Diwali existence. Everywhere you go these three (apparently four) days, every minute of the freakin' day, you just cannot escape the awful, awful noisy crackers. You have to be fully prepared to be awoken at a time no sane person should be up by the stupid, relentless noises that go on and on and on and on. And of course, if you're planning to catch up on your beauty sleep in the day or plan to tuck in early, fat chance mister. Did I not mention the relentlessness of the sounds? Even as I type, the crackers being burst below my building keep startling me. Argh!

And not only are these crackers slowly murdering the environment (air pollution and noise pollution), encouraging child labour, scaring innocent animals (not to mention humans. Those sounds send me into a cardiac arrest every single time), they are also just plain annoying. So, this Diwali, kids, say no to crackers and stop irritating the hell outta me. [/rant]