Living Life as a Consumer

I don't know what came over me. There I was, minding my own business, having a generally productive work day when a thought flashed in my brain, "Hey, let's surf over to Newegg.com and see what's on sale!"

Often I see items that are great prices, but I usually have someone to talk me down off the ledge before purchasing everything in the daily deals. Morgan usually fills that role because he can find fault with anything. This time he was sorely absent. On the front page, beckoning me to take it on an extended holiday, stood a Toshiba 47"1080P widescreen LCD television.

And it was marked down $900 with free shipping! All for the low, low price of $1,400.

Normally this kind of "deal" would affect me little. I would send the link to Morgan. He would laugh at me. Then I would move on. Not this time.

Now buying things isn't always bad. Sometimes you need things, like toilet paper, or eggs, or a 47" HDTV. I would like to think this was a one-time love affair, but I don't know.

A couple days prior I decided I could never adequately play a right-handed guitar (being as I'm left handed) so I purchased a left-handed Stratocaster which has yet to arrive in the mail.

Before that, I bought two different sets of concert tickets, rounding up to about $400 after shipping.

Before that, I bought milk. Milk! I don't even drink milk.

Something is up. I can't quite place my finger on it, but my spending habits have changed. I still wear shirts from junior high -- for all those who don't know, that was in 1995.

I blame American consumerism. Commercials hitting you every day, the constant drive to have more than you rightfully need or deserve, and the sense of ownership with items you might not even use. Then again, I like to blame stuff other than myself. It makes the enjoyment of my Wii on the new big screen that much more enjoyable.

Take that, consumerism!