elanya

I have noticed something about my shopping habits and I wonder if anyone else thinks or feels the same.

I am a lot more likely to buy things nline than in stores, because I feel less overwhelmed by products and it is easier to be more selective when you aren't faced with everything at once. I'll see if I can explain what I mean.

Lets say that I decided to buy myself a cd. I don't have any particular CD in mind, so I just go to browse in the store. If I can even remember what all the different artists are whose stuff I'd like to have, and can find them, I have to pour through a selection of CDs that essentially look the same as everything else in the store. It makes them seem less exciting. Books are the same way. Unless I know of a specific book that I want, I rarely actually buy things from bbookstores, especially o impulse, because I just get overwhelmed by the 'sameness' of the books, or the commonality of them. I'm not sure if it is just that any particulat title seems less distinct in such a setting, or that when I am surrounded so many of them for sale, I get overwhelms me with the consumerism of shopping, and get turned off from actual purchases. Even when I am clothing shopping, I have to be in the right mood to find something I want to buy in a regular store, because it just all seems so generic, and common. I'm not comfortable presenting myself as a consumer of common things. Iam less likely to want to buy a skirt if there are six others in the exact style hanging on the rack, unless I am convinced that my use for it will be somehow unique. Or else I'll just go to the cheapest stores to buy something. I don't like buying medium quality items. I like either very expensive things that are likely to last, or really cheap things that wn't surprise me when they fall apart. That's why my wardrobe is so eclectic.

This is also why I can't shop at goth stores. I love a lot of gothy clothing, but when I go into a store and all I see for miles is stretch lace, PVP and crushed velvet, it seems less distinct. Something has to be really special to catch my eye, or I have know in advance what i want. And if I know what I want in advance, it is usually just as easy to get it online, especially in terms of books and cds and things of that nature. Even clothes, in some cases. And, with the exception of some sites like Amazon.com, I tend to feel less overwhelmed with selection. Even on Amazon, I have anything that I am likely to want already pre-selected on my wishlist: it is just a matter of clicking a link or two, rather than pouring through the selection. And when I am picking out wishlist things, I don't have to pay for them then, so even if it does all seem to run together at that point I'm not committing myself financially.

Which all reminds that I need some new pants that I can wear in the winter that don't have open sides, and I really have no idea where I will get any :/

I was hoping to make this flow more coherently, but alas, it is not meant to be. Stream of consciousness it is.