Shopping

I love to shop. I am a typical woman in that sense. It can be for anything: clothes, bags/purses (my personal favourite), shoes, home furnishings, groceries, cosmetics, shampoo ... I am an ideal consumer. Any flashy displays mesmerize me, dramatic billboards catch my eye ... I'm a sucker for it.

Depending on the size of my body, which has fluctuated since I was about 12 years old, clothes are the ultimate shopping experience though. When I lost a ton of weight a few years ago, it was positively orgasmic: the variety and styles that were available was mind-boggling. But even now that I'm back to being "plus size" (God, that's a lame euphemism, but I have to admit it's fitting, pardon the pun), it's still fun. The plus size stores do have a larger variety of stuff available, although of course there is still the awful polyester-looking, old-lady profusion of prints as well. I could just spend hours going through rack after rack, searching item by item, looking for just the right top, or skirt, or pair of jeans. It never ceases to entertain me. Even when I go in the dressing room and try something on and it looks just horrible, I don't lose heart. I just go right back out there and keep looking. I know I'll find something eventually.

Shampoo shopping is fun too. I love all the different colours and smells. I'll never forget though, a teacher of mine in high school saying once, that all shampoo is basically just detergent. You might as well be using Palmolive or something on your hair. Hmmm. Now, there's a woman who probably hated shopping. I actually read the backs of the bottles and take all the propaganda seriously, about it gently cleansing and wrapping a thread of protein around each strand of hair, thus creating lustre and body. Sure, what the heck. I believe it. It makes me feel better, anyway.

I just cannot get into this internet shopping though. I love looking at the stuff online, but actually buying something? You can't try it on, so you'll never really know if it fits or looks good until it gets to you, and by then, if it doesn't, you'd just have to return it, wait another six to eight weeks for the refund ... fuck that. And I wouldn't have the patience to wait for the thing to arrive. When I see something I want to buy, I have fallen in love with it, and I can't wait an indeterminate amount of time to be united with it. I have to be able to touch it and handle it.

My credit card winces every time I walk into a store. But I have made a solemn pact with it not to get too carried away from now on. Really.