 When the going gets rough, just shop with somebody tough...
|
Jun. 18th, 2009 @ 02:19 am 
|
|---|
So, people have been cautioning me extensively that, when I get the settlement money for my insurance thing, I should be careful with it and not spend it carelessly.
Which, obviously. It helps somewhat that I dislike excess Stuff. I have set myself a budget for buying stuff I Want (which, to a large extent, consists of guitars and maybe a camera), and that is the entirety of that.
However, certain aspects of my character are revealed by exchanges like this:
Me: Oh, but I'll also be doing some clothes shopping.
Them: ... On most people, that might be cause for concern, but not you.
Me: Uh-huh. It probably helps that you know I won't enjoy it.
Because, as is well-known amongst people who know me well, I hate clothes shopping. I do it when I can't avoid it. But, if nothing else (and it may be nothing else), I shall be acquiring some new bras, because I'm not sure I have one that's less than ten years old, and my bras, they are dying. Which means I may be spending what I consider to be quite a lot of money on clothes, but it's clothes that are necessary. (Spare me your old-school bra-burning feminism; I wear bras for my benefit. Fulsome funbags such as mine are more comfortable when contained in the supportive embrace of well-structured cotton... but underwires can go to hell. I had one snap and draw blood once.)
Bearing in mind that I consider spending $200 on clothes "a lot of money". And I do not keep up with This Season's Fashions, I wear my clothes until they wear out.
Oh, hell, I need pyjama pants, too. I tore one pair recently. And I might buy a second pair of shoes. And get a dental checkup, I haven't seen a dentist in about five years I think. Maybe more. "I have no money" has been my excuse for avoiding a lot of things, perhaps.
In addition to my much-desired electric guitar, I'm planning to buy a 3/4 size guitar and maybe even a 1/2; partly so I can teach my friends' children to play guitar, if they want me to, and partly with the intention of volunteering at the children's hospital, and giving the kids there a chance to play a bit. Not sure whether to go electric or acoustic there - electric has the advantage of being a lot quieter (if you use headphones).
And since this money in part represents the wages I haven't been earning in the last couple of years, there's another not-technically-necessary expense I'm probably going to go through with: a trip to Britain. The long-awaited visit with my uncle and his family in England, then a trip to Scotland to visit the farm on which my ancestors have lived for the last 900-odd years, and perhaps pay my respects at the stone circle where my grandparents' ashes were scattered.
However, planning that is partly contingent on seeing whether a certain summer session unit is running at uni this year - it involves a trip to Europe to tramp around historical sites and dig through dusty half-forgotten archives. I'd love to do that course, so if it's running, I could combine the two, since I'd rather not make unnecessary trips halfway around the world.
Ways in which I am weird: if I go to England, I may skip visiting London at all. (Similarly, if I go to France, I have no real desire to go to Paris.) I was going to say I'd like to see if I can get my shoulder at least to a point where I could ride again, and then I remembered that if I go, I'll almost certainly be going in the northern winter, and, well... no. (Especially since I plan to spend quite a bit of time, if I can, in the Highlands of northern Scotland. If family lore is to be believed - and based on other knowledge, I suspect it is - it's really very cold there. My great-grandfather considered the electric blanket to be the pinnacle of human invention.)
It's just a shame I'm teetotal - it rather defeats the point of, say, visiting Genuine Scotch Distilleries and the like.
Advantages of Britain being the first foreign country I explore on my own: I speak the language, and they drive on the left side of the road. (Also, I have family in England and Scotland.)
|
![[User Picture Icon]](https://v2.dreamwidth.org/16080982/8491) |
| From: | ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png) rainbow |
|---|
| Date: |
June 17th, 2009 06:54 pm (UTC) |
|---|
|
|
|
|
(Link) |
|
I may, possibly, have clothes that are 20-30+ years old -- that I still wear. (I'm proud of myself for consigning THREE t shirts to the compost, recently...after I'd worn them One Last Time). Old ts I love, Laurel Burch sweatshirts, a pink cotton jacket that was Mama A's... (I also have her blue wool full length cape, from the 60s.)
I hate clothes shopping, too, even mroe since I got housebound. It's hard to find stuff that fits, and most stuff has resins/pesticides/fragranced stuff on it, so I can't even try it on until it's been washed several times and hung in the sun. (This probably explains why my clothes tend to be generic sweatpants/sweatshirts, lighter cotton pants, and tshirts.)
What a neat idea to get the smaller guitars for kids!
Is it really weird to avoid London and Paris if one travels?
I *hate* crowds and big cities; if I could travel, I'd want to go to places like Aberystwyth in Wales, Leighlinbridge in Ireland, Stonehenge, rural England and France, the Highlands, Cornwall.
Also? Paul and I don't drink...and we live in the Lorane Valley, which is filled with wineries, including one of the top-rated organic wineries in Oregon..it's literally just over the hill of Stony Point from us. Fortunately they also grow and sell organic veg and fruit, so I can still enjoy that.
I'm so excited that you'll be travelling. I love reading ppl's travels and seeing what they see!
![[User Picture Icon]](https://v2.dreamwidth.org/3974986/75896) |
| From: | sami |
|---|
| Date: |
June 17th, 2009 07:00 pm (UTC) |
|---|
|
|
|
|
(Link) |
|
Travelling won't be soon, alas.
The thing with the cities is that they are major tourist destinations. I'd just rather see *other* parts of the countries, ones less well-travelled - though my desire to see the Highlands of Scotland is specifically to see the part where my ancestors lived.
As for clothes... I don't have any that old, but then, twenty years ago I was eight years old, and wore rather smaller sizes than I do now. *g* I think my oldest shirt is from 1992, and I don't really wear it any more because it's pretty much transparent.
|
| From: | rainbow |
|---|
| Date: |
June 17th, 2009 07:14 pm (UTC) |
|---|
|
|
|
|
(Link) |
|
*nod* Leighlinbridge, Wales, and Scotland are places my family came from, and I've been told France (but can't find any proof; I think it might have been my ggrandfather and gggrandfather's little joke in support of Aunt Mary marrying a French-Canadian, actually. My Grampa thought it was true, but I can trade his side back pretty well, and it's 100% Irish on his father's side and 50/50 Irish/German on his mother's).
This body was 28 twenty years ago, so plenty of grown sizes of clothes from then. *g*
If it's not already on your travel plans due to Stonehenge, you'll probably want to go to Salisbury. Salisbury Cathedral has one of the best preserved original copies of the Magna Carta still extant, down in their crypt (along with a copy of Boethius's Consolations with notes in the margins made by Chaucer). My Dad and I discovered it completely by accident when we went there during a trip to England a few years ago. I assume they show it on tours, but if they don't, then as of 2004 the cathedral was serving coffee and tea down in the chamber it's displayed in after Sunday morning services.
Avebury, which is very close to Salisbury by car, is also an awesome place to visit either before or after seeing Stonehange. There's a second, older stone circle there, made of unfinished rocks, and since the circle encloses most of the town, you can walk right up to them and touch them, provided you stay out of people's back yards and latch pasture gates behind you so the sheep can't get out. There's also a large earthworks ring (a wall and a ditch) surrounding the town, and if you climb up on top of it, you can see that the high alter in the town's church is exactly in the same location that the central alter-stone in the henge would have been.
Spare me your old-school bra-burning feminism; I wear bras for my benefit
I'm a large A cup/small B cup and I'm uncomfortable without a bra most of the time (not just psychologically uncomfortable in the "oh God, people can see my nipples through my shirt" way, but physically uncomfortable). I don't know how women with C or D cup-sized breasts who don't wear bras do it.
Underwire is my friend as a small-breasted woman, though. Good padded, push-up bras all have it, and those are the only way I ever have any cleavage (on the other hand, if I ever want to cosplay a male character, I wouldn't have to resort to gauze and tape to do it).
|
| From: | sami |
|---|
| Date: |
June 17th, 2009 08:17 pm (UTC) |
|---|
|
|
|
|
(Link) |
|
Thanks for the England travel advice - I'll *definitely* put that on my itinerary.
As for breasts - I *think* I'm about a DD at the moment. I hate not wearing a bra. (I haven't bought bras in forever, so I'm unsure of cup size - I may be looking into that whole fitting thing for new bras.) So padding/pushup options are really Not My Thing, and I'd struggle to play convincingly male, alas.
I would go nuts without a bra. Figleaves.com has a lovely selection and IIRC some good fitting advice. (36D here.)
|
|
