Ever been in a situation when you return home from a shopping spree,
crawl into bed and wake up the next morning wondering why you brought
all that stuff; most of which you wont even need?
Some French dude once said,
"人間は弱いんだよ。"
"Humans are weak."
It's funny to see that guy in the movies who manages to survive great perils like jumping off a building, surviving a car accident, listen to Justin Beaver sing and what not; only to die by a misplaced nail, piercing him at a vulnerable spot. This is just physical weakness.
The more dangerous form, I believe, is mental weakness. Inability to think or make rational decisions is like a debuff that limits your vision allowing you to see only the center of your monitor. Or should I say, allowing you to see only what is in front of you. There is always more to anything, than what meets the eye. That's why, even though it seems wasteful, be sure to carry a Pokemon who can use HM05 in a dark cave.
Going back to the example we started with. It's a regretful morning and you are stuck with an empty wallet and stuff you don't need. Studying the human species and the human side of myself, I realized, "人間は弱いんだよ。" Without a goal, purpose or motive, it's easy to be lost, it's easy to forget WHY you are doing WHAT you are doing. Add money to this mix and voila! You have an adult; a kid with money. Being humans, we like those shiny things. You see that cute girl in the subway and it somehow pleases you. Even without knowing her mentality, mindset or anything about her, you somehow like her. Hell, she might just be a psychopath killer! Who knows. My point being, shiny things make simple minded humans happy and let's be honest, no matter how perplexed your mind is, everyone has a simple side to them. The vulnerable one.
As if this level of happiness isn't adequate, the consumerist world today, adds another thing to this explosive mix. VARIETY. When I was at the grocery store today, I realized the amount of variety we get. The fact that we have choices has a very liberal feel to it. Nothing wrong that.
THIS is what was wrong -
Locking the door to my apartment before heading for the supermarket, my intention was to buy something to drink that is healthy, cheap, thirst-quenching and can be had in surplus without major side effects. That itself was enough to cross beer and soda off my list. The first thing that came to my mind was Orange juice. 決めた。(decided) Orange juice it shall be. At the supermarket, practicality kicked in and I realized, Ice Lemon Tea would be a better and cheaper alternative. At the end of my spree, I asked myself, what is this bar of Snickers, this HUGE can of Milo, shitload of Pocky sticks and a two cups of cup ramyun (Korean Ramen) doing in my basket? Do I even need this? Are they essential to my survival? THIS is what was wrong.
Humans are weak. I had let my humane side do the shopping. As I looked at all the junk in my basket, I felt stupid. The fun part was picking stuff off the shelf and throwing it in my basket. What was not fun was about to happen in a few minutes at the cashier. That was when I saw myself waking up in the morning, just the way I described at the beginning of this post. As much as I had enjoyed 'sliding things in my basket', I hated the fact that I'm gonna have to 'wake up to that sick feeling'. Promptly, I placed those things back on their shelves.
They say, some of the greatest discoveries are made by accident. It was only by this accident that I ended up with this crazy idea of satisfying your wants by 'sliding things in your basket' and being practical about it by 'placing them back on the shelf' after a moment of realization. Productive? Definitely not. But if you are a small time schizo like me, it's amusing to avoid the 'regretful morning' scenario while still pampering the kid in you. Thus, I present to you, the Shopping Cart Hack; the joy of shopping and the joy of not feeling like an idiot.
Nem and nem,
signing off
Some French dude once said,
"人間は弱いんだよ。"
"Humans are weak."
It's funny to see that guy in the movies who manages to survive great perils like jumping off a building, surviving a car accident, listen to Justin Beaver sing and what not; only to die by a misplaced nail, piercing him at a vulnerable spot. This is just physical weakness.
The more dangerous form, I believe, is mental weakness. Inability to think or make rational decisions is like a debuff that limits your vision allowing you to see only the center of your monitor. Or should I say, allowing you to see only what is in front of you. There is always more to anything, than what meets the eye. That's why, even though it seems wasteful, be sure to carry a Pokemon who can use HM05 in a dark cave.
Going back to the example we started with. It's a regretful morning and you are stuck with an empty wallet and stuff you don't need. Studying the human species and the human side of myself, I realized, "人間は弱いんだよ。" Without a goal, purpose or motive, it's easy to be lost, it's easy to forget WHY you are doing WHAT you are doing. Add money to this mix and voila! You have an adult; a kid with money. Being humans, we like those shiny things. You see that cute girl in the subway and it somehow pleases you. Even without knowing her mentality, mindset or anything about her, you somehow like her. Hell, she might just be a psychopath killer! Who knows. My point being, shiny things make simple minded humans happy and let's be honest, no matter how perplexed your mind is, everyone has a simple side to them. The vulnerable one.
As if this level of happiness isn't adequate, the consumerist world today, adds another thing to this explosive mix. VARIETY. When I was at the grocery store today, I realized the amount of variety we get. The fact that we have choices has a very liberal feel to it. Nothing wrong that.
THIS is what was wrong -
Locking the door to my apartment before heading for the supermarket, my intention was to buy something to drink that is healthy, cheap, thirst-quenching and can be had in surplus without major side effects. That itself was enough to cross beer and soda off my list. The first thing that came to my mind was Orange juice. 決めた。(decided) Orange juice it shall be. At the supermarket, practicality kicked in and I realized, Ice Lemon Tea would be a better and cheaper alternative. At the end of my spree, I asked myself, what is this bar of Snickers, this HUGE can of Milo, shitload of Pocky sticks and a two cups of cup ramyun (Korean Ramen) doing in my basket? Do I even need this? Are they essential to my survival? THIS is what was wrong.
Humans are weak. I had let my humane side do the shopping. As I looked at all the junk in my basket, I felt stupid. The fun part was picking stuff off the shelf and throwing it in my basket. What was not fun was about to happen in a few minutes at the cashier. That was when I saw myself waking up in the morning, just the way I described at the beginning of this post. As much as I had enjoyed 'sliding things in my basket', I hated the fact that I'm gonna have to 'wake up to that sick feeling'. Promptly, I placed those things back on their shelves.
They say, some of the greatest discoveries are made by accident. It was only by this accident that I ended up with this crazy idea of satisfying your wants by 'sliding things in your basket' and being practical about it by 'placing them back on the shelf' after a moment of realization. Productive? Definitely not. But if you are a small time schizo like me, it's amusing to avoid the 'regretful morning' scenario while still pampering the kid in you. Thus, I present to you, the Shopping Cart Hack; the joy of shopping and the joy of not feeling like an idiot.
Nem and nem,
signing off
