One of the things that I absolutely hate doing is shopping.
I happily spend hours in bookshops (I cannot go to Valletta without stopping by Sapienzas) and toyshops, just browsing, but don't ask me to go shopping for clothes or shoes. Not even if it's you who's doing the shopping. I don't really care much about what I wear, as long as it's decent and I'm comfortable, and I would rather hang out in a bookshop than traipse around clothes shops all day.
Every couple of years, Mum will say "Enough is enough" and drag me around shops for the day and pretty much buy me a new wardrobe of mix-and-match clothes. I get away with buying shoes about once every three years, when I absolutely have to.
Periodically Mum, Little Sis, Middle Sis, an aunt or a friend will pass on clothes to me, and that suits me just fine - pain-free aquisitions :-)
I did actually enjoy shopping in America *gasp*, maybe because the styles appealed to me - I like casual clothes like those at Gap, whereas here I have to sweat bullets to find clothes that I would even consider wearing. No, I don't want to reveal my midriff. No, I don't feel the need to wear skin-tight clothing. No, I will not wear something that says "Naughty Girl" on it.
And you can forget the rhinestones.
Well Middle Sis breezed by this morning, and she was excited about some clothes she had bought from Terranova in Bay Street - they're having a sale. Usually I don't like the clothes she wears (see previous paragraph) and initially I merely feigned interest, but then I found that I liked her new tops. I think she was surprised, lol.
Between exams, work and the exhibition, I am tied up until Thursday, but I reluctantly agreed that then we will go shopping together at the factory outlet so she can "update my wardrobe".
And then she went back to Terranova this afternoon and bought me four tops and two sweaters :-)
She did very well - although we are polar opposites in such spheres, she knows me so well that she's able to tell whether or not I will like something. I am well pleased, and when I asked how much I owed her, she said that this was her treat - as an "investment in my wardrobe" and an early graduation present!
I rather like this shopping by proxy business - everyone wins; Middle Sis gets to spend more time shopping, Mum stops bugging me, Little Sis isn't embarrassed to be seen in public with me, and I get to spend more time looking like a girl, heheheh.
One of the things that I absolutely hate doing is shopping
are you, by any chance, an engineer? :p
I quite like shopping. What I don't like is the buyers' remorse that comes straight after while I'm sitting on the métro and can't ever seem to shake off this feeling of wasting my money on something I'm not even sure I like.
Someone - please save me from the perils of impulse buying (not impulse buying itself - that I quite like... just the perils)!
Posted by: gybexi | July 17, 2005 at 08:33
I hope no-one heard you say the e-word *looks around furtively*
I admit that sometimes I succumb to impulse buying - usually books or toys :-) I only buy stuff that I'm sure I like (limited budget) and my buyer's remorse takes the form of wondering if the new book was worth having to not spend any money for the next week, lol.
Maybe there's a Belgian version of eBay where you can flog the stuff you don't like and thus appease your guilty conscience :-) (although if it was me, I'd wind up buying even more stuff off the website, lol)
Posted by: MaltaGirl | July 17, 2005 at 12:19
Shopping sucks. It's high time all shops in Valletta and Sliema have their e-commerce site where you get to see photos of all the clothing items available, you choose, enter your CC number and, bam!, the item is delivered to your door the next morning.
*stretches back on his comfy chair*
PS. Don't you just love (all) those tops with "XDYE" written on them? Or "Angelic" printed on the derrière of a jeans?
Posted by: Kenneth | July 17, 2005 at 13:18
*cue Mastercard "shopping in your underwear" advert* :-D
Don't get me started on the fashions, Kenneth... *sigh*
Posted by: MaltaGirl | July 17, 2005 at 13:25
*shocked gasp* you don't like shopping?!
That's part of the fun of shopping, making your way through all the crappy clothes to find something which suits you, and which hopefully doesn't leave you begging for money =D
Posted by: lena | July 17, 2005 at 21:21
My female relations despair of me *grin*
Posted by: MaltaGirl | July 17, 2005 at 21:25
Lena, so that must be why you really enjoy your job and your clientele...
Posted by: Kenneth | July 17, 2005 at 22:27
So, what will you do if I buy your little sis all of the items you mentioned?
And your little sis will always be embarrassed to be seen with you, just like the rest of us are. ;)
Posted by: cory | July 18, 2005 at 14:05