Rollercoaster Ride

Contrary to what my Friday night habits were back in Glorietta, or Paul’s testimony on my friendster page, I no longer consider myself a shopgirl.

I can walk in and out of a clothing store within ten seconds without regret or added baggage.  The items I own which draw praise from friends and strangers are often gifts or freebies from friends I’ve made, or flea market finds that never cost me a fortune.

I figured, I have so many clothes, and yet there’s just one me to dress up! I had quite a number of dress-up barbies when I was little. But now that I’m older, there’s only one barbie to dress up. And as long as the men I’m dating haven’t seen me repeat my clothes, I’m more than okay. And so far, I haven’t gone out with a guy long enough for him to see ALL the outfits I could pull together.

Not shopping a lot gives you insight in the function of things–why they were invented and why most homes have them.  My latest purchase was a sleek white nightlamp from Urban Outfitters mainly because I wanted to read in bed witHout having to get up to turn the lights off.  Desks, drawers and mictowaves proved their utility to me too. Toasters and rice cookers haven’t yet.

The last time I remember really shopping — by this, I mean multiple purchases at one time was in LA in April and Frankfurt in June. I had bags and bags of merchandise - from a bookstore.

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Before I go:

Not counting the one above, I haven’t said a confession in a long while. A Catholic girl says a confession when she thinks that she’s done wrong. (And like most Filipinos’ habits, we say "sorry" more than we should.) But what about the people who don’t think they’ve done anything wrong in the past months or years? I know I’ve been a good person my whole life -and much more us siblings to our parents, and they to us. And what if like the most sinless of ice creams, we’ve washed ourselves of guilt? Have we all learned to justify everything we think, say and do? Or do our confessions now consist, not of telling lies, stealing, and having affairs, but of the number of white bread we’ve swallowed and calories we’ve consumed?