I Am A Consumer Whore! And How!

Dec 28, 2006 · 4 minute read

Today: Shopping.

As I’ve mentioned before, there’s something about being here that brings out my inner “MUST CONSUME OMG!”. So, after waking up at 7:30am, I went down to Franklin Street and caught the bus to Southpoint. That turned out to be its own mini-adventure, because South Road is closed for construction. As an aside, since I’ve been coming here in 2002, UNC has resembled a vast building site, and it seems to be getting worse, not better. They still haven’t finished the work next to Sitterson Hall (the Computer Science building where I spent a lot of 2002, and somewhat less of 2003 ensconced in). Anyway, that meant there was a rather long detour before getting anywhere near the mall again.

And again, it marks me out as a good little consumer, but I really like Southpoint Mall. I don’t even have to buy anything; just looking around the shops, checking mail in the Apple Store and reading in Barnes & Noble is good enough for me. Mostly. For today, I was on a mission! Off to American Eagle, where this exchange of events occurred:

CUTE GIRL: How are you doing today, sir?
FLUSTERED IAN: Erm, fine thank you;.
CUTE GIRL: Is there anything you’re looking for?
FLUSTERED IAN (suddenly emblazoned with purpose): Actually, yes!

(Ian reaches into his backpack, pulling out an A4 piece of paper with a picture of a sweater on it)

FLUSTERED IAN: Do you have any of these?
CUTE GIRL (a little flustered herself, looks to her left): Umm, I think they’re over there…

(Ian throws himself into the women’s clothing section)

FLUSTERED IAN: Thank you!

But I got the sweater. So hurrah! Then, off to Gap to see if I could get anything approaching a sane price (and I think a thick scarf for £3 plus a jumper for £10 counts, there). Then the Apple Store. Oh, Apple, you temptress. But I was strong! I walked out with my wallet intact (besides, I have to wait for the traveller’s cheques to clear. Which I thought would happen immediately, but, er, it hasn’t just yet).

Eventually, I pulled myself back to Chapel Hill, getting a phone call from a sick Laura. Struck down with ‘flu and popped ears. Get well soon!

I made my way back down Franklin, seeing how much work has been done on the new hotel, getting a little sad about the bookshop being offered for sale, and yes, going into the fine, the fabulous Chapel Hill Comics to pick up my copies of Phonogram (which would have been complete if someone had kept to a monthly schedule), picked up another book for the Secret 2007 Project (if I say it enough times, it’ll force me to make it happen, I guess), and got some lunch at Wendy’s.

Oh my goodness. I had forgotten that Wendy’s changed all their sizes since I’ve been away. And not in a good way. For, you see, they got rid of their small combo, replacing it with the medium, and the large combo became the medium. The new large combo seems to come in reinforced corrugated cardboard plus a plastic 42 fl oz soda. And perhaps they call 911 for you after the heart attack too. Even the small was too much for me, and I’m still feeling bloated from it now (and I was glad that I went for chicken, otherwise I don’t think I would have made it through the afternoon).

Sadly, tacie and I couldn’t meet up today, but I did have a visit from Esther and Ryan before they headed back to Concord. And I got a lovely collection of little toys and a robot notebook from her. Plus, they might visit in 2007, which would be quite splendid.

And now? Now, I’m sitting back in Collin’s apartment with my new shiny toy: an 80Gb USB-powered hard drive. It’s going to come in handy for another little project lalalalalala…