“Buy Nothing Day”.

For those of you that are unaware, today is (International) Buy Nothing Day.

“Buy Nothing Day is an informal day of protest against consumerism observed by social activists.”

- from this Wikipedia article.

Whilst this is all well and good, does it really achieve anything? As mentioned in the article, critics of this informal holiday have argued that those participating will simply go out and buy twice the amount of things the following day. Or, those people such as myself, will go out regardless of the holidays and willingly spend more than they should be in the first place.

It’s all in the name of fun, anyway, so while I’m not exactly criticizing the day, I don’t really see all that much point in it. I guess it could be a bit of fun if you wanted to participate though. Let me know what you are planning to do/have done today on this occasion.

Oh, the joys of a new pair of heels.

It’s generally exciting to purchase a brand-spankin’ new pair of heels, am I right? Okay, so maybe this is slightly more targeted towards females (but you never know; some of you males may be budding collectors of women’s shoes).

More often than not, it takes countless hours to track down and find that perfect pair of shoes, but when you do… Oh lord, it’s a golden moment. You take the box home, keeping all of the pieces of plastic and paper and padding in perfect order so as to keep your latest purchase in perfect order. Or, if you’re like me, you’ll chuck the box in the car, speed on home and promptly throw them on your feet as soon as you get inside so you can parade around the house in them.

At this stage, all is good. You think, “Hey, this is great! These heels look fantastic AND don’t hurt my feet! I think I’ll wear them out at the very next opportunity I have.” So then what happens? You wear them out to lunch with your girlfriends (substitute: boyfriend, annoying little cousin, mother, et cetera).

It won’t be so bad — you can wear them in slowly while you’re sitting down eating a light salad and sipping an $11 cocktail at noon. And hey, maybe a spot of window-shopping afterwards will be tolerable, since it’s so easy to walk in these new investments. Four hours later and you find yourself hobbling along at the pace of a 90-year-old with chronic arthritis because of the horrendous blisters that have conjured up inside your shoes. Get those God-damn shoes off as soon as you can, only to find that the relief isn’t as great as you’d hoped. No, instead, you hoist your feet onto the nearest cushions and order that the person closest to you finds that old packet of fluoro-coloured Bandaids.

So — who’s up for lunch tomorrow?