What better way to say, "eat shit", to your mounting problems?

Squander what meager sum of your monthly wherewithal you managed to save for what had been a very much anticipated excursion...on little conveniences that could easily have been forgone.

This is exactly what I did. My little excursion to Iran has been delayed yet again. I had been planning to go in the end of December...most likely the last week that is to segue into the new year. I gave notice about this well-anticipated trip back in September, but it apparently wasn't archived in the boss's planner. One of my friend-coworkers had informed the boss of taking vacation time long ago, so it was already known that the company will be unfettering him during this time. However, another coworker managed to get January 2 (Friday) off, which scythed my five-day excursion at the patellae. Going on the 22nd of December was my Plan B, but that was shanked as well: I have to be present for the first week of the winter semester; my students-to-be--and what I'm sure will be, for some, students-of-old--need that extra week to "deal with" the ten-week shock of having the "라면"-haired, blue contact -lensed, "abysmally-nostrilled" 선생님...imported from Africa. Therefore, my journey to Iran has been postponed by yet another month. :/

من به ایران خواهم بروم!!! >:O

What this means is that I can tap into my hardly adequate-but-no-less-pecuniary resources to nourish what had been the somewhat ailing Consumption Whore, which has become an integral part of me. COEX very willingly acquiesced in providing me the environment in which to do this.

I bought a new coat...and I spent only one-sixth of what I had thought I was going to be paying for a coat. I did fail at getting a coat that is heavier than the one that I have already had...so I'll still be freezing my colossal self off this winter. It was from a store called Roem--a store which sells apparel exclusively for women, whose name I'm hoping (though quite sure) isn't a flagrant, orthographic fail at "Rome". It took me nearly an hour to make the final selection, especially since I was concerned about the shoulder length, the overall form-fit, and whether it would come to my knees. The coat was 130,000 won (= USD 2).

Then, I went into a store called "Basic House", in which I had found another coat...but I also had found a sweater jacket, neither of which I ended up buying. The coat did not fit me to my liking, and the sales representative, aside from his making me exit the one fitting room they had after three minutes, refused to sell me the display sweater jacket because it was the last one of its color. I took this as a sign from God that I was not meant to squander in that store.

So where did I go? Linko, an office supply store. I'm sure I've blogged about my adequately requited love for office supplies and its purveyors. I made a pit stop to the book store. The only reason for doing this, however, was that there was a congregation outside of its entrance. My curiosity was sparked, and what to my wandering mind and eyne appeared, but a studly Sir in a sharp, blue dress shirt...looking like 99.9% of the Korean men that meet the eyne on the street, in the train, &c. However, this happened to be a book promotion; this stud is apparently a fitness trainer who, I'm supposing, is renowned in Korea. This was evidenced by the poster behind him, on which there was a picture of his well-defined body for the bystanders and bypassers to gaze at in awe and after which one must lust. On the ONE. DAY. that I don't bring my camera, he happened to be at COEX at the same time as I. >< x 23984237398.

I resorted to the popular yet lame snapshooting with the camera phone (my used cell phone is old). After a few minutes, he went inside the bookstore, and people continued extending their cell phones and taking photos. I went in the bookstore, and there was the book. *snapshot @ the sexy front cover* I had thought about buying the book while he may have been watching, just so that he could gratitude-fuck me (or, 감사함니다-fuck me) in return. :O @#($#@ :) ;) ;)))))) Worry ye not, for I knew that I had just had my head up in the polluted Korean clouds. I didn't buy the book, but I sure did contemplate it, in order to add it to those 29384 Playgirl magazines I have here in my apartment. :P (I own zero Playgirl magazines, and I'm not too sad about that.)

By the way, the illustrations were amazing, even though there was a female alongside him in many of the pictures. *forest green face*

After this, I went to Linko, an office supply store. I'm sure that I've blogged about my adequately requited love for office supplies and its purveyors. I bought even more notecards that I don't even use, and I figured that I might as well buy a larger capacity memory card for my camera...given that I was already well into the squandering spree. The 8 GB memory card was 39,000 won (maybe the equivalent of a penny in US currency), and the 16 GB memory card was 79,000 won (maybe close to two pennies). I couldn't decide which to buy, so I went with the cheaper one...only to have a volte-face in what apparently still was an ongoing debate in my head, at the check-out counter. I had forgotten about the fact that I take all of my pictures in RAW + JPEG mode now, which leaves me with slightly over 200 pictures to fit onto a 4 GB memory card.

A fattening under the aegis of Sbarro's, a fail at purchasing new shoes, finding out that I'm a size 8 (and not a 9), a purchase from Alpha (another office supply store), two pajama pants purchases, another pajama pants purchase, and a heater purchase (one of the main reasons for even leaving my very humble abode today) later, I'm back here at my apartment. Now, it's time for that party which I mentioned in yesterday's entry. Ruh-roh.