mikao's world

consumerism is a flame

today i went with my roommate holly and our friend jodi to regina, the thriving metropolis and capital city of saskatchewan, to do a little Christmas shopping. the mall was packed, not very enjoyable. i got a few little presents for my parents... nothing major but what they wanted. i am thankful that they picked cheap things this year because i haven't much $$ this holiday season.

the back of one of the bathroom stall doors in the mall said "every time you submit to consumerism a little part of you dies inside... reclaim the love this season." i find the little protesters of society extremely interesting although not very eloquent.

we also went to value village, which if you have never had the pleasure of going to one, is a huge department store of used clothes and other stuff... which used to gross me out but since becoming a poor student and developing a love for wool sweaters and vintage dishes, i now enjoy. i got a lovely medium blue sweater (not too light, not too dark, a perfect shade) and a fabulous wool blanket that i absolutely adore, it is a beautiful avocadoey kind of green. i love beautiful greens. colours make me excited. is that weird?

i realized a few things today while participating in the mass consumerism that grips our society:

1. i hate the consumerization that has happened because of the twisting of Christ's birth two thousand years ago.

2. i hate it that we feel we have to buy everyone gifts, it's expected, we don't give out of the graciousness of our hearts anymore.

3. listening to someone panting in a song is NOT appealing... especially while shopping beside a guy in the gap... it's all weird and ackward and grody and why is that in a song anyways?

4. i hate parking garages. okay, i actually realized this long ago... parking garages are pretty much my #1 fear in life. i've never parked in one myself and i don't think i would. i am afraid that they will crash down on top of me while i'm in them. i think this stems from a tramatic memory of watching the first world trade centre disaster years ago... and seeing the california earthquakes on tv in my younger years.

5. i really really like amber, but i don't think i could buy if for myself. if you want to tell me you love me, give me an amber heart. i'd melt.

6. beautiful things man has created entrance me... sometimes and often more so than the creations of God. why is this so? when i see beautiful esthetic things, like these wonderful neat little handmade sushi sets i saw today, i am totally in awe. i think this is often a result of my art school training... i appreciate what other people have created. i wish i had this same awe for God's creation. i wish that i was wowed by the awesomeness of his creation more. this breaks my heart.
My mind and ear at times have caught,
From realms beyond our mortal reach,
The utterance of Eternal Thought
Of which all nature is the speech."
- from "Dawn" by Frederick George Scott

...and so that was my shopping adventure. i don't get to go shopping much living in a town of less that 2000 people and me not having a car, so it is always fun to go out into "the real world" and out of "the bubble" that we exist in here.

tonight i went to see my friend candice who is visiting this weekend, and ended up hanging out with a very different conglomeration of people than i normally do, all people i have seen around and heard of before, but not many of them i'd ever really spent time socializing with before. it was neat. i like to step out of my comfort zone of comfortable people every once in awhile... i wish i had the opportunity to do it more often. having been here pretty much for the past 4 years, i think i, like pretty much everyone else, have gotten comfortable with my friends and don't often step outside that envisible box that surrounds my comfortable friends into the area outside the box.

have a lot to do tomorrow, but plan to sneak out of my canopy of homework that enshrouds me to go out with a group of girls for lunch in moose jaw... something i never do and am really looking forward to. these again are girls, well, women actually, that i really never have the chance to hang out with so i am really glad that i am getting the chance to. : )

"Do me a favour
would you tell me when to let go?
'Cause I think I'm holding on
Would you do it for me?
'Cause I'm playing for keeps.
Tell me tomorrow has come
With open arms
If you say it's time to move on
Then I'll stop holding on."
- Switchfoot, "Playing for Keeps"