Yesterday after work I went to a fancy mall. I went there to see a movie, actually, but then I found myself shopping in kind of a panicked way. I realized it was my last real chance to get anything in 2006.
So, I went to Sephora. For those of you who are not obsessed with grooming, I will explain Sephora. It is heaven. It has every kind of makeup, fragrance, nail care, hair care, skin care and ridiculously needless expensive stuff you can imagine in the world of beauty. Oh, do I love me some Sephora.
I wandered around slowly, taking in everything. I sort of got tense, thinking, "I need new lipstick" (I currently have two lipsticks in my purse, two at work, and about 10 more in drawers and other purses around the house). I thought about buying mascara, even though I have three tubes already. Finally, I spent $100 on a tooth-whitening kit.
I admit it, I was sort of emotional when I left Sephora, knowing I would not be seeing my good friends -- cash and cosmetics -- together anytime soon.
Then, as luck would have it, I noticed a walk-in hair salon a few doors down. I decided to cut a few inches off my hair, since I also won't be getting haircuts in 2007.
The hairdresser who had the dubious task of cutting my Brillo pad grew up in Vietnam as one of 16 kids. His family was literally starving, and all they had to eat was this root that grew under the house. The bad part was that many of his family had a bad reaction to the root, but they had to eat it anyway. My hairdresser had to shave his head as a result of the bad reaction.
He has lived in the U.S. for 20 years now, and he says he feels like he lives in heaven. Which is the same word I used to describe Sephora, for goodness sake.
He regularly sends money to children in poor countries, and he talked about how shocked he was when he went to his first U.S. grocery store, because food was stacked up. In Vietnam, he said food was splayed out on the ground, on blankets.
He continues to be baffled by $500 jackets for dogs.
Well. If this wasn't exactly the person I needed to meet to put things into perspective.
Honestly, I do NOT think money brings happiness. I think all we need is enough to have our basic human needs met: shelter, food, that sort of thing. After that I think happiness is up to us, not based on whether we have a tooth-whitening kit. So then why do I panic and think that I NEED a tooth whitening kit? This is the sort of thing I hope to tackle in 2007.
Happy new year! Will it ever be new!
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3 comments:
Wow, what a story. I'm hooked to your blog~! =)
Hey! I just wanted to stop by and wish you luck. (My blog is currently private for various reasons, might be public again someday). Anyway, I was SHOCKED to see you mean not to get your haircut in 2007! I would've filed that under necessary for sure. It then got me thinking about a community that my friend is in, called "Barter Dollars" or something. They trade things, rather than spending $$. So a hair stylist might cut someone's hair in exchange for free plumbing. I wonder how something like this would fit into your plan.
Also, and I swear I was lying awake thinking about this on your behalf, what about coffee to go? I personally could not make it through the day without 2 cups of coffee outside the house. Do you get to have coffee???
Cut back on coffee? You must not know "June" very well...
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