Friday, October 24, 2008

And looking up, I noticed I was late

A few days ago, Eric was talking to me about The Best Purchases he'd Ever Made (BPsEM). This distinction is given usually to something simple and relatively inexpensive that greatly enriches your experience of life. He and I disagreed somewhat on the particulars, but this was to be expected: we have very different personalities, and value different things, well, differently. The value of things is (neccessarily) highly subjective. I'm not especially into things, or at least I don't like the degree to which I seem to accumulate them. Once I have them, the damned things seem to be so hard to get rid of. Somewhere, some extraterrestrial being with a far superior internet connection is laughing at the dividedness of my person as regards the accumulation of chattels, but I digress. For your pleasure and amusement, I now present to you an uncomprehensive and unstratified list of my own Best Purchases Ever Made, excluding for reasons of brevity any music albums:

1. The pear I'm eating right now. I doubt that it's even the best pear I've ever eaten, but it's hitting the spot.

2. My winter coat and scarf. I love being warm.

3. Socks. I really think that if we dropped clean socks from planes onto our enemies, they would cease to hate us. Somehow those mechanically-woven cotton foot coverings contain within them the secret to world peace. Paradoxically, once a sock has a hole in it, it becomes the physical embodiment of suffering in this world.

4. Fragels. Once while leaving the hallowed spot from which flows these delicious fried things, clutching the weighty paper bag full of them as if 'twer full of gold, I whispered to my brother: "We've won! We're leaving with all of their fragels, and all they got in return was money!"

5. Books. I won't list specific books, though they are obviously far from equal. I don't buy books especially often (and sadly, I don't read as much as I'd like to), but I'm always so eager to take them home and plunge into their murky depths. Getting them from the library is nearly as good.

I'm sure I'm forgetting some. What are yours? Comments are (as always) open.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

The pomegranate I've been eating today would make the list.

As would flip-flops (not John Kerry, the ones you wear on your feet).

Unknown said...

7. The Beatles - Complete Scores
6. Kosher hot dog with stadium mustard
5. Tickets to see The Darkness in concert
4. Fragels
3. Capitalism and Freedom
2. Tennis balls
1. Final Fantasy VII

I'm sure I will kick myself later for forgetting stuff that really belongs. I debated adding at least two other games to the list, and decided against it. I also took a pass on including music.

Robert Lynch said...

I know a lot of the things that have been posted are fairly simple, I'd be lying if I didn't just come right out and say: Playstation 3. This week has gone a long way in making it my best purchase ever--although not the most cost-efficient.

Unknown said...

I call bullshit on Robert's PS3 claim. Look, LBP is a great start and all and Rock Band is great, but it has MILES to go before it could even begin to compare to the SNES, PSX, PS2, or even the Dreamcast. So let's cool it a bit, shall we? And that's before you factor in the insane price of the thing!

D.Cous. said...

Oh ho! Contention! Hot dog, a good flame war in the comments section is exactly what this blog needs. Well, that or a better author, but it's going to have to take what it can get. Care to respond to that, Roberto?