Tuesday, October 24, 2006

my hair is purple

once upon a time, not so long ago, there was a beautiful princess named bre. bre's kingdom was not extremely wealthy, so she did not have stores of gold, scads of bmw's, or rooms full of mac computers (she did, however, live in a great country and was among the wealthiest 25% of the entire world, so really she was pretty well off). Princess Bre always struggled with wanting things. Worse off, she struggled with being owned by her possessions. One day she realized that this was a major problem, and she tried hard to curb her expenditures, focus on paying off her debt, and try to realize a rich life without silly things like dvd sets, laptop computers, and a nice car (well, the car was a mistake).

She struggled and struggled and struggled with wanting lots and lots of things. And then she got to a point where she was able to let go of wanting bigger and better possessions. And this was great. And sometimes she was able to make it past an HMV without feeling like she NEEDED to go in. And it was literally 3 months since she logged onto Ebay. She was making headway. Yay for Princess Bre! She is conquering consumerism!

unfortunately, as in all fairy tales, bad things happened. Princess Bre was having a birthday. It is tradition that every year Princess Bre allows herself to buy something fun that she would not normally purchase. This year was different, though. "I honestly don't want anything," said Princess Bre. "There is nothing really that I desire that is under $100." This seemed curious to her, but she was happy about this, as it meant that her addiction to consumerism was getting better.

She did, however, walk past the music store. "That's it!" she said. "I would love to buy myself a new drum!" This she thought was useful as she could buy herself a smaller drum that could be brought along on camping trips or other places which it would be useful, but awkward to take her big drum.

A few days later she walked past the UM bookstore. "That's it!" she said. "I would love a UM sweatshirt!" Then she thought of how much she would like a UW sweatshirt. Then she thought about how sweet it would be to get a DVD recorder, some cool 80's cartoon paraphanalia (because she doesn't have enough), a star trek dvd set, a new vcr before they stop making them, a popcorn maker, a shelf unit, some cool books, a new bed tent (just kidding), a kicking new journal, a blender, a descent pot set, a kangaroo, more muppet figures, and a subsciption to Oprah magazine.

Suddenly Princess Bre was not so content with her life. There were so many things that she desired, and felt that she could NOT live without. she NEEDS all of these things to be a happy person.

And then Princess Bre realized that she messed up a pretty good thing, and fell right back into her problem of wanting and wanting and desiring so many things. "Stupid birthday," said Princess Bre. "It ruined my life." Princess Bre is a very dramatic individual. However, she is also highly attractive and very determined to always grow, and she was confident that she would be able to beat this returned desire for consumption. Someday.

The end.



p.s. Wednesday is election day. Please, please, please vote. i don't care who you vote for, just vote (well, i do care, but that's my problem).

p.p.s. Due to popular demand, there is now a "cool winnipeg-ness" section at the right of your screen. No, the right. Look over there --> Yes! There it is. This will be constantly updated. Fun.

p.p.p.s. don't forget the "take some sweet action" links under the cool winnipeg-ness and change the world with me and lots of other people who super care about justice, the earth, and the importance of giving everybody a fair chance.

adios!

2 comments:

DAve and JAnie said...

Sorry Princess, your simplicity is in another castle.

Take it day by day. One day you are flooded with awful, destructive, all encompassing thoughts of spending, consuming and having. Other days i know that you couldn't care about anything out there (besides all the people you daily try to info, save, and love!). The hard days will pass, so will the easy days though, sooo... hmm, i don't know, nothing i guess.
I think i live in the same kingdom as you: "the Kingdom of Want Nothing Want Everything" it's a crappy place. The grass is defintaley green in "the kingdom of Twelve Tribes want nothing". Let's move kingdoms.. oh wait, i should be writting about the Kingdom of heaven, and storing up your treasures there... but i am so short i can't every reach heaven with all the treasures i have accumulated, soo i guess that doesn't work either.
I am no help to you, expect to say that for all the things you don't buy, and all the ways you are entirely conscious of your spending and wanting that you are doing GREAT and are helping the world and the people in it.. everywhere! don't worry.

Tricia said...

well Katz won in a landslide... Benham lost... I think the only positive thing about this municipal election was that Vandal got back into office...

I understand the consumerism problem. I live in a city devoted to capitalism.