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On Appearances
Apr. 3rd, 2010 12:57 pmI purchased a large red leather purse-briefcase yesterday, large enough to hold my computer and my documents with a certain amount of flare.
The process went something like this:
Beanie: I am out of my meeting early and the Boy will not be downtown for an hour! Oh, here is a shop having a very cheap sale. I will go in an look at things.
After several minutes, I develop exacting standards- the bag must be leather, professional-looking, have flat shoulder straps of good quality, zip at the top, fit my (rather small) laptop and several books comfortably, have a light-colored lining, little metal feet to keep the bottom from dragging in the dirt, and it should be somewhere under $100. The last criterion is negotiable, but since there's a clearance sale going on, I feel okay about trying to stick with it.
I found about three bags that very nearly meet my standards, and I successfully talk myself out of buying all of them- I liked them all, but I was not certain and I kind of wanted to get a second opinion. When the Boy arrives, I kind of give up on sticking around in the store. I offer to go somewhere else, but we have a lunch reservation somewhere and we stick around. I go back to the bags, describing what I'm looking for and leaving out the fact that I have already talked myself out of getting things. I show him the last few that I was looking at, and he picked out the same one to purchase that I did- I had kind of wanted his opinion because he can actually offer good opinions on fashion-y ideas.
So, I ended up getting a nice red leather tote that works for my purposes- I emptied my backpack into it, and its a snug fit, but an actual fit. I am pleasantly surprised.
And, that was the random thing that I was holding in my brain.
Because you really can't expect to make a decent impression with a nylon backpack, no matter how comfortable it may be. Which is sad, because it would be a nice world if people really did judge you based on a well-intentioned assessment of your character, but I don' t think the world actually works that way. So, for reasons totally unrelated to me, I needed the damned bag.
And, quite frankly, I liked it. It's nice to have something pretty and tough and useful all in one item.
ETA- wow. I am really uncomfortable with spending money and making lots of justifications for it. But I did kind of spend a great deal of money while my friend was here, and I should cut that back a bit.
The process went something like this:
Beanie: I am out of my meeting early and the Boy will not be downtown for an hour! Oh, here is a shop having a very cheap sale. I will go in an look at things.
After several minutes, I develop exacting standards- the bag must be leather, professional-looking, have flat shoulder straps of good quality, zip at the top, fit my (rather small) laptop and several books comfortably, have a light-colored lining, little metal feet to keep the bottom from dragging in the dirt, and it should be somewhere under $100. The last criterion is negotiable, but since there's a clearance sale going on, I feel okay about trying to stick with it.
I found about three bags that very nearly meet my standards, and I successfully talk myself out of buying all of them- I liked them all, but I was not certain and I kind of wanted to get a second opinion. When the Boy arrives, I kind of give up on sticking around in the store. I offer to go somewhere else, but we have a lunch reservation somewhere and we stick around. I go back to the bags, describing what I'm looking for and leaving out the fact that I have already talked myself out of getting things. I show him the last few that I was looking at, and he picked out the same one to purchase that I did- I had kind of wanted his opinion because he can actually offer good opinions on fashion-y ideas.
So, I ended up getting a nice red leather tote that works for my purposes- I emptied my backpack into it, and its a snug fit, but an actual fit. I am pleasantly surprised.
And, that was the random thing that I was holding in my brain.
Because you really can't expect to make a decent impression with a nylon backpack, no matter how comfortable it may be. Which is sad, because it would be a nice world if people really did judge you based on a well-intentioned assessment of your character, but I don' t think the world actually works that way. So, for reasons totally unrelated to me, I needed the damned bag.
And, quite frankly, I liked it. It's nice to have something pretty and tough and useful all in one item.
ETA- wow. I am really uncomfortable with spending money and making lots of justifications for it. But I did kind of spend a great deal of money while my friend was here, and I should cut that back a bit.
