In which it occurs to our heroine that the last post was rather vapid and this title conceit is getting a bit old...

So it does occur to me that the last post was rather vapid, whiny, and "My Super-Sweet 16"-esq. So I will follow it up with a treatise on American Consumerism (capital C... get it, capital? Like as in money...hehehehehhrmmm....). The thing is that I, like many of us I imagine, fight a daily war between what I need, what I want, and what I am told I need to want. Our society is based on material desire, our advertisements are built on the assumption that we are in and of ourselves not enough. So why should I want celebrity skincare for my birthday instead of something I actually need, like clean clothes and a legally registered vehicle (ok, bad example, Kiehl's is actually a great product and I do need to wash my face and feel good about my healthy, dewy skin)? The fact of the matter is that those things would make my life easier, but not necessarily any happier, and we are taught that happiness is the lynchpin of "goodness". The vapid stuff would make my life happier (supposedly, and for an undetermined length of time), but at the same time not at all contribute to it's ease, as I would still have to get my car tags renewed etc....

I'm not sure why I am complaining about this at all, as these are the inconveniences that make up adulthood. I guess the answer is that I don't really want to be an adult yet, which is why for my birthday, I am going home to see my parents. Part of this was pouting because 2 of my best friends were going to be out of the country, part of it was a preemptive strike against the possible lameness of not having any plans. Of course, now that I've told people that I am going out of town, they are all like "Awww, we could have taken you out". I always do this! I always assume that no one will plan anything for my birthday and then make my own way lamer plans just to avoid feeling like a loser. I don't trust people enough to give them the opportunity to surprise me, which really, is a metaphor for my whole life... more on that later. But when I am honest with myself it was mostly a very real desire to be taken care of for a weekend. No one spoils and pampers quite like your parents when you haven't been home for literally 6 months.