I humbly present this week's "Didn't Buy" in list format.
1. Chocolate.
2. Pastries from Adriano Zumbo, for breakfast before a full day on campus. Technically, under these circumstances, purchase of the creme citron Sugar Lips would be entirely justified. But I had $3.80 in my wallet to last me indefinitely: so no dice.
3. Anything containing Shocking Pink, Fuschia, Hot Pink. (Or violet.) But mind you I did look at an awful lot of it....I thank Paris for several years ago renewing my relationship with the colour pink. And cleavage, too, but that's another post. Oh and not to mention Elsa Schiaparelli (fashion idol alert).
4. Red Patent Leather Shoes.
5. A pretty lace party dress the colour of mermaids' eyes and the tropical sea. Another one the colour of passion, blood, and warning signs. Things made by the label Velvet.
6. Bejewelled earrings that looked like a circus version of a cart-wheel, or a sparkling rainbow Wheel of Fortune.
7. Lunch at Bacco - because my friend Paul paid for that. (Thanks, Paul!) Incidentally, if you're stuck at the Queen Victoria Building waiting in a 1km-long line for the bus and it's 6pm and freezing cold - or boiling hot - and you are slowly being asphyxiated by the exhaust fumes from the peak-hour bus-jam, then turn around, go up the stairs to QVB's Level 2, and find Bacco in the middle of the building. Order a glass of wine and some cheese. Relax, and think of the suckers downstairs scrambling over elderly women and tired-looking office workers to get on the bus, only to have to stand up clinging to a distant handrail while the driver relives his years as a would-be demolition derby winner, except this time he's driving a bus loaded with passengers! Oh and the waiters at Bacco are Italian (obviously) and charmingly cute too! In conclusion, you win.
7a. (Addendum.) If the Queen Vic Building isn't your thing and you're still considering walking home rather than wait for the next bus, then definitely go to Devine. Everyone knows it yes, it's been there forever, but Andreas - the Austrian guy with the pony tail - and his people are extremely cool and friendly and you will drink amazing wine and eat tasty snacks and look at nice-looking people and be warm and not be waiting in a forever-long line for the bus.
I did however, shop my stash of clothes at home, and I am yet to determine if that sort of thing is even bloggable any more.
Thus concludes this meandering list, which I may edit from time to time.
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Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Hot Guy Hot Spots - Australian Edition
Preamble: This post isn't so much about not buying stuff, but about having some righteous eye candy while you perhaps, in fact, are buying stuff.
This is a first pass attempt to classify Australia's hot-guy hot-spots. Fellas, we just like you so much :)
So, we're not about to launch into a conversation with the Hot Guy(s) about Wittgenstein or Rio +20 here (BUT omg wouldn't it be brilliant if you could have both brain-candy and eye candy!), nor are we interested in knuckle-dragging types who haven't yet learnt to at least pretend they aren't interested in your tits above all else. We're just looking for some easy-on-the-eye types and a tantalising hint of testosterone in the air while we go about our daily business.
1. Hamburger joints. McDonalds or Hungry Jacks? Nooooooo. I mean other places like Grill'd, or benbry Burgers (in Manly etc...yes Manly does live up to its name). There's always a couple of good lookin' guys in there feasting on something tasty and masculine. And the kinds of women who go to places like this aren't those hyper-competitive sorts who you can feel burning laser holes in your T-shirt as they critique / stare at your backside on your way past while they decide you are a lower life form / pretend that you are in order to nurture their own insecurities. Nooo. The girls who come here are generally upstanding members of the sisterhood.
2. Guys who work in the "small bars" that are finally emerging with a vengeance in Sydney. All. Cute.
2a. Baristas. Invariably cute, BUT only if they make good coffee. Bad Coffee = your whole day is wrecked. Anyone who wrecks your day is NOT cute. Nor Hot. With one exception; they wreck it by being so hot you are distracted for the rest of the afternoon daydreaming about how goddamn hot that new barista is and thrilled that you have a hot New Flirting Object (NFO).
3. Photography classes, Film Studies. Guys who are into this stuff are both cool and hot.
4. The Engineering faculty of any university. (FYI, they're mostly outdoorsy types: See items 5-7.)
5. Any surf beach (when there are waves).
6. Ski-fields and then the bar which has the best apres-ski deals
7. Indoor climbing walls, or actual rock climbing - but climbing walls have a greater density of Hot Guys.
9. Bookshops. Libraries (specifically, the State Library in Melbourne). Oh, yes. Men Who Read Books? Outrageously sexy. My personal guidelines about men who own fewer than 10 books are that you can sleep with them, but don't start a relationship with them. Your brain will suffer. Sorry, but it's true if you value literacy / fresh conversation and want something beyond food and sex (not that there's anything wrong with that). The only possible loophole here is if he owns a second hand book shop and his literature is on high rotation, or he is on first name terms with the staff at the local library.
8. Any decent pub. Pubs can be a bit iffy, as they attract their fair share of men who could really do with a few less beers and a few more daily 5km power walks, plus your average chauvinistic pigs, so you have to go to pubs in an area with the right demographics (besides, pigs in sheeps clothing are more or less present wherever you go; it's just the density you have to keep an eye on). The chances that a pub will be 'decent' decreases in exponential proportion to the number of poker machines in operation at the venue. The inverse applies if there are pinball machines. Student pubs, even better. Any pub near a beach, snowfield, or other adrenaline-based playground will probably yield hotties.
9. Music shops - alas, not CD stores, mostly because they no longer exist - although you could definitely try places that sell vinyl. I mean places that sell actual musical instruments. Go in and mess around on the keyboards or try out a guitar. Guaranteed that a totally sexy talented musician type will come to your assistance. e.g. Big Music in Crows Nest, Sydney.
10. Gigs and music festivals, obviously. But often all jumbled up with hot women. This isn't necessarily a bad thing.
11. Politics lectures. Definitely. Educated, politically aware, AND hot, in a cute just-woke-up-and-ran-to-my-lecture kind of way. Bed hair on politics student hottie who works as a personal trainer in his spare time: add a big fat HIGH DISTINCTION.
Obviously, further suggestions are welcome. Other cities, other venues. Contribute to the Eye Candy Library today! Here's looking at you, boys! ;)
This is a first pass attempt to classify Australia's hot-guy hot-spots. Fellas, we just like you so much :)
So, we're not about to launch into a conversation with the Hot Guy(s) about Wittgenstein or Rio +20 here (BUT omg wouldn't it be brilliant if you could have both brain-candy and eye candy!), nor are we interested in knuckle-dragging types who haven't yet learnt to at least pretend they aren't interested in your tits above all else. We're just looking for some easy-on-the-eye types and a tantalising hint of testosterone in the air while we go about our daily business.
1. Hamburger joints. McDonalds or Hungry Jacks? Nooooooo. I mean other places like Grill'd, or benbry Burgers (in Manly etc...yes Manly does live up to its name). There's always a couple of good lookin' guys in there feasting on something tasty and masculine. And the kinds of women who go to places like this aren't those hyper-competitive sorts who you can feel burning laser holes in your T-shirt as they critique / stare at your backside on your way past while they decide you are a lower life form / pretend that you are in order to nurture their own insecurities. Nooo. The girls who come here are generally upstanding members of the sisterhood.
2. Guys who work in the "small bars" that are finally emerging with a vengeance in Sydney. All. Cute.
2a. Baristas. Invariably cute, BUT only if they make good coffee. Bad Coffee = your whole day is wrecked. Anyone who wrecks your day is NOT cute. Nor Hot. With one exception; they wreck it by being so hot you are distracted for the rest of the afternoon daydreaming about how goddamn hot that new barista is and thrilled that you have a hot New Flirting Object (NFO).
3. Photography classes, Film Studies. Guys who are into this stuff are both cool and hot.
4. The Engineering faculty of any university. (FYI, they're mostly outdoorsy types: See items 5-7.)
5. Any surf beach (when there are waves).
6. Ski-fields and then the bar which has the best apres-ski deals
7. Indoor climbing walls, or actual rock climbing - but climbing walls have a greater density of Hot Guys.
9. Bookshops. Libraries (specifically, the State Library in Melbourne). Oh, yes. Men Who Read Books? Outrageously sexy. My personal guidelines about men who own fewer than 10 books are that you can sleep with them, but don't start a relationship with them. Your brain will suffer. Sorry, but it's true if you value literacy / fresh conversation and want something beyond food and sex (not that there's anything wrong with that). The only possible loophole here is if he owns a second hand book shop and his literature is on high rotation, or he is on first name terms with the staff at the local library.
8. Any decent pub. Pubs can be a bit iffy, as they attract their fair share of men who could really do with a few less beers and a few more daily 5km power walks, plus your average chauvinistic pigs, so you have to go to pubs in an area with the right demographics (besides, pigs in sheeps clothing are more or less present wherever you go; it's just the density you have to keep an eye on). The chances that a pub will be 'decent' decreases in exponential proportion to the number of poker machines in operation at the venue. The inverse applies if there are pinball machines. Student pubs, even better. Any pub near a beach, snowfield, or other adrenaline-based playground will probably yield hotties.
9. Music shops - alas, not CD stores, mostly because they no longer exist - although you could definitely try places that sell vinyl. I mean places that sell actual musical instruments. Go in and mess around on the keyboards or try out a guitar. Guaranteed that a totally sexy talented musician type will come to your assistance. e.g. Big Music in Crows Nest, Sydney.
10. Gigs and music festivals, obviously. But often all jumbled up with hot women. This isn't necessarily a bad thing.
11. Politics lectures. Definitely. Educated, politically aware, AND hot, in a cute just-woke-up-and-ran-to-my-lecture kind of way. Bed hair on politics student hottie who works as a personal trainer in his spare time: add a big fat HIGH DISTINCTION.
Obviously, further suggestions are welcome. Other cities, other venues. Contribute to the Eye Candy Library today! Here's looking at you, boys! ;)
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Customer Repellent
An excellent way to keep customers out of your store is to play awful music. Today's example: an elevator-music interpretation of Puccini's expansive, joyous Nessun Dorma from the opera Turandot... you know, the solo that the tenor Luciano Pavarotti (RIP) made famous a while ago. As musak. I turned and ran.
Monday, July 9, 2012
Generosity and Shoes (N.B. not Generosity *with* Shoes)
This week, I have been the recipient of outrageous acts of generosity from others and it's made me question if I am (or ever was, or will be) generous enough when I do have an income. I feel indebted to my people. Rather a lot of gratitude this week. I "didn't buy" a lot of things. I didn't buy dinner or the heavenly, fragrant, intoxicating splash of Glenmorangie Signet whisky when I was out with a girlfriend last week, nor did I buy dinner when I went out with my family this evening. I didn't buy the airfare interstate to spend some time with a favourite family member and some friends. Yes, I can't wait to spoil my friends and loved ones when I am back in the game. Right now instead, I share the love by giving them my time and energy. I am a distracted listener at the best of times; now I take the time to focus...properly. Clean all the things. Cook fricken dinner, for a change. Make pizza from scratch (packet scratch, not scratch scratch. Gluten free pizza is a tricky thing.). Invoke my domestic goddess. etc.
Here's another thing that remains un-bought: a camera! Mine disappeared into a paddock full of waist-high artichoke thistles with thorns sharper than a goanna's claws, and tougher than the needles you'd use to sew the mainsail for a yacht entering the Sydney to Hobart. Le sigh. What this means is that I can't yet take photos of What I Didn't Buy*. No photos yet of the flash of colour or shape that caught my eye in a shop, what suckered me through the door to make me brush the fabric with the back of my hand, stand back and see where it fell to, what it might do at the waist... how would I tie that thing? What sort of lingerie would, or could I wear with that? Does it float around and tactfully skim a generous booty, hinting at a thigh, or does it cling to curves and make grown men cry?
or the amazing shoes that I scrutinised, turning them over and over again from every angle with a hard eye like a gem grader would investigate a rare diamond: leather? cotton? woven? knitted? Glued, stitched, nailed? Cheap plastic soles one step removed from cardboard, rendering them useless until you fork out more money to a shoe repairer for a decent heel and sole to be attached? Or something that reveals a designer who has not cut corners, one who has a reputation to consider? Tanned, polish-able, or cheap scratchable paint coating - maybe I want a scratchy paint effect... Vinyl (rare is the vinyl shoe that does not end up in landfill within a couple of years!)? Where were these shoes (boots, sandals) made? Brazil ... Spain? Of course. The best-looking, best made, best quality, longest lasting, most eternally stylish, most-commented upon, most flattering, and most comfortable shoes, upon further investigation, almost always reveal their origins as one of these two countries - occasionally Portugal, or less often these days Italy or France... rarely if ever China - sorry China, but you know why.
*I'm looking for a DSLR that someone new to DSLR's might enjoy using, if that helps.
Here's another thing that remains un-bought: a camera! Mine disappeared into a paddock full of waist-high artichoke thistles with thorns sharper than a goanna's claws, and tougher than the needles you'd use to sew the mainsail for a yacht entering the Sydney to Hobart. Le sigh. What this means is that I can't yet take photos of What I Didn't Buy*. No photos yet of the flash of colour or shape that caught my eye in a shop, what suckered me through the door to make me brush the fabric with the back of my hand, stand back and see where it fell to, what it might do at the waist... how would I tie that thing? What sort of lingerie would, or could I wear with that? Does it float around and tactfully skim a generous booty, hinting at a thigh, or does it cling to curves and make grown men cry?
or the amazing shoes that I scrutinised, turning them over and over again from every angle with a hard eye like a gem grader would investigate a rare diamond: leather? cotton? woven? knitted? Glued, stitched, nailed? Cheap plastic soles one step removed from cardboard, rendering them useless until you fork out more money to a shoe repairer for a decent heel and sole to be attached? Or something that reveals a designer who has not cut corners, one who has a reputation to consider? Tanned, polish-able, or cheap scratchable paint coating - maybe I want a scratchy paint effect... Vinyl (rare is the vinyl shoe that does not end up in landfill within a couple of years!)? Where were these shoes (boots, sandals) made? Brazil ... Spain? Of course. The best-looking, best made, best quality, longest lasting, most eternally stylish, most-commented upon, most flattering, and most comfortable shoes, upon further investigation, almost always reveal their origins as one of these two countries - occasionally Portugal, or less often these days Italy or France... rarely if ever China - sorry China, but you know why.
*I'm looking for a DSLR that someone new to DSLR's might enjoy using, if that helps.
Sunday, July 1, 2012
It Begins
Hello.
This blog has started because of shopping, and a tight budget. Like any constraint, it both chafes and forces me to think differently. This is nothing new, I know. In my case not getting what I want can be a good thing. Thrifty shopping is no longer my aim, as such: I simply don't need ANYTHING. A vast collection of shoes, accessories and clothing is testament to the absence of assets in my life whose value would actually appreciate.
"I'm not buying that" - to me, not buying things is not just about a financial transaction. I must engage critical thinking! No, really! What am I buying into? Says who? What do they get out of it? Question Everything!
I might talk about my ideas around what I think is outrageously beautiful, what looks splendid, what is secretly cool in my books, an inkling of a trend... maybe, although I hate that T word with a passion.
Perhaps my ideas can be outlined by some things this blog won't include: naff iterations of how I patted myself on the back for denying myself the hottest jeans evah on Net-a-Porter's winter sale, or a pair of Jil Sander suede wedge heel boots, almost illegally soft and amazing. No; you won't see that, because they cost more than my student allowance pays me in six months so they were never really on my shopping list. BUT there's nothing stopping me from writing about shoes in other ways (like why beautifully made suede wedge heel boots are so yummy in the first place).
In the absence of lucre, I have time... lots of it, and eyes and ears and a desire to understand my material urges.
Some topics other than 'not-shopping' that this blog might include:
This blog has started because of shopping, and a tight budget. Like any constraint, it both chafes and forces me to think differently. This is nothing new, I know. In my case not getting what I want can be a good thing. Thrifty shopping is no longer my aim, as such: I simply don't need ANYTHING. A vast collection of shoes, accessories and clothing is testament to the absence of assets in my life whose value would actually appreciate.
"I'm not buying that" - to me, not buying things is not just about a financial transaction. I must engage critical thinking! No, really! What am I buying into? Says who? What do they get out of it? Question Everything!
I might talk about my ideas around what I think is outrageously beautiful, what looks splendid, what is secretly cool in my books, an inkling of a trend... maybe, although I hate that T word with a passion.
Perhaps my ideas can be outlined by some things this blog won't include: naff iterations of how I patted myself on the back for denying myself the hottest jeans evah on Net-a-Porter's winter sale, or a pair of Jil Sander suede wedge heel boots, almost illegally soft and amazing. No; you won't see that, because they cost more than my student allowance pays me in six months so they were never really on my shopping list. BUT there's nothing stopping me from writing about shoes in other ways (like why beautifully made suede wedge heel boots are so yummy in the first place).
In the absence of lucre, I have time... lots of it, and eyes and ears and a desire to understand my material urges.
Some topics other than 'not-shopping' that this blog might include:
- Single malt whisky
- The odd remark about globalisation (yeah - I'm studying that).
- What it's like being green these days (yeah - I do science too).
- Plus, some debates:
- Are engineering students hotter than politics students? (I will more or less argue the affirmative, with some exceptions.)
- Are Art students cooler than Physics students?
- Do you really need that piece of disgusting acrylic masquerading as a scarf?
- and so on.
As a final note, I make no apology for any upcoming acid-tongued remarks and harsh critique. I promise no sweeping statements such as "We Must..." "We have to... " "We need...." (world peace, stop persecuting women, stop pollution, end species extinction, liberalise the agricultural sector...etc etc)
Still don't know what to expect? Good ... stay tuned. I won't let you down.
Still don't know what to expect? Good ... stay tuned. I won't let you down.
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