Sales times are weird.
Case 1 – They override our good sense and make us buy stuff we don’t really need. But we buy it cos its cheap.
Case 2 – Those things we thought were over priced become incredibly tempting and the discounts overcome our resistance.
In the last years of Winter sales, I’d been eyeing up the tellies. I still want to upgrade the telly from the 32″ LCD telly I have. I’d kinda like a bigger one with more dots. MORE DOTS ! (Sorry, something triggered a Warcraft moment). But I have better things to spend the money on. Like a £150 graphics card !
Yep.
Think of the essentials first.
Keep an eye open for getting stuff you need at discounts.
Peek for shinies that your friends might want.
MARKET FOOD ! Yep. I am a sucker for a good bit of sausage.
(Of the SausageInnaBun kind – I dunno what you were thinking – haha)
And a general mooch around at what’s on offer.
I rarely buy stuff when I go round the shops or around market places. But I do enjoy getting out and about, for a while at least until the throng of people gets the better of me and I need to escape to somewhere quieter.
Cue the online sales … And places like Amazon …
I need more books.
I need more music because before acquiring a Jimi Hendrix album yesterday, I’ve listened to all of my music library. Definitely need more music.
Need more games too. Ok, maybe I don’t need more games but I do want to expand the collection. Partly because games have soundtracks to listen to (especially on GOG.com who have started their Black Friday sales early). Steam have a sale starting tomorrow and I suspect I’ll spend a little money on it. I’ve saved not-spent a little tonight by checking reviews for Horny Rat (aka Warhammer – Shadow of the Horned Rat). Check reviews, it lets you avoid frustration and Horny Rat (quicker name than the full version) is supposedly very unstable and crashes too much. Bad show.
That’s another sales lesson – don’t jump in just because it’s cheap. Do the research as well to make sure you understand what you’re buying. Don’t buy rubbish. That seems like a really obvious thing to say but … so many people (cough-buy-Bieber-cough) get stuff they never use (like me with games!) or buy stuff that is substandard compared to what they could have got for similar money.
Sometimes sales are just a means of getting customers in the door to clear out the stockroom of stuff no one in a sensible frame of mind will buy.
But books ? Books are always quality. Keep your eye open for good books. I’m reading the Martian again and remembering how amazing that book is. I thought the film was pretty good, the book is far superior. All of the stuff that was dumbed down or cut for length in the film, is in the book. The science makes more sense and is explained far better than you can do on film.
That pic ?
22% would rather be reading – yeah, I’ll read stories or watch other people play through games – cos I like the story.
4% spend rent money on books. Ok, not done this (since uni!) but I know people who definitely do. Yep CK. Lookin’ at you.
8% No such thing as too many books. Looks at bookshelf stacked 2 deep with books. NEED MORE BOOKS.
25% Books are better than people. Depends on the people. I know a few with wonderful smiles, great hugggers, sparkling conversation and I know a very few who combine all 3 of those. Yeah, it’s heresy but some people are better than books. Especially if you can talk about books with them.
10% arrange bookshelves by emotion. Erm. My bookshelves are a bit too chaotic for that … They’ve just … been added to as new books arrive.
8% mourning fictional characters. Poor Wash. He will be missed. And … too ! Death by electric spark. That wasn’t in the movie.
11% literary references no one gets. Roll pods, cross that T and give ’em a broadside. Roll sides against the answering barrage.
(Let me know in the comments if you get that reference)
3% forgot to eat or sleep. Forgetting to eat would be good for me because I need to lose the weight again. The Martian is such a readable book that I would quite happily start now (after hitting publish!) and read until I had to leave for work tomorrow.
9% waiting for Hogwarts letter.
Ok, maybe not Hogwarts but it would be wonderful to be beamed up, whisked away and put to good use making Space Engines Go Faster. I would be over the moon if that happened. Need to write that story ! I have another couple of ideas for episodes within that space scifi tale. How does galactic commerce fit into an interstellar society with no faster than light comms, how do banks work. And how do you rob them …
Haha. Crime can make for the better stories.
Time to get back to the stories actually. I suspect I’ll indulge in the Steam sales (Cosmonautica is the favourite and has allayed my fears for it, having been updated yesterday) although I’ve talked myself out of the GoG.com sale.
If you indulge in Black Friday or other Winter sales, may it be money well spent and I hope you don’t get trampled in the rush. That’s from the retailer side and the customer side. People’s behaviour in sales times can be … pretty below average. Don’t be one of the morons !
Cya there :-).