As a girl, the society almost expects me to love shopping. Love? Heck, no! That’s way too mild a term. Thrive on it, live for it, yearn for it…you get the picture. And really, I do see a lot of girls (guys also, yes, but predominantly girls) whose extra-circular activities include shopping. I have friends who can shop, shop, shop and do that and get all perky by the end of the day.

Me? When I shop, its usually because I have to as opposed to want to, or feel like it. When I shop, it’s a ridiculously, painstakingly a “masculine” way of shopping. I shortlist where I need to go, walk in those stores, shortlist what I like in less than five minutes, try them on, and buy the one I want to. That’s all. No hopping from shop to shop. No should I take boths. None of that.

Why do I say it’s a masculine way, you ask? We-ell, I was watching Confessions of a Shopaholic, and that’s how Luke Brandon shopped (incidentally, Hugh Dancy = wow). I don’t find shopping half as divine an experience as Rebecca Bloomwood did, nor half as good as the kind my friends assure me it is. It’s funny, how I just cannot participate in the shopping ga-ga.

Don’t get me wrong though. I do not take shopping that mildly as well. When I shop, when there is a need to, I shop good. Which does not necessarily mean blowing up cash, but using it for all the good, sensible & pretty stuff. Practical, too.

However, there is one splurge of mine, no matter what. And again, it does deviate from the norm. When I walk in a bookstore, the books cry out to “Buy me, buy me, Anya, buy me!” and its excruciatingly difficult to walk away from such heart-wrenching plea. But, I have started to control this urge (And anyways, my bookshelf is out of space) and I haven’t bought a book in three months. Hallelujah!

Someday though, I hope to be rich. And then I’ll buy Jimmy Choo shoes, Chanel dresses, Guess bags… sigh, all that. With my very own money! But even then I know, I won’t be half as ga-ga as people expect me to. I just can’t be. I’m incapable of it. It’s just not me. And the last thing I am is an impulsive buyer. Heck, I doubt I’m impulsive in any field! Not that I’m complaining!