God Doesn’t Want You to Have the Funk
Jan. 13th, 2022 08:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mallorys_cameraI was gonna tromp, but then I got to the Walkway and discovered I’d lost my earbuds.
Marching up and down the Walkway in sub-freezing weather without my iPhone blasting, We’ve got the funk! Gonna get more funk! is not my idea of a Good Time, however beneficial to the body and spirit it may be, so you know—fuck that.
So, then I drove to Staples to buy new earbuds.
My prediction: Staples is gonna file for Chapter 11 in the near future.
The shelves were absolutely bare. Yeah, yeah—supply chain issues that will probably be resolved at some point (though who knows when.)
But also—business model issues. Staples is basically a stationery store. Yes, it does sell electronics and accessories for those electronics, but Best Buy does it better in the same mall with a bigger selection.
You don’t need 20,000 square feet to sell stationery.
###
Staples did not have what I wanted—which was basically a pair of wired earbuds identical to the ones I lost.
I don’t want Bluetooth earbuds!
Yes, I know that makes me an old Luddite fart.
I don’t care.
###
I couldn’t face going to Best Buy.
God doesn’t want you to have the funk, I told myself sadly.
###
Anyway, for this and various other reasons, I was in a Bad Mood all day.
I toiled away at the Remunerative Project because money makes the world go round.
But all the while, I felt deeply sorry for myself.
I suspect the deal was that the serotonin pump in my lizard brain had temporarily shut down for some reason (maintenance, maybe?), so my consciousness was scrambling to find reasons why my life is more miserable than, say, your average Biafran orphan’s.
Actually, though, my life these days is pretty good.
Marching up and down the Walkway in sub-freezing weather without my iPhone blasting, We’ve got the funk! Gonna get more funk! is not my idea of a Good Time, however beneficial to the body and spirit it may be, so you know—fuck that.
So, then I drove to Staples to buy new earbuds.
My prediction: Staples is gonna file for Chapter 11 in the near future.
The shelves were absolutely bare. Yeah, yeah—supply chain issues that will probably be resolved at some point (though who knows when.)
But also—business model issues. Staples is basically a stationery store. Yes, it does sell electronics and accessories for those electronics, but Best Buy does it better in the same mall with a bigger selection.
You don’t need 20,000 square feet to sell stationery.
###
Staples did not have what I wanted—which was basically a pair of wired earbuds identical to the ones I lost.
I don’t want Bluetooth earbuds!
Yes, I know that makes me an old Luddite fart.
I don’t care.
###
I couldn’t face going to Best Buy.
God doesn’t want you to have the funk, I told myself sadly.
###
Anyway, for this and various other reasons, I was in a Bad Mood all day.
I toiled away at the Remunerative Project because money makes the world go round.
But all the while, I felt deeply sorry for myself.
I suspect the deal was that the serotonin pump in my lizard brain had temporarily shut down for some reason (maintenance, maybe?), so my consciousness was scrambling to find reasons why my life is more miserable than, say, your average Biafran orphan’s.
Actually, though, my life these days is pretty good.
no subject
Date: 2022-01-13 02:43 pm (UTC)All the giant office supply megastores can go die in a fire, as far as I'm concerned. They put so many genuinely good stationery stores out of business.
no subject
Date: 2022-01-13 02:51 pm (UTC)And I loved those genuinely good stationery stores.
no subject
Date: 2022-01-13 03:31 pm (UTC)Maybe call Best Buy or wherever to confirm they have earbuds, so then you can just go get them right before you go tromping? (not that you need me to tell you this)
no subject
Date: 2022-01-13 07:45 pm (UTC)Please tell me more? (I'm left-handed too.)
no subject
Date: 2022-01-13 09:17 pm (UTC)What I love about them is that the ink is relatively fast-drying, and each pen also has an ample ink reservoir.
They have one big limitation, though.
The trouble is if you bring one with you on an airplane, it is liable to leak. In general this can be prevented by keeping the pens upright during travel, but it isn't perfect.
Hope this helps. :^)
no subject
Date: 2022-01-13 11:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-01-14 09:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-01-13 06:04 pm (UTC)Yeah, I heard they might be acquired by the Dunder-Mifflin Paper Company and that Dwight Schrute was hoping to be named branch manager, lol.
Hope you have a good day, find some ear buds, and do your daily tromp...
no subject
Date: 2022-01-14 02:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-01-14 04:40 am (UTC)--all of us folks of a certain age who don't want whatever new thing is being foisted on us in the place of the old thing that worked fine and is THE THING WE LIKE feel they way you feel about the earbuds, but we divide into two categories: those who feel self-conscious about it and so say things like "Yes, I know that makes me an old Luddite fart" ... and those who just get on with the grumping without reference to Luddism. (You and I are both in the former category--though one of the earlier commentators says the wired earbuds are trendy so this time we can claim to be ahead of the curve.)
no subject
Date: 2022-01-14 02:29 pm (UTC)Right! Like the time we refused to give up our vinyl record collections. 😀