Spending Sorrows

For the longest time I could not comprehend why people, particularly members of the fairer sex, lived by the mantra, 'when the going gets tough, the tough go shopping'. Today I learned why.

After being branded (by another member of the family) a 'bad, self-centred sister' who 'does not know how to sacrifice' and 'makes a big deal out of going out', I decided to accompany my older sister to HMV.

And boy, was spending therapeutic. I can now boast to have a tangible copy of Fool's Mate in my hands. No need to wait till I fly to Tokyo to get it.

There was food as well, and I was so happy to indulge in Pretzels from

Instant influx of memories from my childhood Orchard Road visits. I recall I used to eat the plain ones, and slurped up with relish every drop of the crushed ice + colouring combination daylight robbery drink. I skipped the latter this time, but I walloped almost every single bit of this:

Sugar Rozette Pretzel in a Rosy Maroon shade (yeah a very lame description, but at least its accurate and better sounding than bruise-coloured?). The pretzel dough was as tender as ever and the sugar coating exploded with a combination of sweet and sour. In fact, when I looked carefully at the sugar pile which accumulated at the bottom of the paper packet, I discerned a mixture of dark purple sugar crystals and some kind of powder in a lighter shade. Worth every bit of the SGD$2.70, but sadly enough, such a pricing would not qualify it as a weekly snack.

And I felt so much better after all that consumption.

So that mantra was no mystery after all. Let me break it down into a simple formula:

Depression = need for happiness quick-fix = flock towards happy products = every reason to buy = spend on stuff you like = cheering up.

:)