The Magic of Self-Indulgent Saturdays

I woke up Saturday feeling like I needed a win. I think it had to do with the culmination of watching The Grapes of Wrath, reading The Book Thief and listening to The Replacements' song "Androgynous" on repeat lately. It put me in a weird place. So I decided to pamper the absolute shit out of myself (ironically following my Friday realization that I should start saving money better).

I used to have Saturdays pamperings in high school, where I would just do anything and everything I wanted. Back then, I had a smaller imagination when it came to money. I was paying for less too. Also, if I got away with buying cigarettes back then, that was some kind of huge win for me and it was only a couple of bucks.

In fact, my Saturday pamperings in high school were mostly just cigarettes, chocolate and Cuban food in the Orange Circle with a crossword puzzle.

There were a lot of Cs on my best Saturdays in high school, I'm now realizing.

But it was never because I felt lowdown back then. It was usually because I had a lot of time, money and I was really into self-indulgence. When you're 17, treating yourself to any kind of self-indulgence is like getting extra credit in a class that you already have an A in.

So, anyway, this Saturday, it was a strange mixture of feeling bad for no reason (which I was well-aware). Or maybe I have to feed myself propaganda feelings to justify such joyous cash-dropping.

It started with my my parents, sister and I visiting my brother at his coffee shop. Then I ran errands, which included reading outside while my oil was being changed at Jiffy Lube and wandering the mall aimlessly for the first time in probably ten years while my watch was being fixed. All I could find in the mall that interested me enough to buy was boxers (woo!).

I went to Bookman and bought used copies of:
- Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
- High Fidelity by Nick Hornby
- A Wizard Of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin (in old school paperback)
- The Lord Of The Rings trilogy - J.R.R. Tolkein (in old school paperback)

At Borders, I scored discounts on:
- Play The Piano Drunk Like A Percussion Instrument Until The Fingers Begin To Bleed A Bit by Charles Bukowski
- Wild Ducks Flying Backwards by Tom Robbins
- Rumblefish by S.E. Hinton
- Steve Martin's Let's Get Small
- Steve Martin's Comedy Is Not Pretty

Then I treated myself to Pho America. I ordered spring rolls and, while there, as I was waiting, I called and ordered a pizza and cheese bread at Valentino's (which was a first for me; ordering from a different restaurant in a restaurant I'm ordering at). So, I came home and ate like a fat stoned king.

The rest of the day, I read on the couch and worked on sending out book ideas out. When the sun went down, I cleaned my room until I went over to someone's house to sit around a jacuzzi and drink whiskey into late hours of the evening.

Sunday morning, I woke up and felt so goddamn deliriously good. It looks like self-indulgence still works wonders.