ive said it before and at the risk of sounding repetitive: ive almost entirely stopped shopping online. it was rough at first, particularly since i kind of fe

ive said it before and at the risk of sounding repetitive: ive almost entirely stopped shopping online. it was rough at first, particularly since i kind of fell out of the loop on which stores carry what, but once i mostly figured that out its honestly so much nicer. almost all of my christmas gifts were done at actual stores. and just everyday shit like random car lights to clothes to picture frames to bookshelves to random little gifts to journal notebooks, etc... its been such an improvement. i kept finding myself sending back ridiculous amounts of stuff because the pictures and descriptions were either outright misleading, outright lying, or i just wouldnt read close enough. its pretty rad to hold the item in your hand, know exactly the size, the weight, feeling, color, material, etc... and just know you're getting exactly what you want right now in the exact moment. and the thing that surprised me the most? how much i actually enjoy people. i know it sounds entirely ridiculous but even just being helped by someone or checked out by a person felt right. ive never been an anti-social or anxious person, ive always had regular social life with friends and coworkers, but shopping with real people was working a social muscle that i hadn't realized was atrophying so badly. and it gave me an excuse to get out of the house often for something other than work or partying. anyway, of course amazon was going to go this way, we see it over and over and over again. none of us are shocked.