I've been facing a dilemma of late : I've been going out a lot, and everytime I do, I see lots of wonderful things that would make perfect birthday gifts for specific people. I could, of course, just give them as random gifts to said persons, but that would probably bankrupt me in the process. Its really cool shit, I have to say. But I've been resisting my urge to splurge, which is a good thing I think.

Or, at least, I've been resisting the urge to splurge on clothing, which, by the looks of my wardrobe, is a good thing. Even after cleaning out the massive amounts of crap I don't really wear, shoving it into big garbage bags and hiding it in a high shelf in my closet, my damn wardrobe still oozes with fabric and garish sequins and stupid camisoles and what not. I have no idea what to do with my clothes. Which brings me back to my point. Lately I've not been spending money on clothes - I've been buying food instead, and books.

After the big Chinatown food buying excursion, I bought steam cakes from the Tangs basement, pretzels from Marks and Spencer and Hi-Chews from a toy store while I was out with Juliet, much to my father's chagrin. When he picked me up the other day he was all, "You really should stop buying candy." I think I may have to agree, seeing as how I think I have this festering cavity on one of my front teeth.

My happiest purchase this week was in the form of books, though - I trekked to Kinokuniya to buy American Splendor : Our Movie Year, which I was no doubt inspired to purchase after really enjoying the movie, the dvd of which I bought and watched a few months ago. Paul Giamatti is in it, and is excellent in it in the way that sort of makes you get pissed about his lack of an Oscar nomination for Sideways all over again. I've just finished reading it, and I kind of love it, except for some bits about jazz musicians that don't interest me too much. I love the way its about celebrating mundaneity, and the funny things that crop up in the midst of it all - it makes me feel like I'm not alone in the stupidity of my boring life. You should pick that and Ghost World, which is not so much mundane as it is quirky and amusing. I'm such a Ghost World fangirl, I'm totally going to buy these Enid and Rebecca cloth dolls Juliet pointed out to me in the toy store. I already have the Enid Doll, which sits on my bookshelf and confuses my mother.

Juliet and I also came across some stuff I thought would be fun to decorate my dorm with - I'm kind of psyched about that, I think I want to litter it with stupid geek dolls and MyPaperCrane art, which I shall place sort of ridiculously next to some Egon Schiele prints, and perhaps a Rasterbated picture of The Royal Tenebaums or something.

Oh, and I totally forgot to talk about the second book I bought, which is Jonathan Safran Foer's second novel. Its hefty and was like 30 dollars, but I bought it anyway because of the 20% sale and because I've finished with his first novel. I've stalled on my copy of Wuthering Heights, because I've been really distracted by my season 1 and 2 dvds of That 70's Show, which make me giggly and happy and fall in love with Eric and Donna all over again. I plan to finish it before I leave on holiday, and to read The God of Small Things while I'm cooped up in England. I can't decide what other novel to bring along with me, nothing heavy I think, although my copy of Kafka kind of beckons to me, willing me to be ambitious and pretend that I can understand Russian literature (or. as Brandon has pointed out - he's not really Russian. But I can classify him as such because well, he was born in Prague, which was part of the USSR up until less than 20 years ago. And actually, when he was born, Prague was considered part of Austria apparently. So who cares. He's very Russian in nature.)

I watched Star Wars too, like the other 530291830 people that did this weekend. I didn't have very high hopes for it, but I was pretty sure that it would be better than Episodes 1 & 2, which isn't hard, considering how godawful they were. I despaired at the sight of Hayden Christensen's greasy long locks, recalling the Episode 2 days when it was short and less stupid looking. Winnie, Christine and I collectively cringed and laughed everytime Anakin and Padme were in a scene together, repeatedly declaring that Lucas cannot do romance. I basically decided that Ewan Mcgregor's declarations of love were the most convincing of the entire series, and I actually did feel sad when he was standing on that pile of rock crying through his disappointment to Anakin, who was kind of roasted and legless on the rock beneath him. Anyway, whatever. I just want the new Harry Potter movie to come out now. And I hope we can all clear our schedules a little more to spend time with each other, because I really do like just sitting and eating with my lovely friends and enjoying their spectacular company.