Who am I?

Some days I end up doing things that make me wonder if "past me" would even recognize "present me". I'm not talking about cheating on income taxes, murdering someone, kicking a puppy, or even getting in the express lane with more items than the mandated limit. No, I'm talking about perfectly legal actions that, 5 or 10 years ago, I'd have said, "Who in his right mind would do X?" For instance:

A couple of years ago I realize I had become a coffee snob. No longer were Folgers, Maxwell House, Sam's Choice, etc. sufficient for my morning doss of buzz. My biggest disappointment in myself was not that I snubbed the "common" brands. That was bad enough, but I also had to admit that I could differentiate between various coffees -- not brands so much as different roasts or different varietals. You have no idea how much this pains me, but I have a favorite "place of origin" coffee -- Costa Rican, preferably from the Tres Rios region. It all reminds me of the time Frasier, in a flashback episode, had just moved to Seattle and he was agog at the pretentious people in the coffee shop. Frazier said something like, "Lord help me, the day a good old cup of regular old coffee isn't good enough for me." I feel as if I've jumped the shark. [Isn't Wikipedia great?]

Second, I started making my own beer. See disappointment #1 for why this bothers me.

Third, I now own more than 3 pairs of shoes. See, a man really doesn't need more than 3 pairs of shoes -- a pair of sneaks, a pair of boots, and a pair of dress shoes. I don't want to count how many I own, but it's probably closer to 10 than 3. That bothers me.

Fourth, and what brought this rant to mind today, I am about to go out and spend way more than (I think) is reasonable for a chair. Yes I said a chair; something to sit on! When I moved into my house a couple of years ago, I bought a new couch. In truth, I needed to do that because the old one (a gimme couch) was in pretty sorry shape. And I had enough disposable income, so I took the plunge and bought a fairly nice leather couch from Sam's Club (I was splurging, but I'm still cheap). Ever since then, I've realized that I need a chair to go with the couch. [Yes, there was a matching chair at Sam's, but I wasn't going to buy a couch AND a chair at the same time.] Every so often I'll go look at chairs, but I just can't bring myself to pay what's required for a nice chair and I don't want to waste my money on a chair I don't like. Hence, it's the couch or nothing. Occasionally I have company and I have to pull some kitchen chairs into the living room or something and that's kind of a drag.

The other day, though, I saw MY CHAIR. It was beautiful and it was oh so comfortable. Seriously, this chair grabbed hold and hugged me. It was everything good and holy in world of furniture. If I owned that chair, I thought, I'd never unnecessarily rise to my feet again. I'd train the cats to bring food and drink, I'd holler "come on in" if someone knocked on the door, I've already got a remote for the TV and a cordless phone. I figured the only time I'd have to get up would be to use the bathroom, go to bed, or leave the house. The price tag on said chair, however, was completely out of the question so I was left to worship from afar. Sunday, though, there was a 40% off any one item coupon in the paper! Now even at 60% of regular price I'm still having trouble justifying the purchase, but I WANT THAT CHAIR! I've dealt with this issue my whole life, but this time I'm coming down on the "let's splurge" side of the argument. I called Thailand Jeff and he's bringing his truck over today and we're going to get the chair.

The 10-year-ago me would call me all kinds of dirty names and I'm fairly sure the 5-year-ago me would make much sport of this purchase. Remember, we're talking about a chair here! I do, though, have a few "saving graces" that suggest I haven't completely gone over to the dark side. First, and most importantly, where am I buying this Cadillac chair? Some posh furniture store? No, my chair is coming from Hobby Lobby. Yes, Hobby Lobby, the craft store. Hobby Lobby has lots of little tables, cabinets, trunks, etc., but I have no idea why they have this fabulous leather chair there. I was skeptical of Hobby Lobby furniture so I asked several (okay 3) people if they'd ever bought any furniture there. None had, but all 3 said, "Oh, but have you seen that great leather chair they have?" So evidently it's not just me who's taken with this chair. Next, while I am splurging on this chair, I haven't fallen prey to many of the other gadget fads. I do not have a flat screen/plasma/HD TV and I have no intention of buying one. My good old 25 or 27 inch one works just fine. [By the way, that TV came from Kroger, so I guess buying a chair at Hobby Lobby isn't such a stretch.] Plus, I don't own a pair of Crocs, so I know I haven't given in even to afforable fads. My final rationalization is that this "extravagant" purchase proably wouldn't be considered that extravagant by many folks. Still, it is to me and I must admit that I'm a little disappointed in "present me".

On the other hand, I'm REALLY looking forward to sitting in my new chair. Screw "past me"; I'm buying the chair and I think I'll name her Abigal!