The finish line of Stuff

It’s entirely possible that 2016 is when I finally scratched the last itch for things. I got a Harris Tweed sport coat for Christmas which had lingered on my wish list for years, and then I spent some money on a pair of Australian work boots of a type I’d been eyeing off and on for half a decade. And with that, everything I actually wanted badly enough to write down was acquired.

What did I always fixate on? Shoes? I have all the shoes I usefully need for any occasion. Outerwear? Same, all possible instances and styles are covered. I have the phone I need and the accessories that suit it, I’m fixed for hats unless some perfect Vanderbilt lid descends, I need another Nerf gun like a hole in the head, I have a new car and a decent bicycle, and if I ordered one more insulated mug of any kind my wife would take my life (I’m arguably already one over what I can usefully use). But even some of the other things I wanted, however frivolously, are beside the point. I don’t want a new pair of eyeglasses, no matter how tangentially stylish. I don’t want that T-Mobile SIM with 100 minutes and 5 GB of data a month for $30, because as long as work’s paying for my phone and I own the handset myself there’s no point in sinking the money. I don’t need sports jerseys for players who probably won’t be here more than a year or two anyway. My bike is just fine, when I ride it, and no matter how cool Priority’s beach cruiser is, it’s pointless if I don’t live at the beach.

So what is it that I want to spend money on now? Given the opportunity? Books to read, mostly at home. Craft beer, mostly to drink at home. Going out with friends. Going abroad for as long as the freight will bear it (looking at you, Ireland). I may have finally crossed that millenial-threshold into experience first, after a conscious seven-year program of trying to accumulate the things I’ll be able to use for the rest of my life. With the obvious exception of the cellphone, because we’ve already proven that can’t be done…of which…

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