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Treats

13:28 / 14.11.03

So I've been doing this thing where you're supposed to do one nice thing to nurture yourself every day for a week. And darn it, I do feel pretty good.

For somebody like me, the danger is coming up with grandiose plans that will kill me to pull off, or that I won't pull off & thereby increase my feelings of low self-worth. Or decrease my feelings of self-worth, I suppose it makes more sense to say.

All my things either had to do with a) food treats or b) beauty treats... well, I guess also c) office supply treats. So I need more ideas, because I'm going to do this more often. I recommend it highly!

13:38 / 14.11.03

Get a favourite film out? Or even better, go to the flicks to see something really good? I decided today that I wasn't going to allow myslef my lunchtime martial arts session unless I buckled down and got on with some work, and I did. But this is more a product of feeling quite good and happy about myself at the mo = more inclined to do boring stuff at work, rather than moan about it, as well as being on a bit of a martial arts bender at the moment, rather than the carrot and stick thing.

Tryphena Absent

14:02 / 14.11.03

Recently I have been referred to as demanding and indulgent pretty damn regularly and the lovely young man who has called me these things is right. I like to treat myself to chocolate bars every day of the week. I smoke because it's bad and I enjoy doing bad things. I delight in buying silly things (handcream, moisturiser, shampoo, bubble bath, sponges, toothbrushes, nurofen, cotton wool, dental floss, soap, emery boards, tissues, bleach, washing up liquid, liquid soap for the kitchen sink, scouring pads, marigold gloves) that are going to last for ages and I already have loads of. I especially like buying things when I know I don't need them, I do little things for myself constantly and surprisingly I feel no guilt and quite like me. I recommend that you go and pick up things that will be useful and practical but you kinda like choosing.

14:18 / 14.11.03

I treated myself to some new toiletries from the FCUK range at Boots at lunchtime today. It was a double treat because if you bought three items you got a free toiletry bag. Actually it was a triple treat; I bought four items from the range.

14:18 / 14.11.03

You treat yourself with Marigolds? Wow, I tend more towards Absinthe or a cheesecake or a few hours wasted (on TV, computer game or other unworthy activity). My favourite indulgence is have a cup of tea/a beer, a good book, nice music and a fat spliff, and just relax for a couple of hours. Time doing nothing is an indulgence in the modern world.
Little treats? Flowers, childrens toys (I love powerballs, those really really bouncy balls you lose straight away), a ticket to a gig, some top quality tea/coffee, a good book or CD, a sunbed session, manicure etc. how about a massage? That's a treat and a half..

14:20 / 14.11.03

Can't beat a good long bath as a treat or maybe a nice bottle of wine rather than a gallon of cider for £2.99.

Regarding baths - are bubble baths seen as something feminine? I've never thought so but I've been seeing more and more about them not being very manly?

Tryphena Absent

14:21 / 14.11.03

I do nothing all day, in my free time I like to buy things and I feel less guilty if they're things that do things. I mean, there's no guilt in cleaning products, you know they're there even when you don't use them AND they cost a reasonable amount so you still get a money spending treat. Plus chocolate's more a necessity than a yummy treaty thing!

14:28 / 14.11.03

I bought pens! Pigma Microns 005. Did I need them? Nope. But I like them... I really whisper thin black lines...perfect size and weight.

Bear: Bubblebaths have always been considered very feminine.

14:32 / 14.11.03

Stateside they've started selling egg nog in grocery stores already. That's a gift that pretty much keeps on giving.

14:57 / 14.11.03

Get thee to Muji just up from Tottenham Court Road tube (next to Easy Everything) and buy stationary and the pens, oy the pens

.

15:01 / 14.11.03

Go into a party/costume shop and ask if you can see their selection of fake moustaches. Try a few on in the shop. Find one that suits you, buy it (shouldn't cost more than a dollar) take it home in a lovely brown paper bag and cherish it for ever. You don't even have to wear it, just walk around town with it in your pocket or your purse. Think about the fact that someone has a job designing these things, or wonder where they might come from - cats? Badgers? Do moustache vendors have wooden badger shapes on their wall divided into coloured sections showing which 'taches can be harvested from which bit of the badger?

Seriously, the first time I bought one I was on a high for days.

15:30 / 14.11.03

I like spending time with friends. if it's just having them over for dinner or to watch a dumb movie that you know you'll both hate and have a good laugh over, or if it's actually going somewhere and doing something. there's always an excuse not to (laundry to do, no money, too tired, whatever), but everything's so much nicer with someone really great around.

15:32 / 14.11.03

I agree about the mustaches. silly stuff can make you insanely cheery. I bought a plastic pig catapult and carried it around the office for a week. not only did I have fun, but so did half of the office. brilliant, and only around $6.

16:53 / 14.11.03

That reminds me, I have to hang up my flying pig...

17:00 / 14.11.03

I'm with Quantum. Buying myself things can be nice from time to time, but ultimately it leads to budget anxiety, so it's not a pure treat. Whereas time spent doing 'nothing' - turning off the phone, and most importantly considering the nothing-time as important as anything else I 'have' to do that day - that's a real luxury. A whole day reading a book, for example, doing nothing else but maybe brewing a pot of coffee.

18:19 / 14.11.03

The small and lovely things that make life worth living: chocolate covered blueberries; Irish Coffee; sour apple martinis; tiny-glow-in-the-dark toys; unusual fireworks to be set off under a full moon; playground swings; befriending a dog or cat; sledding down a hill on a fresh cover of snow; getting a new comic book; snuggling with a lovely someone beneath a down comforter, preferably while watching cartoons; spicy Asian takeout; strong Ethiopian coffee on a rainy morning; haircut/new hairstyle/new color hair; fresh-baked homemade bread with real butter; new recipes that turn out well; filling a dark room with lit candles; finding an amazing CD in the bargain bin; antique maps; flea markets; spontaneous games of tag; and of course...the ubiquitous stoner friend who turns up at just the right time with pipe and bag in tow.

18:38 / 14.11.03

That must be true about the moustaches, too: my boss took her son to a children's theater, and they handed out moustaches to everyone in the audience; and the next morning, she was looking through her purse & found her moustache, and let me tell you this woman is not easy to please --but she was, very pleased. "Look, my moustache!" Then she smoothed it out & laid it on her desk. She kept it on her desk for a week.

18:46 / 14.11.03

I recommend that you go and pick up things that will be useful and practical but you kinda like choosing.

I think this is a very good strategy, actually. I always buy shampoo at the warehouse club, in enormous sizes that last forever & it's an unspoken rule that you have to use up the whole bottle before buying another --but why? Because it's such a tremendous waste of time to buy fun new little bottles of shampoos every other week? Besides I think it's true that your hair likes it better if it gets a diet of different shampoos. I am changing my ways. No more practical shampoos! I want to be in the shower and look at all my shampoos and think Oh my, which one shall I use this morning?

20:01 / 14.11.03

Indulgence. Ahem. What a suitable moment for this thread to appear.

Today, I bought picked up my Brompton folding bike. My beautiful, beautiful bike. Which I don't really *need* if you actually push me on the subject, but I just wanted it sooooo much. And now she's here. Welcome to the world, Tillie.

Um, and yes, I've beeen indulging my liking for wine, too.

20:02 / 14.11.03

Ooops! That was Ariadne, not Loomis!

20:24 / 14.11.03

Are you sure? I always thought Loomis seemed a bit of folding bike kinda guy.

Tryphena Absent

20:38 / 14.11.03

My mum bought me chocolate pudding and I opened the top and it wasn't chocolate pudding, it was jam pudding in the wrong packet!!!! I was so sad. Now I have to go and buy something chocolatey for myself. Darnit.

But anyway... I love choosing shampoo, the nicest thing about going out with someone is that you get to choose from an even bigger variety of products!!!!! Haircare rocks, you get to go, hmmm, have that gel or hmmm, your hair's a bit drier than mine you better use extra moisturising shampoo. Plus, if that person is of the opposite sex you get to buy things that you would never even use ever and they're still useful! You even get to buy extra types of painkillers you've never even thought of using like Lemsip. Yay!

Lilly Nowhere Late

06:34 / 15.11.03

World`s best hair treat: 3oz Rose Water(purchased from your local supermarket; baking sectin)
3oz Grape Seed Oil (supermarket again; cooking oil section)
Mix well, be naked, stand in your tub and douse yourself head to toe, saturating all hair and scalp. Run
a steamy hot bath and add bubbles whether you are a boy or not. Enjoy, eventually shampoo all the oil from
your hair and continue your life feeling much better, smelling great, and with hair that is much healthier than
before.

06:36 / 15.11.03

Are you sure? I always thought Loomis seemed a bit of folding bike kinda guy

But would Loomis name a bike "Tillie?"

Anyway, one of my favorite ways to indulge myself is to go see a movie by myself. Another nice thing is to go out to dinner or lunch in a halfway decent restaurant with a nice book and treat yourself - because normally we don't go to such places alone and it's nice when we do.

But maybe it's just me...

pointless and uncalled for

16:27 / 15.11.03

I'm not a particularly indulgent man, but sometimes I have it in me to splash out. My favourtite place for treats is the chinese cake shop in China Town. It's on the little section leading up to Shaftesbury, right by the gate.
Other treats include Phaidon 55 books and Kodak Portra, even when I know that most of the people that I show my photographs would know the difference.
Just in reflection that seems very lame. I guess I'm not someone that treats themself much, I think I enjoy it more when I treat someone else. I often want to photograph that look but am too shy of being intrusive.

17:14 / 15.11.03

I know that I risk sounding a bit lovely, but I find that the treatiness of shopping is enhanced hugely if I'm buying presents for other people. For a start it completely defuses the guilt aspect, and it's free of the self-indulgence come-down - especially if you in the mood to buy something absurdly luxurious. It's retail therapy without the primal scream of regret and anxiety.
But unlike The Seldom Killer I treat myself constantly, so perhaps I need the antidote more than most.

22:10 / 15.11.03

World`s best hair treat: 3oz Rose Water(purchased from your local supermarket; baking sectin)
3oz Grape Seed Oil (supermarket again; cooking oil section)

Nah. World's best hair treat: The Wahl 800 Series Rechargable Hair Clipper. Switch on. Rid yourself of all the pressures, frustrations, and anxieties you've been storing in your hair since day one. Or since a fortnight ago, in my case. "Wahl - bringing professional quality home".

You know those people in the Guinness Book of Records with the really long creepy finger nails that twist around unnaturally? That's you, with your "hair". Freaky stringy stuff that you have growing out of your head? What's up with that?

Goodness Gracious Meme

01:32 / 16.11.03

hair fascist.

was thinking of starting a thread like this, thanks Persephone!

treats:

Walking along the seashore. I live right by the beach but don't do this nearly enough. walking, listening to the waves crash. Mmmmmm. This week, it was warm enough to sit on the beach and read, so I did. Feeling warm sun on skin is such a treat.

I treat myself much too often with bought things, as that just displaces stress onto the budgetary side...

Mostly this is food, either yummy but expensive ingredients/products(eg green and black's chocolate, smoked tofu/organic veg) or good takeaways/meals out...

The Return Of Rothkoid

04:01 / 16.11.03

But would Loomis name a bike "Tillie?"

You don't know the half of it...

pointless and uncalled for

15:01 / 17.11.03

Thinking on this more I think that my main problem is that most of what I want cost more than I coul justify a a treat. Anything else simply doesn't mean much to me. I think if I had the money I would treat myself to those random trips abroad and the occasional £1000 piece of camera equiptment. Having looked at what others treat themselves to I'm left cold. I can't think of eating for the sake of it and a fancy care product or item of clothing means nothing to me.

Luckily for me my main source of delight is to visit galleries and they're free. In fact I can't think of anything else that I do that makes me happier.

12:48 / 18.11.03

I wrote a lengthy and bad-tempered rant for this thread earlier today, but my computer froze just as I was about to post it, chiz chiz.

I think I was mostly exercised by those displays they have in supermarkets and chemists' shops these days exhorting me to 'go on - treat yourself!' by buying baked goods, chocolates, bubble bath and what have you. I think treats should be tremendously decadent and exciting and luxurious, and I do not think that yogurts etc are decadent and luxurious - when you come down to it, a muffin is just a bun, quite a nice bun, but a bun nonetheless. It's not a treat if you have it every day!

(This has been annoying me for years, ever since I had a flatmate who would say as she ran her nightly bubble bath, 'ooh, it is nice to have a little luxury, isn't it'. GRRR.)

I think that the presentation of these things as treats and lucuries are ways of making us think that everyday life is grim and austere when really there are many small pleasures to be had and we shouldn't be thinking of them as treats or luxuries, because that implies that we have to do something to deserve them in some way ('because I'm worth it' - fuck off). I think if we have the opportunity to take advantage of these things we should be able to do so without feeling that we are treating ourselves by making our lives more pleasant. This is especially true of thing like walking on the beach, etc.

I have no idea whether that makes sense or not, but never mind.

13:18 / 18.11.03

Kit-Cat Club>

Where food is concerned, I suppose all that treat stuff is the advertiser's answer to the whole "eating is bad for you, if you weigh more than 6 stone you are disgusting" business; the association of health with abstinence etc. By calling yer unhealthy product a treat, you're activating the "just this once won't hurt" meme in the buyer's brain, with maybe a bit of "luxury is subversive" mixed in. Abstinence is considered physically healthy, subversion is considered mentally healthy, so they get you both ways. Bastards!

13:37 / 18.11.03

Tangential: There was an advert recently for building society loans on the FRIGGING CASHPOINT which said "Don't Wait: Have it Now!".

Surely that should be illegal?

Goodness Gracious Meme

22:39 / 19.11.03

Gawd.

Kit-kat, I agree to an extent, and would further rant on the notion that encourages people (and i'd argue that women are prime targets for this) to 'treat' themselves as a response to disatisfaction rather than actively trying to tackle causes/make changes.

On the other hand, treating myself to a nice experience is for me often a good way of nurturing myself/reminding myself that I *am* worth it. Which may well be something very specific to me, but is something I need tangible reminders of, to counteract other feelings that I'm not.

19:12 / 20.11.03

Well i think treats are nice but I wouldn't class a muffin as a treat. More like a foodstuff. My own weakness would be expensive technical manuals that I never do get round to doing much with.