Black Friday, for my non-US readers, is an annual holiday, celebrated by patting oneself on the back for caring more about friends/family/experiences than stuff. On Black Friday, those who can afford things full-priced, or who are so confident in their socioeconomic status that they see no need to signal such status through the use of anything so crude as brands, or who favor brands too posh to hold discounts on the day after Thanksgiving... all such individuals celebrate the day by ostentatiously not shopping. They may, however, patronize Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday, etc. And if they happen to be in Paris for the soldes, it's OK, because "sale" in proverbial yellow subtitles is acceptable.
Anyway, seems I totally forgot to do my annual-ish reminder that anti-Black-Friday sentiment is largely-but-fine-not-entirely about class snobbery. I also skipped Black Friday for the very noble reason of, I slept through most of the day. It had been a very long time since I'd gone running, and keeping up (kind of!) with my fit friends left over enough energy for grocery-shopping and little else. But I did make something of Swing By The Mall Saturday, and am now the proud owner of a $12-but-originally-$15 ear-warmer, purchased half to avoid jogging in a pom-pom winter hat, and half to guilt myself into actually running when it's cold out, having now invested twelve dollars in this activity.
*Not a thing, unfortunately. Although what stops me from going that route remains not so much the price of a hot-pot set-up (which... who knows) as the fear that such a device (which I'd inevitably buy with Japanese-only instructions) would somehow lead to my building burning down.
In keeping with the dominant themes of this blog, I bought sparkly nail polish.
ReplyDeleteI approve! Still working on this one myself.
ReplyDeleteI saw that Best Buy was discounting Macbook Airs by ~$400! That is not an insignificant discount for college or grad students.
ReplyDeleteI think I have the same problem with hotpot (nabe, sukiyaki, shabushabu) setup. I go back and forth in three directions: electric tabletop burner (eliminates many attractive pots), butane or whatever gas tabeltop burner (scary but commonly done in Japan), or just biting the bullet and getting a Zojirushi grilling/sukiyaki contraption. Mitsuwa does not have Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales, but they do have a 20% off grocery store (including electronics) day on the Wednesday after Thanksgiving, so I may succumb to that route later this week. Your cast iron hotpot is gorgeous; if I were in your shoes I might try the gas route (if that's compatible, I assume it is).
(20% off sale applies to all Mitsuwa stores, but be warned: carts will be scarce and register lines will be Black Friday-esque long! But people are civil. I plan to go in the afternoon when things have died down, which may affectmy hotpot fate.)
Kei,
ReplyDeleteYou make a good point re: the need to get the right burner for the pot! I hadn't even thought about that.
As for Mitsuwa, it looks like the weekend might also be the time to go. Which is a relief, because there's zero chance I'd be able to go on Wednesday!