Dear Winterites,
As I continue waiting for financing to come through - because the ever so helpful government is oh so quick when it comes to giving out money - I mentioned in my previous post that I would get some shopping done. There are things every adventurer needs when setting out on a journey. Heading off to school is no exception, as I'm sure many of you know.
If you went to college or university straight out of high school, there probably wasn't as much to get used to as there is for someone who waited a decade or more. Shopping for this adventure as an adult is very different from shopping for mini quests as a child. The biggest difference being that it's much more expensive. And, whether fortunately or unfortunately for me, I've been somewhat nomadic most of my working life thus far and haven't built up my coin purse for extravagant expenditures.
The village built on this side of the trench is perhaps not the fanciest or the largest, but it has plenty of shopping options. Most of these are actually more like outlets where they order things in from larger locations on the shopper's behalf, and it's to these I find myself drawn at first.
I find all kinds of things! I build my cart, throwing in all sorts of options to look at later and whittle down to what I actually need or what I can afford. Looking is the fun part. But it's dangerous as well.
Beware the shop assistants!
That may seem like an odd thing to be wary of, but the shop assistants are the worst. They keep an eye on your growing cart and throw suggestions of things you might like, and a lot of the time, they're right. Those are things you might like to have, and you never thought you would need something like that thing they suggested, but now that you see it, maybe you do need it. And then you start getting more ideas for other things you hadn't previously considered but now you wonder if those are also necessary things to have, and suddenly the shop assistant has a slew of other recommendations for you. And suddenly your cart is a mile high with a mind-boggling sum at the bottom and you don't know how this could have happened.
Thankfully, you can walk away from your cart to give your brain a break so it can make more rational decisions later. And the shop assistants are kind enough to appear once in a while to remind you that your cart is waiting for your return.
Navigating the village shops to find the things that I need in styles that I want is not easy. Maybe I'm too picky, but this is my adventure, and I want to take things with me that I'll want to look at and use for the next 3 years.
Okay. Deep breaths. It's okay. I've still got time.
At one particular store, I strike lucky. For once. The biggest financial burden that is a necessity for studying animation is proper tech, and this store has exactly what I need in stock. No ordering. No waiting for the next caravan, or the one after that, or the one after that. No biting my nails as I hope and pray for it to arrive before it's too late. It's here, and I'm ready to purchase. But only because it's discounted. I saw the original price tag and know I never would have been able to afford it otherwise.
(arriving home with goodies)
(new tech that I now have to learn how to use...)
Now that I have the main item needed for my upcoming quest, it's time to head back to that extensive cart and make final decisions.
With everything ordered and purchased, it's time to wait. But patience is a virtue, and my timeline is growing short. Very short.
There's one other rule when adventuring that now is coming into play, and it's one that I've been dreading.
The thing you need will only come in the nick of time.
The absolute worst.
I guess there isn't much more for me to do but to sit next to the bridge that's still under construction and hope the "nick of time" isn't a tardy laggard.
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