Buy Nothing Friday

I saw this post today, thought it was pretty cool.

It's about Buy Nothing Friday, an answer to the rampant consumerism that's overtaking our modern world. And a picture :

(credit to the person who made the site linked above)

We've had Boxing Day and January Sales for as long as I can remember. (Which is mixed cos of age and occasional cricket ball induced amnesia). They've usually been fairly ok, as people have been more concerned about the Xmas festivities than heading out to do shopping. Although saying that, it's still been mayhem. I think the Boxing Day and January Sales fever is moderated somewhat by it occurring over a decent period of time, from Xmas to when people go back to work a week or so later.

Black Friday is another thing entirely. It's concentrated over a single weekend with the peak happening on the Friday. So all that WE MUST BUY BARGAINS mayhem is crammed into one day. I don't think that can be a good experience for anyone. Not the shoppers who end up in fights over items, not the retailers who hopefully won't be trampled in the rush.

It is an example of modern day insanity.

I've been seeing the sales pop up online too. I'll be acquiring a couple of games on Steam pretty soon, they aren't as discounted as I'd like but with games of around £5-£10, a little is still a decent amount. And you have to consider that with small game studios, if they get less cash, then that's less cash to plough into making their next game.

Same with people like pop artists and other content creators. If you give them no consideration for their product, i.e. if you pirate the songs or use adblockers on the youtubes, that means they can't pay the rent, buy food and they have to get a proper job doing something that isn't making something you enjoy. Yep. I look at people like Alisha's Attic, where we only got 3 studio albums + 1 ebay album out of them before they quit the business. Perhaps if less piracy went on, they'd have stuck in the business and made more amazing songs.

Back to Buy Nothing Friday ...

I will buy a couple of things ... I'll be working for the first half of the day which means ... TEACAKE ! Yep. Can't do without that. And then there's lunch too. I did consider heading to Bath for their Xmas market but ... There's still a couple of weeks of that and there happens to be an England cricket game on tomorrow late afternoon. So I'll avoid the Black Friday mayhem and chill out to the cricket.

Back to the picture ...

Be content - I have lots of stuff already, I don't really need any more. And if England play like they did today (close game, good win), then I'll be very content.
Massive savings - haha, cos I've done my sales buying today. Unless GoG.com come up with some tempting offers.
Cup of tea on the sofa - maybe, although mine will be a coffee and I may well take a (120?) minute for myself and watch a movie from the sofa after the cricket finishes.
Hugs, Fun - they both go together kinda :-). A hug would be good but I'll look forward to when someone's in hugging range.

Yep. Beware.

Staying warm ? It's got a bit warmer since the threat of snow last weekend. Yep, I'll be warm tomorrow :-).
Phoning your gran - sadly I have no more living grandparents but I do still remember my granddad trying to bowl to me way back when. (It hurt him because he had the beginnings of prostate cancer). And we lost my nan almost two years ago. We had a little family tension (who doesn't?) but I do still remember that face coming alive with mischief and chuckles. That's the memory I'm keeping.

And I'll chill out some more by reading more of The Martian. I need more ebooks. I still have my paper books but left them on the shelves for ages because I was afraid that the damage on my arms would damage the books. My arms are much better now (not fixed but getting there), so I can go back to those paper books again. I do like ebooks though. They just need an occasional tap on the screen, rather than the wrist tension of holding the page open. Yep, the RSI in my wrist can be that limiting sometimes ...

Taking a walk in fresh air with a friend ?

Sure ! Anyone ?

Have a good Friday people (oh wait, that's not this time of year, oops). Have a pleasant, chilled out Friday !