Even should you happen to have a shit-ton of money in Paraguay, there's just not all that much to buy. Johnny Walker black label? A new Mercedes? All the potatoes in the supermarket? And then what? If you're lucky enough to be part of the upper class, your main reason for international travel is finding better places to shop. Which is sad for all sorts of reasons.
But HERE...you're far more likely to run out of money than you are to run out of options. The sheer variety...in every sphere of possible consumption...is simply amazing. Every bar has twenty-plus beers on tap. Clothing stores are specific to style, design, and age range range (and utility in the case of sporting wear). Individual game and toy stores have more items than any one kid could play over the entirety of his or her childhood. The Fred Meyer across the street from my house has more stuff than any four "superstores" in Asuncion. And don't even get me started on places like Home Depot and Barnes & Nobles...there is simply no equivalent.
These days there's really not a lot of things I need. That is a damn fact. I got by with so little in Asuncion that now, the sheer bulk of available stuff leaves me a little numb. Small things, simple things...like sharp cheddar cheese or an artichoke or a can of Campbell's chicken noodle...are plenty delightful to a dude who was forced to go without for a while. But the sheer bulk of sellers vying for my attention and consumer dollars, is starting to leave me a little cold. I purchased a mason jar of "apple pie moonshine" just because I could, and drank it solo over a couple evenings...but delicious as it was, I find a certain measure of disgust for my purchase. Who am I trying to impress? My liver?
Still, despite coming back to a house where my home office is absolutely filled with games and books, I managed to drop 'round $300 bucks in the last few days on new, probably unnecessary stuff. And in quite a surprising fashion...I thought I'd become inured against the "impulse buy" over the last few weeks (the moonshine incident, for example, was early in September). Certainly I had made the rounds at the various game stores in my area...talking shop, remaking acquaintances...but I restrained myself from buying anything (besides beer). Truth is, nothing I saw on the sales rack was exciting me to buy anything.
Then I stopped by Arcane Comics.
I'm not sure exactly what exactly I had gone in to browse for, but just talking with the friendly, knowledgable, passionate kid running the store got me excited to throw down cash. He was helpful, he didn't try selling me anything, but he voiced his own opinions in straight-forward fashion. Just a very pleasant retail experience for a guy (me) who had been left feeling rather, eh, detached at other locales. So I bought a bunch of stuff that I most certainly don't need, of both the comic and game variety.
[afterwards, me and the dude had a great discussion on Luke Cage and the MCU on Netflix in general. So nice to find that some folks in the actual comic book community/industry share a lot of my same "layman" thoughts. He is much more optimistic about the upcoming Iron Fist than Yours Truly]
I'll try to talk about some of my purchases...at least the game ones...as I make my way through the books. I'm about 600 pages in on the stuff, but I got two huge, shrink-wrapped volumes that I've yet to open. I'm a little scared to do so.
Oh, BTW: none of this stuff is related to D&D or traditional superheroes. Well, besides the new Power Man/Iron Fist trade paperback I picked up. Good stuff.
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| "The Boys Are Back In Town" |
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