mental manifestations

Last weekend was a tax-free holiday in Massachusetts, and it’s not very surprising that throngs of people would go out to spend ginormous amounts of money on consumer goods. I had spent part of the day going out and looking mostly at furniture. I only went out to get an idea of what I wanted and to shop around. Jordan’s Furniture has really nice furniture but feels overly elaborate and overpriced. That was the only chain I stopped at that day. I had been in and out of other furniture stores like Bernie and Phyl’s, Bob’s Discount Furniture, and IKEA.

Right now, I feel so weird shopping for furniture. I do find it fun to look at all the various things, but most of what I see makes me feel like it shouldn’t belong in my new apartment. Even though I’m nearly a quarter of a century old, having been a year out of college, I still haven’t fully adjusted to being an “adult” yet. I don’t feel like the college student that I was, but I don’t feel like a “real” grown-up like the people I looked up to when I was a kid.

Nearly all the furniture I’ve seen feels like what my parents would’ve bought when I was a kid, when they dragged us around to go furniture shopping with them. All the furniture I’ve seen feels like it should be in someone else’s house, someone older who has a real home and lots of money. I’ve been living at home with my parents for a little over a year saving up some money. I do have money that I can use, but I am still in that college student mentality of trying to be cheap. I know it’s okay to spend more on some nice things, but I don’t want to look like a cheap college student anymore nor do I want to look super-fancy-pants rich and feel like an idiot.

Now that I’m renting my first apartment post-college and being on my own (so to speak), I’ve been itching to try and be more independent from my parents who have always been so supportive of me. The caveat is I’m still young and single, and who knows what will happen in the future. It is probably not the best decision for me to buy super-fancy, extra nice things (not that I have nearly enough room for it anyway). I can get by on living cheaply but not too cheaply.

I took my first trip to IKEA today. I never liked IKEA furniture mainly because it is cheaply designed and built since their business model is centered around cheap prices. I can understand why IKEA appeals so much to people though. It’s a nice way of looking classy, simple, and elegant without burning a hole in your wallet. There were some sofas from IKEA that I did like. I throughly enjoyed their housewares though — all the little things you can add to your house. It’s just all the other big things that I don’t find so appealing.

Mattress shopping is not so fun. I’m a very picky person and need to try out lots of mattresses before I find the one I want. The fact that it’s all on you makes mattress shopping your job; salespeople are almost useless when doing this because all they can do is make recommendations (and really it’s just all about pulling in sales for them). For the price of the mattress I bought today, I could’ve bought a wicked nice LCD TV. Yes, I’m serious. The one rule I was trying to adhere to was not buying any single piece of furniture that cost more than the TV I plan on buying. I only bought it because I’m moving in a week, have nothing to sleep on, and was getting frustrated with finding a good mattress.

Furniture shopping has been a fun experience overall though. I haven’t made any 3-D paper models of my apartment or furniture to plan things out, but driving around to all the various stores has given me ideas of what I want and many things I don’t want. I’ve found a really nice dinette set that I like and going to IKEA has given me more ideas on how to set up my dining room. I’m still clueless about how to configure my living room, but I’m starting to get a better idea of what to do with my bedroom. I’ve learned it’s okay if things don’t match, but I know I’ll be happy with what I have in the end. I’ve also agreed to let some people help me interior decorate (within reason of course). I think it’s probably better and lot more fun to shop furniture with someone else. Moving out and furniture shopping is just another course of life, and I’m learning all the points that come with it that hard way.

This past weekend, I took a little mini-vacation to go visit Rochester, the place I had called home for five years when I was attending school there. It was odd being there a little over a year after graduation. Everyone I had known there is pretty much gone save a few people. When I was there during the summer, it was always quiet but having other people around always made it fun. After being in Rochester in early August on a weekend near the end of the summer quarter at RIT, it just felt like one big ghost town.

Very little has changed since I had left. Maybe a few retail stores or restaurants have come and gone. RIT now has Park Point (which should have been finished by now) with all the apartments and shops. The Barnes & Noble massively stands out in what used to just swampy grass and trees. Everything was still familiar, but I just felt so disconnected from it all. There was nothing that tied me down to Rochester anymore. I had missed Wegmans (really, nothing else compares to it) and going to Dibella’s (subs haven’t been the same since), but I missed the people more than anything.

I had also taken a side trip to Cleveland and Buffalo visiting some friends there. It’s nice to see that they are all doing well. I didn’t spend much time in either city, but enough to see everyone and hang out for a little bit. Everyone is a lot more grown up now than they were in college especially now that we are all graduates with full-time jobs. It was nice to touch base with everyone to see what they were up to these days.

When I made my stop back in Rochester before I trekked home, I was starting to get that nostalgic feeling again. It’s the feeling that you get from all those fun times you had in college with all your friends and such, and it made me realize how much I miss everyone. Rochester feels like an empty shell now, and since there is nothing left for me there, it’s time to officially move on.