no walk in the park..

Well well well. After a quiet and largely uneventful month, I am in the midst of an unusually unusual week. For someone who spends most of the time at home (for almost all of last month anyway), it is a culture shock to discover that I haven't been at home much for the last few days. Yes sir, I have been out with friends more times in the last week than my whole holiday put together! I'm not sure if that's pleasing though. You see, I haven't received a cent in allowance since I finished college so I have been utilising my savings accumulated over the course of 2 years. Except that there aren't any savings left..I blew what remained of it in a week!
Now that sucks. I have been pondering for the past hour whether even my overzealous spending could have left me this broke. Strictly speaking I am not a shopaholic, nor am I familiar with the phrase "it's on the house". In fact, "scrooge" is written all over my face.
..okok..I will cease any attempts to draw anymore sympathy from you. Because the fact remains that I have been spending as recklessly as Bush's little "War On Terror" programme..
Movie tickets, fast food, motorway tolls, parking fees, a week's worth. Throw in a couple of rounds of bowling, arcade games, lunch at a posh Italian restaurant, the snooker centre, and a few hours at an expensive cybercafe, and it rubs in on you. It was remarkable that I was able to blow a fortune without actually buying the sort of clothing or accessories most shoppers (girl shoppers I mean) would consider mandatory. I won't disclose the actual sum but I shall hint that it is nearly 4 weeks' pay for some fresh graduates. All that spending and nothing to show for in the end, except for some receipts with the words "Thank you. Please dine in again" printed under the many figures, some blisters from excessive bowling, and some expensive waste to be excreted the following day (a nasty reminder of why fine dining should remain fine dining). Spend only on what's necessary, I did not. What actually irked (and I am seriously not proud to admit) was that some of the expenses (my friends' share that is) was on me during a couple of those hangouts. Not their fault, really. It went like this:
I was so thrilled to hear from them (they were old high school friends), so I volunteered (with utmost enthusiasm and with much force) to treat them to the movies. 6 of them. 2 movies. If that wasn't enough, I insisted on paying for their parking (after all they were driving the cars and I was a passenger, I thought it would be courtesy). You have no idea how good that idea seemed at that time. Trying to look good by offering to pay for the parking fee, knowing (believing) that it definitely wouldn't compensate for the fuel and effort it would have taken to drive instead. Honestly, I would have chosen to be a passenger over driving anyday. Think of all the stress you would not have by making your friend ferry you. No need to contend with bad traffic. No risk of getting screwed by livid parents if you met with an accident (they seem to worry about the condition of the car first before taking into consideration anything else). No bad-mouthing or cibai-ing the many motorists who obtained their licenses through uncanny means (I might have meant bribery). No worrying about conserving fuel in light of the ever-increasing price. Best of all, no driving around the crowded and cramped car parks in the mall in search of a tiny space in which you may try to nick your car in, whereby any failed attempt would result in a dent or scratch on your precious machine. Nope, all in all my offer to pay fully was justified. Of course I could have paid only my slice and no one would gripe. But I have been in this comfort zone too often. Deep down I felt that it wouldn't have hurt to be a little bit more generous. It might make my friends more willing drivers (ah..the harsh word..) by displaying my charitable side. My devilish idea. The sort of PR move that would have made Obama proud.
Thing is, I didn't envisage the fee that was to meet my eyes. As I popped the parking ticket into the pay machine (electronic-car-park-paying-machine or whatever you call it) the figures which appeared completely dumbfounded me. Horror. Disbelief. If I was expecting to pay some loose change, I was wrong big time. Hell it wasn't cheap. To their credit my friends (while holding back their laughter) were trying to point out that I wasn't obliged to pay everyone's share, even less so since the movie tickets earlier were paid by me. Hah.
I felt like I had egg all over my face. Yet I wasn't about to swallow my pride. So I paid for it in full. Holey moleeyy. Next time I attempt to show generosity please remind me that I don't exactly have the resources to. The joke's all over me.

Am I actually complaining so much about the parking? Yes I f****** am. And I should because you would not believe how such an insignificant shopping mall could charge such exorbitant parking fees! They are 5-star hotel parking rates and it is astounding that no one has actually complained to the newspapers or something that these parasites of the management are able to exert such oppression on the people who sit their vehicles in the building for a couple hours. Even more disturbing is the fact that parking fees for the shopping mall situated opposite this particular one cost 3 or 4 times less! And there isn't a red carpet rolled out to welcome would-be-victims either. Not that I expect one. For the sake of virgin Mary that was the least they could do to justify their rates. Shocking.
There were some more events I could (and would) share but time is not by my side. I expect I will be out again in two days' time with the same group of friends (I shall not make the same mistake of being over-charitable) so I am looking forward to it. After all, it's not always about the money. Having a good time will ultimately be my number one priority (since I don't always have much of one). This finally explains why I have been so willing and insistant on being generous the past few days. Happy Hour for them when I've been around. They say something's wrong with me. All the same, they're buying my lunch this Friday (and they'd better), so everyone's happy. In a nutshell, that is one great lesson when I tell you money cannot replace happiness. So don't stinge or your friends would hate to bring you out with them unless you'd prefer to be a loner then keep all your money.
The other lesson? Fuck parking.