Trickling down to me...

So Bloggess Jenny (omg, we're not worthy) commented on my "WTF is it with the cost of everything these days" post.  I could blog-die happy now. 

I remember (back in the old days) when I used to sneak all sorts of things into movie theatres, amusement parks, four star hotels, and onto planes and trains so that I didn't have to shell out the plus plus dollars they charged for stupid stuff like water and popcorn (and those itty bitty mini bottles of liquor).  But that was when it was more "expected" that you wouldn't bring outside food in, as opposed to now, where it's almost "regulated".  I've noticed that a lot more restaurants, theatres, &C... now have very large, very visible signs forbidding outside food.  So whereas my rebel self once justified my loot because - hey, they never said I couldn't - now, they actually say I can't.

For the record, I'm so not a hipster, I might actually have full circled back to being a hipster in my un-hipster-ness.

H/T Wishbone Clover

Which is a super snarky way of saying, I hate being rude.

And when I bring outside food where it's forbidden, for the most part, I feel rude.  There are, of course, exceptions.  I won't hesitate to bring things like diluted juice packs (oh, Mott's Tots, how I love thee) apple sauce packs, bits of fruit or Annie's graham bunny crackers for the kiddos.  Because if there aren't going to be (relatively) nutritious options available, I'm just not going to go there with the girls.  But otherwise, I, for the most part, obey.  Because I am Borg.  And resistence is futile.

Now the PF bloggers are probably going to get all medieval on my ass but before they start to argue about how these places have a captive audience whom they are holding to extortion rates and yadda yadda yadda, I feel the need to defend myself a bit.

I've always said that my new fiscal responsibility kick (speaking of which, I've just done my first full month of keeping track of every single penny I spent.  Now all I have to do is get Quicken or MS Money and put it all in some nice spreadsheety format) was much more about trying to reduce my environmental footprint than saving money.  I mean, saving money would be nice, but I'm now a relatively high earner, I've got all my schooling behind me, so I'm not insanely worried about the direction of my net wealth, even as negative as it is right this moment.  And despite the d'oh that is Bush, he is right that on some level, about the strength of the US economy depending on some amount of consumerism. 

So for me, that means that when I choose to consume, I consume with relish. 

I love consuming things like movies and dinner nights (as opposed to, say, purchasing electronics or clothing).  It goes towards the idea that we need to be moving into a service economy, where we fulfill our "selfish" needs by consuming services rather than goods.  Getting a pedicure, for example, has the singular environmental impact of a tub of water and some nail polish (and you can even use enviro-nail polishes that don't contain the wickedy acetones of conventional nail polish).  In return, we push some money into the economy that keeps the U.S. humming along.  Entertainment falls somewhere between service and commodity: for example, movie production is not the most environmentally friendly of industries, but once produced, there is little environmental impact of each additional viewing (some energy costs, and DVD production costs, which may be shortly disappearing).  And entertainment may be the last great American export product.

This is my trickle down theory, but without the owning 500 pairs of shoes.

From a biz prospective, it is really damn hard now to run a profitable theatre, train, plane, restaurant, entertainment facility.  The margins don't come from your core business, but from the little amenities, which is why these places have such insane markups on their drinks and foods and trinkets.  It's the only way for them to be profitable.  I feed the moster here, with the hope that my personal choice to not feed the "things" market, it will sway the market to move with me.

Yeah, lofty dreams die hard *sigh*.

************

In other notable news:

Mom 101, a fellow Momocrat, waxes lyrical about Andrew McCarthy.  Damn.  First I gotta share Cusack with Bossy and now this?!?  Fuggedaboutit, I'm through with the competition.  From now on, I'm dedicating my mad stalkerizm to Jamie.  Ladies, he's mine.

Momomax had a baby girl!!!!  Congrats mama, you're awesome.

Comments

[momomax]

thanks sweetie.

and that's all I've got. was feeling all good and stuff, but now is another story.

[Jenny, bloggess]

You can have Jamie.

I get Michael Trucco.