I spent more than 600 dollars today on luxuries- it makes me feel stressed, not the equivalent happiness that $600 should buy

I made the decision to buy an ipod touch. Most people would hear this and say "that's extravagant" and I agree, but I am not buying a fancy-pants mp3 player, I am buying a wi-fi machine to keep myself from destroying my laptop by taking it on trips, and people, I'm close.

Yes, OWNING a computer is extravagant, having e-mail period is extravagant, but I just feel more connected when I have access to my computer. I treat my social phobia with a bit of tolerance, I don't force myself to leave the hotel room when I need a rest from people (and don't want to get dressed, ha ha! Also, the crew lounge now has wi-fi access, and on 3 hour sits at the airport it is a real blessing to have e-mail access, whether to pass time, or to be productive. I also hope to put a yoga routine on it and workout now and then. I wont hold my breath. HA HA

I also bought an 8GB flash drive, because my computer is whacked, and everything needs to be swept away and start fresh. The Flash drive can hold my precious uganda pictures too, which is important, because I am one crash away from losing it all.

I also bought the COOLEST thing: a laptop cooling pad!!! It was $20, and TOTALLY neccessary! My laptop gets scary hot, I am not sure what I am more scared of, the computer dying, or a fire!!! It seems to really work, and it feels nice on my legs :)

But thats not the end of the luxuries. I also bought a ION USB turntable. I have over a hundred records from my parents, and to not have a record player is a waste. This one is especially cool, because it lets me put records into MP3 form. How cool! I can listen to Joni Mitchell and Sweet Honey in the Rock on my new Ipod :)

This sounds odd, probably stupid, but I bought all those things today because I "had no choice." I have put off buying them for ages, because I hate spending a lot of money, but if I don't buy them now they will no longer be at Costco (they rotate products so you buy them right away instead of waiting) and my computer is going to die soon, inside and out, if I dont protect it.

Also, if I take an extravagant trip to India, then I dont want to take this computer. It was a huge blessing to have it in the airports during my trip to Uganda, to find out flight loads and for priceline.com (that saved me HUNDREDS!- and kept me from sleeping at the airport for 3 days!)

In the end, spending $600 might save me $1,000 (for my computer.) And I admit, I feel very happy to have these things, I just don't want to spend all my money, especially since my airline could be out of business in a year.

I have spent the money, and I feel fine about it. I trust myself that I am not going to go crazy with spending, I actually had to push myself to get these before they were gone (I was psyched about the ipod, but I thought it would be closer to 200 at costco- oh well, it will be, in a week or so, ha ha)