I is growding up

In the last few months, I've discovered something very disturbing: I've grown up-ish.

It started the day I bought my own luggage. I never used to travel much before (ours is not a family that takes vacations), but in the past three years, I've been on three trips that required luggage rather than my standard gym bag of weekend clothing. I decided to get my own suitcase so I wouldn't have to bug my cousin anymore to borrow hers. The moment I rolled my Bumblebee rolling case and matching carry-on out the door, I realized I'd stepped into a whole new realm of being my own person. This was one of those moments when I couldn't shake the feeling of my own mortality. I own luggage. I can make travel arrangements and vacation on my own. One day, I will have a family and they will have luggage, as well. Weird.

On the vanity front, I started worrying about my skin. Most people who know me know I'm too lazy to put on makeup or use proper facial cleansers, and that I've got pretty damn good skin considering my negligence. But I can't ignore the fact that these days, I need a little more help, especially when MY FACE IS HURTING. Despite years of washing with Dove soap (apparently a no-no in facial skin care) and using Hazeline Snow religiously, dry skin has caught up with me and during this particularly brutal winter, has left me looking a little chapped in the cheeks with mild stinging pain one gets when one's skin is cracking and shriveling up like a lettuce leaf left out in the sun.

I sought out the help of my local Shoppers Drug Mart esthetician to recommend something to MAKE THE PAIN STOP. I walked out $72 poorer with some fancy foreign lotion, cleanser and toner I never would have bought a year ago.

Now, I'm not certain that this will actually do anything for me--the BURNING SENSATION I get when I cleanse and tone my face tells me something must be working. Still, I'm not convinced these three little bottles are worth nearly as much as my luggage, or will dramatically improve anything. At that price, I kinda expect to look like Angelina Jolie. I'll keep you updated.

On top of all this, house/condo/rental hunting has preoccupied my former days of playing online games and dicking around the Internet. Just so I had an idea of what was available, I started browsing through viewit.ca and MLS as though it were eBay. I started thinking about mortgages and RRSPs and taxes and savings...and it all went downhill from there. John has since asked me to STOP MAKING HIM CRAZY with talk of moving during this delicate time in his academic career. I've agreed--seeing all the things I can't afford just makes me depressed.

When did life start getting all complicated? Why can't I just go back to watching Saturday morning cartoons and eating all the foods that never used to hurt my stomach? I just wanna live rent/mortgage-free with good skin and not have to worry about carry-on restrictions and passports....