Its a wonder how people change. I went to check out new handphones with my dad today, just as we did the Apple stuff last week. And i sorta saw how different i am now from just, say 3 or 4 years ago. Then, the Ipod was like my dream Mp3 player...now, 4 years down the road, it's not that big a deal. Then, i couldn't afford to get one, and could only dream of how nice things would be when i wouldn't have to guess what i want to listen to when doing up my playlist for my current player. Ditto the laptop and cellphone.

Now? I can afford most of this stuff...the laptop being the only out-of-reach as yet item. But...there's no longer than burning desire to rush out and get it once it came into reach. The mentality now is to wait for a better time to get it. When i have the chance to use it more, when i can get a better price, get a better deal. It's just such a different me. Earlier when i went to check out the phone with dad, i had the Motorola V3 Black in mind...my dream phone when it came out, but i'm wanting it now for different reasons. The old me would feverishly follow the market, scrutinizing new technology and handsets the minute they came on the market. Now? Seems kind of childish. Get what you need at a reasonable price and that's that. Why keep comparing handsets? Pointless ain't it? Obviously didn't seem that way to me then. And surprisingly, there is a good number of men especially in this country doing just that. Grow up lah....

Dad's observation was that when i had no money...i was way liberal with it...cuz it had no cause and effect, at least not in a way that would affect me directly. Now, with cash in hand, i'm more restrained and conservative. Me? I like to think of me as having matured some. Especially with all the reading i do, and all that information that goes into my puny brains. Finally after so many years, some of it has been digested. Previously, i blindly followed market hype, this isn't just any phone, its got this and that and that and this that phone Y doesn't have. It's be like, so cool to own one. No one else has one. Now? I'm not going to pay for this and that and that and this. I probably won't use it to any degree to justify the kinda of money i'm putting in. And big deal that no one has one. A phone is a phone is a phone, period. Basic function is to connect you with others, and now many a bit more is thrown in, but that's that. I don't need no 1.5 megapixel camera in it. A phone and a camera. If i wanted a camera, I'd get a camera, just like if i wanted an Mp3 player i'd get an Mp3 player, not a bloody phone that happens to have that function as a by-product. These days, i can see through the marketing hype and see things as they are, not as the company would like you to see.

It's freakish to find that if you take a step back, you realise that these days, while consumer power is preached, its really they companies that hold the power. People are buying what the company wants to sell, not what they want to buy, or need to buy in the first place. you see it everywhere. Subtle, very subtle. What they're doing is psychological, always has been, always will be. Thankfully, i've either out-grown that gadget chasing stage, or have simply wisened up. Whatever it is, i hope the wisdom continues to grow and spread to other parts of my life...you can never get enough.