programmed buying

i'm not much of a shopper. i plan, deliberate, save, plan some more, sleep at home for a few months, and finally duck in to a shop and come out 30 seconds later with whatever i wanted to buy. and that's for the (un?)lucky few things that i actually ended up buying.

that's right. no shopaholicky rush for me, no feeling of accomplishment for me. just a feeling of "ah well...one less thing to buy now" :D

it was the same when it came to buying a new phone. more than a year ago i decided i wanted a new phone. i started asking people. comparing features. comparing reviews. looking at my bank balance and future bank balance.

told people that i'm gonna buy a phone "sometime soon".

told people that i'm gonna buy a phone "after my first salary".

told people that i'm gonna buy a phone "after i finish paying off people i borrowed money from".

told people that i'm gonna buy a phone "after i save up enough of money to buy a good model".

told people that i'm gonna buy a phone "after it releases in india".

told people that i'm gonna buy a phone "anytime after my uncle comes back from singapore just in case he buys it first".

my uncle returned from singapore. i put off asking him for a week.

i went to the mall yesterday for like the 10th time this year, to check out the phones on sale. that guy probably recognized me from the entrance.

my dream phone was finally on sale. it looked as good as the websites said it would. it had all the features the websites said it would. it was my dream phone, all right. i had enough money in my account to buy it. but somehow, i looked at it and said...naah. not this one.

before i went to sleep last night i told myself i'm buying a new phone tomorrow, come hail or high water (ok, maybe not high water :P)

i wanted to wake up at 9, leave by 10, check out the phones available near the shopping complex near home, check out a few other electronics shopping complexes spread over the city, finally make a decision and go and buy it.

i made a mental list of probable phones. i told people the contents of that list and asked them what they thought. added phones on their suggestions. removed phones on their advice. i coordinated what time i would be where, so that i would some friend or the other for company at all of the potential destinations.

i woke up at 2pm instead of 9am. had a leisurely lunch.

i told my mom i was leaving to buy a phone.

i sat down to check my mail. i thought i should check out the prices of phones before i leave (part of the "informed buying" process :D). decided ebay india was the best place to look. i entered 3 of the 5 phones without finding any results. decided to broaden my search.

a phone caught my eye. i had seen it before (there are very few phones i haven't seen or been quoted for, with all my months of window shopping :P)

the price was good.

i hit bid before i even verified the features (i sometimes trust my memory more than i should :P)

there were 16 minutes to go before the auction ended.

i had lost my ebay account.

i called my friend who regularly buys stuff off ebay. thrice on his cellphone, and once on his home phone. he didn't answer.

i used "forgot username" to get my username.

i unsuccessfully tried "forgot password" to get my password.

i unsuccessfully tried signing up for a new account.

i finally succeeded in creating a new account.

i hit bid. with (to quote ebay) "under 20 seconds left".

5 seconds later, i won the auction.

10 seconds later i actually scrolled down to make sure it really was the phone i thought it was. thankfully, my memory served me right this time.

i now am the proud owner of a xda zinc.

i'm still half dressed. the phone i brought was never on my list.

i still can't believe i've actually brought a phone on the spur of the moment after over a year of planning. i guess i will believe it when i hold my new phone for the first time.