Grocery shopping adventure

No one said being a student living on her own is easy.
And it certainly isn't.

I just came back from the war zone in Carrefour this afternoon. Grocery shopping is akin to a complete workout, a test of your mental and physical faculties.

I always have a shopping list. I have to. And yet somehow I always manage to miss out something from my list. Sometimes it's the pasta, on other times it's the toilet paper, or the occasional toothpaste. I shall quote an opinion from the mass of junk magazines and articles I read,

‘You know you’re all grown-up when you can never return empty-handed from the supermarket because you ALWAYS have something you NEED.’

‘Tis words of wisdom indeed.

Grocery shopping also requires the shopper to have good memory of orientation. For example, I’ve bought cereal on plenty of occasions and I know the cereal section is ‘somewhere there…’. But somehow I still find myself capable of absently missing the section altogether. And then I stand there, in the middle of nowhere, tapping my foot impatiently while trying to decide which direction that stupid cereal section is.

Once I’ve succeeded in locating the relevant section (yoohoo!), there’s still work to be done. ‘Konsumer bijak macam saya’ always compares prices and thinks wisely before making a purchase. This is where the faculty of mental calculation comes in. We shall take cereal as an example again.

Dorset cereal costs RM 9.98, Post’s banana nut crunch costs RM 8.85. But Dorset cereal weighs 560g while Post’s weighs 435g only. So Dorset’s is cheaper!
Oh wait a second, what about Nestle’s Fitness morning cereal?
Cheaper still! Ooo…
*reads packaging reads packaging*
‘Nestle’s Fitness cereal keeps you healthy and beautiful. Eat Nestle’s Fitness to stay beautiful and slim!’
*oogles at ridiculous coco-cola bottle look-alike silhouette on cereal box*
‘Wa……….. I also want.’
*suddenly realizes that cereal box seems very light and checks weight*
‘Cheh.. So light only! Tipu orang, don’t want already!’

So I put the coca-cola bottle silhouette imprinted box back on the shelf.
Next question,
‘Dorset’s or Post’s? Dorset’s or Post’s? Dorset’s or Post’s?’
The small voice in head says ‘Dorset’s not so nice wor…’
Ok. Decision made. And I happily put Post’s banana nut crunch into my cart.

(Prices quoted above may vary slightly from actual price. I have poor memory of numbers)

There I was today, jostling through the Sunday Carrefour crowd and lugging my cart from behind. The wares are so much fresher on Sunday, and there is more variety too. I even found lotus root! In Carrefour! Imagine! So I decided to buy some chicken too, to cook lotus root soup; since the chicken actually looked fresh today. Maybe it did, or maybe I was just conned into thinking it looked fresher than on other days because of the number of housewives picking and prodding at the chicken. =P

Then I continued dashing here and there, to buy ingredients for the black chicken rice I intend to cook. Some fishes (I don’t know what kind of fishes those were but they looked like snakes) still very much alive in the aquarium decided it would be fun to jump up and say hi. Luckily I managed to duck in time before the fishy water sploshed on me.

I was rushing against time. My two housemates were already done with their shopping. I must have looked slightly mad.

After paying at the cashier’s, the physical training begins. After too many sore fingers as a result of carrying overweight plastic bags which threatened to cut off blood circulation to my fingers, I now bring along a large traveling sling bag to load all my stuff into. A friend suggests I bring along a backpack for my Carrefour trips next time. I rejected the idea before this, on grounds of refusing to look stupid. But now I think even the traveling sling is not big enough for the amount of stuff I buy. So I still have to carry those evil plastic bags which secretly harbour hopes of mutilating my fingers one day.

A lot of sweat, calories burned, and more than a bruise here and there later, I finally reached home with my biceps larger, and the veins on my hands and wrists more prominent.

And so that ends my grocery shopping adventure for the day.

Why am I writing a 726 word narration on grocery shopping? I certainly am not having an exam for English essay writing. And my language is too ‘rojak’ to be proper English anyway.

I should be studying! I’m actually afraid of failing my exams. Me! Who has never gotten a C in her life and only a sprinkling of B’s occasionally. But seriously, uni is not the same as primary or high school, or even A-levels for that matter. Things are much more in-depth and to do well, constant study and dedication is required. Which, I’m afraid to say has not being going on much. IMU and Strathclyde decided to up their standards by implementing a new system which only gives you TWO chances at passing your papers. If you fail your end-of-semester, you get another chance at your resit. If you fail your resit too, it’s sayonara forever to you and your dreams of becoming a pharmacist. And for me, my scholarship.
It won’t happen to me, right? Someone please assure me. I have no other talent besides studying. Which is actually kind of sad.
Maybe I shall just marry myself off and create babies full-time. After all, I still have the God-given ability to procreate.

Study mode starts tomorrow. So don’t look at me like that. I’m not a slob. I’m a very driven person you know.