Jennifer Jean Lee

After eating lunch with my mom and making music with my laptop keyboard I came to the conclusion that the weather was perfect for me to slither back into my room and watch the tutorials I downloaded from Pixelperfect. In reality the weather was far from perfect. It had been raining off and on since the morning. Someone was definitely playing with the on/off switch for rain, in who knows where the weather is controlled. It reminded me of the rave video from Homestar Runner, random, but got me to chuckle at the idea.

I got to my room and nested myself on my only source of cushioning. Then my mom decided that we were going to attend the “Korea international Jewelry and watch fair 2007!” ::Gai sensei’s overly dramatic ocean wave:: I resisted, I really did! I put up a fight! Kicking and screaming internally… I fear the wrath of my mother more than the wrath of god o.o; - and somehow I transformed from glorious P.J. life to the not-so-glorious outside-my-room mode. It was as if I had gotten hit by a truck full of tactics that moms use to make you give in to their will and eventually one of them works… one day I will master that skill. But yeah as if I was sleep walking I was transferred from my room to the Co-ex at Samsung station.

There were multiple conventions happening, such as the IGF (imported goods fair), “The Greatest Fairy Tale” an exhibit of Hans Christian Andersen and his fairy tales, and a few more. I wanted to go to “The Greatest Fairy Tale” but I decided to go on my own some other day. Apparently, it was the last day of the jewelry convention, which meant there were going to be sales, which meant there were going to be many women and men who were probably going crazy on the sales. I could hear an internal explosion happening in my head. We managed to get in for 5000 wons, which is about $5, for two people. We bought the tickets from a sketchy man, not the actually ticket booth. If I get into that I’ll have to write a book about this convention. So I will pass on those details.

When I entered, I got blinded, actually, confused because the convention was huge! And all the shiny glittering made my eyes dilate. I could see myself transforming into a dragon (I guess like the Hulk, except I’d be a dragon so it would be fine if my shirt rips) and raining terror on the many booths, taking all the precious gems for my lair. Unfortunately or maybe fortunately I’m not very interested in jewelry probably because I never wear the things I buy that I thought were awesome! I think that is when the Smaug inside of me, bends my will. Though the Smaug inside was interested in rubber stamps, origami paper, stickers, stamps, key chains, ribbons and the list can probably go a mile long. Usually there is a massive passion for one item. Then it’d be totally dropped for something new. I guess my hobbies are equivalent to “flings” in relationship terms. Though! I think I’m starting to take control of it and make that massive passion for consuming knowledge, rather than consuming. Ah. I went off track again =_=

The convention was packed with mostly females. I concluded that these women were nerds for jewels, like I used to be a nerd for figurines. It wasn’t all that bad. I got to learn about how jewels are sold by weight and that price is affected by how precious that gem is. Made me think about the different rupees and how they were different colors and such. There were an unimaginable variety of different types of jewels and jewelry, in addition to silver, gold, platinum, pearls, watches. Oh! They had meteorites and fossil dinosaur eggs! I was hoping to see some kryptonite, but I had no such luck. Besides, I got dragged away by my mom from the asteroid section that didn’t even attract mosquitoes.

While moving from booth to booth I wondered how the room full of estrogen was affecting people. To amuse myself I imagined the women as dragons. Fighting over their territory (booth) to find their precious gems. I guess 50-70% SALE is a pretty effective way to make people flip. These dragons had to pay instead of raining terror and taking things as they pleased. It was interesting to observe the men who looked as if they were there against their will. I guess they are like the human slaves that the dragons keep around for entertainment. I could hear the men looking like The Scream every time something new was added to the tray. I overheard a conversation between a high school female trio. One joked about how they would have brought their boyfriend to lavish them with gifts that they picked. Adding that they would have tricked them into coming to the convention. ^^;; Another replied with “if you had a boyfriend!” Sounding annoyed she just said “I’ll get one sooner than you!!” Thunder and lighting! Bickering, they just moved on with a stampede cloud in their wake.

From my observation, most men looked: Bored, worried, or were there for business. You would look pretty tired and bored if you were there for hours too. I was starting to feel worn out only after 3 hours and even though I can usually walk all day at Comic-Con. It was pretty scary being surrounded by a monstrous amount of jewelry consumers; not just women but some men as well. I guess if the environment changed to Comic-Con or Anime Expo, I’d be surrounded by a different category of consumers or swag collectors. It made me wonder if all of us had a Smaug inside of ourselves, some just decide to become more like Smaug than others. It really is amazing how much stuff people can accumulate in just one year. I don’t just see this in other people, I saw it with myself recently as I drove a car full of stuff that I hadn’t looked at for years to storage. Telling myself I would be “selling” them eventually and I’ve decided that I’ll do as soon as I come back home. Does having a luxury item really matter if you’re not using it? As I watched people of varying ages go nuts over jewelry I wondered, if diamonds were really “forever” and “a girl’s best friend.”

Hopefully I can check out the store I saw called “Robot & Robot” soon.