[FLASHBACK]
Sunday, January 31st
No one has asked me yet where the name “wannabesnobbery” has come from, but I guess I’ll explain anyway…
I had a good friend, Abbie, who I met back in college at the University of MN. (She’s also the reason that David and I met, but that’s a story for another day.) She moved away to become a ski instructor in Vail after college graduation, having no idea what else to do. She was telling me stories about waitressing in Vail in the off-season, and when it was really slow, they wait staff were able to sit at the bar and taste all the wines. (In order to better be able to recommend them to the customers, I think the excuse was.) I asked her if she was going to become a wine snob now, and she replied, “I wanna be!” with such unashamed enthusiasm I was inspired. She was a ski bum, sharing an apartment with four other instructors and making next to nothing, but she wasn’t going to let that stop her from trying to learn to appreciate wine.
What’s a Wanna-Be-Snob? Someone who’s last meal would a Totino’s Party Pizza, Diet Coke and Snickers Ice Cream bar, but who is still trying to learn to cook rack of lamb. Someone who is beside herself with excitement when Legally Blonde comes on TV, but still tries to see all the Oscar-nominated short films just know what they are. Someone who deep down prefers People magazine, but has still read all the Pulitzer prize-winning novels from the last ten years. Just because even though she’s not, she really does want to be that sort of person.
I have another friend, Lola, who has inspired me to try and buy art. She once said [in the most charming southern drawl], “Even if we have no money, I continue to buy art… I consider it a worthy investment.” [Also insert her husband’s snort of exasperation here... “Trust me, she does…”.] I’ve always wanted to be the sort of person who owns artsy stuff. Unfortunately I was not born with an eye for such things, and still consider stuffed animals from childhood valid decoration.
In Singapore, there are a lot of ex-pats moving in and out every month. I’m not sure about other companies’ packages, but with ours you get to bring in one shipping container of stuff, but not a whole lot more back to the US than you came with. (For example, they’ll pay for one container on the way over, but not two on the way back.) And since there’s a lot of traveling and shopping to be done in Southeast Asia, I’m sure when it comes time to pack up on the way home you start to realize just how much stuff you’ve collected over the last 2-3 years. Enter… The Ex-Pat Yard Sale. Us newbie ex-pats are able to get incredible deals on things that other people either can’t use back in the home country like electronics, or simply don’t have room for in that container. And boy did I score on a sale today! The person having the yard sale used to run an art gallery for Dutch artists. I went, thinking that maybe I could afford maybe one piece. I bought nine.
You know how much all this cost total? $150. But don’t tell. I want people to think I’m an art snob.
So cool!! I was wondering where you got this name. I figured it was what the site was called, but now I see that it's just your creativity! :)
ReplyDeleteNice art! Love it and what a steal! good job!