I miss shwag

Okay, so this is painfully shallow and especially embarassing given not even a full 24 hours have passed since Yom Kippur. But here goes:

I miss shwag. I used to work in the magazine industry and we would get lots of free stuff. I worked at Folio: (the colon is part of the name), the trade journal for the magazine business so a lot of our shwag was other magazines, which is fine with me because I am a magazine whore. I will read almost anything and, unlike Ms. Wannabe VP, I can and will name names.

Some of the shwag was invites to parties at incredibly hip places that I probably never would have heard of otherwise with great free drinks and awesome musical acts like onetime I saw and even got to meet the Neville Brothers, which was also of course great.

And then there was the... you know... stuff. I like stuff. I get rid of lots of stuff all the time because I don't like stuff hanging around for very long. "Keep it light enough to travel" resonates strongly with me, despite the size of my suburban abode. I still have the illusion that everything I need can be carried on my back-- which is actually probably true.

But what can I say. I am an American. I grew up in and am a product of our consumer culture. And speaking of products, I like them, especially when they are free things I kind of covet but ordinarily would not pay money for. Sparkly makeup comes to mind. So do kitchen gadgets, especially those relating to alchoholic beverages. Yoga gear. Warm running headbands....

Now I am a psychology graduate student and get reverse shwag. Like, could you volunteer to do free depression screenings on Monday at the local health clinic because it is depression awareness day. Noble, yes. Worthy, yes. Shwag, no.

Sigh. I hate to admit this about myself but there it is. I need something new and free. Maybe the expo at the Denver half marathon will help cure this. There is always lots of free athletica there.