I Didn't Know I Needed It

I remember sitting at my desk and staring at the computer screen at an empty Word document. The curser continued to blink as I tried desperately to get words from the ether of my consciousness onto the screen to move a part of a story along I have been working on for over two years. I didn't want to grab my phone, but alas the temptation was too great and I jumped into silly videos and ventured into what is considered trendy at the moment. It was easier to scroll nonsense than come up with how I'm going to fix that blatant plot hole. I am not a rich man, nor my wife a rich woman; but I was feeling a little depressed and I tend to shop for things that I don't necessarily need to feel better. Is it validation that I earned that money so I get to spend it? I have absolutely no idea. All I know is that I would fall down a rabbit hole of social media videos of product reviews and tell myself that I do indeed need it. Sometimes you have to splurge a little. So I left my desk and joined my wife in the living room where she sat eyes glued to her phone. I sat at my favorite spot on the L-shaped couch. The back cushions cradled my spine to an almost perfect mold, allowing me to prop my feet up on our coffee table and join her in mindless scrolling. It didn't matter what it was; TikTok, Facebook, Twitter, it is additive and deterred me from being creative and writing my self-proclaimed amazing work of fantasy literature. We swiped the screen and would randomly come across some sort of product review. We were intrigued. We were in the middle of a pandemic and lockdown had us look around our house with a sense of, "this needs to become a project now." One of us would watch the quick video, gain the other's attention and restart it with a "hey look at this, do you think we need it?" The first product to enter our house based on some random people on TikTok were raving about were leggings.

Leggings. Yes, you are correct. Up until this point in our marriage, my wife didn't have a nice pair of leggings. I, personally, don't understand what the big deal is with these things, but she was super excited to order them after a video she saw of a plus sized woman modeling and reviewing a pair of those new diamond patterned, all black stretch pants. The name of them escapes me at the moment, but I'm sure everyone reading this is nodding with a small smirk and saying the name of the company that makes these wonderful pair of pants. I told her that she shouldn't worry about spending the money on them, there was enough money in savings if something catastrophic happened in the next twenty-four hours, we would be okay. So why not get them? Especially if they make you feel as good as they did for that woman in the video, who was really showing off her rear end at the conclusion of the short film. It was a confidence booster. So again, why not? When they came in the mail and she briskly walked to our bedroom to try them on, I patiently waited for her to call me into our place of sleep and instruct me to touch them.

"They feel amazing." She said while telling me to feel how stretchy they are.

They were in-fact, stretchy. They looked good on her too. I don't know if it was the pattern, the type of material they used, but damn it they looked good on her.

We continued to sit and scroll on our phones. The next item we happened to come across was one of a younger gentleman, maybe in his mid-twenties. He was presenting a quick Facebook video on cooking with a couple of household products; one air fryer, one crock pot, a cast iron skillet, and a neat nifty brownie pan. I looked at the video and became very hungry. Marketing at its best indeed. The two items we didn't already own was a crock pot and an air fryer. Well, we had a crock pot, but it broke during one of our moves and I never got around to replace it. The one thing that we have been looking at getting was an air fryer. I mean, how cool would it be to make fresh potato slices in eight minutes without any oil or crazy mess? I saw the one he was using, a Chef Style. After looking at what he was cooking, he seriously made a great argument on the convenience of the contraption. You warm it up, you stick the stuff in, and you follow the instructions. Was it really a necessary addition to our cooking equipment lineup? Probably not, but was it really cool to see crispy potatoes come out of the fryer with olive oil and sea salt? Absolutely. Could have I just popped them in the oven? Sure, but this was new, shiny, and a little cumbersome in our already cramped kitchen, so we got one a week later. Had I not already owned the neat brownie pan that divides them up into squares so that they are all corner pieces, I would have probably picked one up as well. We learned new cooking techniques and recipes while stuck in household lockdown then semi-lockdown so why not try it with an air fryer? We picked it up from our local superstore, HEB. By the way, if anyone reading this is planning on visiting Texas after things calm, do yourself a favor and visit three stores that I'm sure you have seen on TikTok:

First, HEB, the beautiful and caring superstore that not only provides amazing products but seriously cares for Texans.

Second, Buc-ee's, the giant gas station and store that honestly has the best traveling food you can ever imagine getting.

Third, What-a-burger. Just go.

We cooked, we ate, we splurged on frying random things like tater-tots and shrimp; it was glorious and little un-healthy.

After making the mental note of looking up the air-fryer, we again continued lay in our spots and still scroll through the videos like robots. We both skipped videos of conspiracy theories, alien abduction stories, political satire, and we both stumbled on some interesting products. We filled our wish list and placed some things in our cart. It was completely random. Slow eating dog bowls. What is that you ask? It's a dog bowl with symmetrical patters raised in the middle to prevent your canine companion from scarfing down its food. Did we need one? Nope, but now we have one. A three channel HDMI switch, a device used to switch what type of video you want to watch on one single HDMI input. Did we need that? Not at all, but it adds just a smudge of convenience when I no longer want to watch anything on my Firestick, and want to play a game on our Xbox. Couldn't have I simply changed the source from my television's remote control? I certainly could have, but why would I want to do that when I could get up and walk to this three inch triangle device and push a button.

We filled our carts which in turn, filled our hearts. We sat and indulged in other's opinion on products that we had to try for ourselves. I felt a little better after I confirmed my order through Amazon. The products came and we were pleased with the results. It is odd how we take the advice of people we don’t know on reviews from products that we really didn't need at the time, but it makes us feel good, doesn't it? Imagine that conversation. You are chatting with your friend over messenger, because of the times, and the topic comes up about cooking. Wouldn't you feel special telling your friend all about that great new Chef Style air fryer that can cook French fries in eight minutes? Of course! You may even share the video, which you saved for some reason, to prove that gentlemen showing you how cook with these products is an expert in their field and you must buy the products because 'merica. I am actually avoiding TikTok now because of a groups who specifically and only review products from Amazon that "you didn't know you needed." My bank account wouldn't be happy, and neither would my wife. It is okay to splurge a little, but I don't think I need a kitchen dish hanger that goes over the sink to dry my handwashed plates and cups. Wait, I don't, right?