IKEA Anyone?

By evening after my last post, I was feeling all pissy again over that very distressing Career Services experience (I really need to not let stupid stuff like that bother me). Anyway, whenever I get angry or upset, I also listen to music, depending on my mood. This time I put on my headphones, turned the volume way up (to expedite the deafening process), and listened to "bad" songs to get back at the world, like "Poker Face" and "I Kissed a Girl" (I know, I'm such a delinquent). Of course, no me-against-the-world mood is complete without some emo music thrown in, so I added a few classic Fall Out Boy songs (their songs always remind me of high school, for better or worse), the Verve, Weezer, Everclear (although I guess they would be more angry post grunge rock than emo) and Oasis to the mix.

Today, though, I went to IKEA with my mom. Despite being in my 20s, the age group that usually worships IKEA, I had never been until today. Thanks to Philadelphia's wonderful transit system, we had to wait on the bus for about 40 mins, then ride two buses for nearly an hour to get there and then the same amount of time to come back. The IKEA is actually in a seedy looking part of the city (as if most of Philadelphia isn't seedy looking enough) that is full of strip clubs and dilapidated warehouses next to the Delaware River, so it is actually closer to New Jersey than downtown Philadelphia.

Once inside the store, though things got a little better. I'm not really one for household/furniture shopping to begin with, so I wasn't too enthused about the whole thing, but more curious to see what all the fuss was about. Put me in a clothing, shoe, or accessories store, and I'll go crazy. But put me in a furniture store and the whole time I'll be bored to death. Of course, we got lost in the showroom area, but we found a lot in the marketplace area, and actually bought more than we had expected. Well, my mom bought more than she had expected, and bout a set of chocolate brown mugs with saucers to go with my lime green tea kettle, and some Swedish Milk and Hazel Nut chocolates.

We also went to the restaurant, since I had heard that the food was really good there. I decided to order the Swedish meatballs and mashed potato combo meal because Swedish meatballs happen to be the best thing ever in my book (well close to the best thing ever at any rate). The mashed potatoes were the homemade kind using real potatoes, and where very good, as was the gravy on the meatballs. However, the meatball themselves were not even made of real beef, but that processed crap they give you in school cafeterias. Overall, I give the food a 4 just to be nice, and my general shopping experience a 6. My personal view of IKEA from this experience is that it is grossly overrated. I think people go on about it so because that is the way IKEA is advertised and marketed, so people just do what they are expected to do.