The Chronic Rift

My girlfriend and I have altered our lifestyles, even though we really haven't felt the pinch yet. We believe in being prepared. I see so many people spending their money, paycheck to paycheck, and it's sad when in times like this, they can barely afford to pay the rent. We were planning on attending a number of conventions this year, but we're cutting back.

Jay brings up an interesting point. Not only will the small business be affected, but the conventions will be as some guests cannot afford to make the journey and thus potential con-goers don't go as their favorites are not on the bill.

I think everyone does.  My big rationalization for spending ANYTHING is that the vendors I use live or die on traffic.  I mean, places like Target and Wal-Mart will always sell DVDs and action figures, but a recession like this will kill off the mom-pop comic shops and the small internet operations already struggling in competition against the corporate, big-box stuff-dumps.

The reality is that everyone's cutting back and I know that my figure case won't be getting any more display items for a while.

FORTUNATELY, there's a lot of free entertainment out there (like the chronic rift) and Pendant Audio, online comics like the dollar boxes at the comic shop are full and the library isn't exactly queued with borrowers. The 10 Doctors is a good month of reading and that's just one excellent and cost-effective and quality geek product. :)

Instead of hitting Toys R Us, we probably turn to places like Ollies or Five Below.

I'm being much more conservative in my DVD purchases and I was hoping to attend a few more conventions this year thanks to the good reception I got at Shore Leave last year, but that's looking unlikely.