Will Smith was right.

[yendi]

My mother called me earlier this week to chew me out over my Amazon wishlist. She was perusing it to possibly buy me a birthday present or two, and felt that 417 items was too many to have on a wishlist. Even though I explained my reasons for having such a large list (1. I use the list as a reminder to myself for when I go shopping online, and even print out the compact version if I'm planning a trip to a bookstore/Best Buy, since I can never remember all those nifty items two days after reading about them; and 2. A gorgeous princess from a far away land [one with very different aesthetic standards] might fall in love with me, and want to shower me with gifts, and would find anything below 300 gifts unacceptable), but I had to acknowledge that she had a point.

So, I spent days modifying the list, and I'm proud to say that it's now down to a paltry 386 items.

And yet Mom thinks that's still too much.

Parents just don't understand.

Comments

[corwinok.livejournal.com]

My parents understand my overwhelming wishlist (still smaller than yours, though). Every xmas and birthday growing up, I was to provide them with a list, and the larger the better because that meant the actual present was still a surprise to me. If I only tell them one item, there's no surprise involved. But if I tell them 100 items in prices ranging from used trade paperback books up to a $10000 flatscreen tv, they've got a hell of a lot to choose from.

I had trouble getting this through my ex's head too. Apparently her family was highly distraught over my wishlist our first xmas together, because in her family, you're expected to get all of the presents, not pick one to buy.

[yendi]

See, that's my logic, exactly. I like being surprised, and I like people having options.

[yendi]

70? Man, that takes me back years! :-)

[hookncrook.livejournal.com]

Tell her wishing is different than wanting...and 386 sounds pretty small to me, but then I buy 10 to 20 books at a time when I am feeling my literary blood quicken.

[yendi]

That's exactly what I told her. And I think she gets it to an extent. Just not completely.

[zeyr.livejournal.com]

Mmm...at least that is a more reachable goal for me...to be organized about adding to my list enough to get it UP to 386 items. 417 was a much harder goal. :)

DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince empathize.

[rubian77.livejournal.com]

Tell her to think of the long list as "many different available options."

[asim.livejournal.com]

425 here, and every one a Gem.
I'm actually thinking about writing a Amazon API app to start storing even more and making it actually useable. It's so damn hard to parse that file as-is, I actually never bother to print it out.

[yendi]

Have you tried compact view? I've found it pretty effective for printing or easily browsing a subsection.

[mycroftca.livejournal.com]

How do you do a "compact view"...that sounds great!

[yendi]

At the top of the list, there should be a line reading "My View: Normal view | Compact view" with Normal being unclickable, and Compact being a link.

[mycroftca.livejournal.com]

Mine's around 406 items or so, and forestcats had some snide comments about its size...

[sempereadem.livejournal.com]

I've got just under 300 things on my wishlist, and I use mine the exact same way you do - mostly as a reminder to myself that I want to pick these things up later. It's 80% books anyway.

Y'know

[fings.livejournal.com]

What Amazon need is friends filters.

So you can tell your parents to go to yourwishlist/parents, where they don't have to see the smutty stuff you have on yourwishlist/partner, or the "I want for me" stuff you have on yourwishlist/self.

Re: Y'know

[yendi]

I know people who have created multiple accounts at Amazon for exactly this reason.

[cissa.livejournal.com]

Mine's somewhere around 300, and I avoid people griping about it by keeping it private. It's only for my own use, anyway- reminders, like you said.

[yendi]

I actually like having it available for both uses -- I want to shop from it, but I also don't exactly object to gifts (especially as a way to avoid relatives asking what I want).

[phantom_wolfboy]

Will Smith is always right. I have organised my life around the principles of his philosophy.

And when I grow up, I'm going to marry him.

[dandelion-diva.livejournal.com]

I did a major wish-list cull around my birthday, including removing things that I'd bought elsewhere. I've got *checks* 1479 things listed. This includes things for Sammy, 'cause I started including things for her on my list when she was tinytiny and it would be a major hassle to make two lists now. Of course, the fact that Amazon has at least a *little* of damn near everything makes huge lists easy.:)

Yeah, I generally use mine as a "Oh, I should remember ot buy that" list.

I like reason #2 for having a huge list.:)

Gessi