As one of my birthday celebrations an ex took me shopping. To New Jersey. Okay, doesn't sound very romantic, but it wasn't supposed to be.

Summer is really here and in spicing up my summer wardrobe, I decided it might be a good idea to spice up my room as well. Perhaps some new curtains, and a new rug and throw for my bedroom would create a cool new karma. And if it not, my room would look prettier. So there.

En route back to the city we stopped at Target. When in Rome.... By the way, there are no Target's in Manhattan so I hadn't ever been, but it turns out Target - pronounced Tarjhay to those of us from the the city - has some pretty nice stuff. And they have Thomas O'Brien, who designed a whole line of bedding just for them.

I found a throw pillow I liked, but alas without having yet purchased any other stuff I was hesitant to buy it. A few weeks later I found everything I wanted, and then I found I wanted that pillow. Enter Texas!

In Houston for a friend's opening this past weekend...

NOTE: If you live in Houston, don't walk but run to Unhinged Productions of (Loosely) Lysistrata playing at Stages through July 2nd.

... I found the pillow at a local Texas Target only to find, back in New York, it didn't match my bed! Now I have to see if the ex will take me back to the burbs to return it.

So what's the point?

I guess you may be seeing the futility of the whole shopping thing, but I see it as something else. To me, what's unsettling is that there seems to be a limited number of stores that dominate this country and they all sell the exact same merchandise! What happened to the individuation of cities? What happened to finding that unique shop in Houston that would make throw pillows like you'd never find anywhere else?

Why are we all branding and melding into one? One kind of decor, one kind of look? When I watch television I can barely tell one actor from the next. Everyone looks the same. Wears the same clothes. Sounds the same. Can we even help it? We can only respond to what is available. I don't think this is a very good thing.

Perhaps this concept makes people feel like they belong, but I feel we lose what makes each of us, us. As for the pillow, there are sites online where you can design your own. I'm logging on right now. My pillow will be one of a kind, and my pillow will belong only to me.