Monday, August 28, 2006

Cold Turkey: A Wrap (Mmm, Cold Turkey Wrap...)

“As we know from Mel Gibson, when you're drunk, your true self surfaces.” At least, that’s what my buddy Jason thinks. I’ll let the fact that he’s never been drunk slide for the time being because I think he has a point. For me, I guess it just goes to show that once a collector, always a collector.

On the one hand I’m a little disappointed in myself. Not so much for faltering so close to the finish line, but more because I had the setup for the perfect story. A collector gives up everything he knows for 30 days only to be put to the real test mere hours before the experiment concludes. Does he finish strong and resist temptation, or do his weaknesses get the better of him?

I guess we’ll never know since my weakness turned out to be a combination of Captain Morgan’s rum, Coke, and eBay. While some men get drunk and cheat on their wives or get DUIs and curse the Jewish community, I hop on the computer and spend money buying cardboard. Who knew?

“At least you learned some things about yourself, though,” Jason said, as if consoling a recovering alcoholic who recently picked up the bottle. “It was an interesting experiment. I look forward to your further thoughts about it in your blog. Your conclusions. Whatever...”

What’s odd is that despite caving in Saturday night, I didn’t do a damn thing differently on Sunday than I had the rest of the month. I was expecting this mad rush of spending around town. Sure, I had a slight interest to hop on eBay or head to the local comic shop or bookstore, but I didn’t feel the urge I normally have while bored on the weekend. Then again today I passed right past a Barnes and Noble and a Borders on my way to lunch, and I didn’t even second guess my decision to pass right on by.

Of course, then I got home this afternoon. Within 30 minutes of walking in the door I had won two auctions on eBay (Packers card sets) and placed my next month’s DCBS order ($145 after shipping). At first I felt a little sick to my stomach, like a binge eater knowing he’s going to regret everything he puts in his mouth. I couldn’t stop myself.

No, that’s not exactly right because I didn’t want to stop myself. And why should I want to? This is what I do. This is who I am. I’ll admit, it felt awkward at first. Like riding a bike after your broken leg finally recovers. It might’ve taken me a little longer to click that Bid Now button, but once I did, I knew I was back.

Once a collector, always a collector.

This is my 100th post on The Collector’s Mentality. What better way to celebrate my anniversary on my collecting blog than with a post about my first purchases in almost a month? What better way to say “Hell yeah I have the collector’s mentality; what are you gonna do about it?”

When I created this blog, I set out to learn a little about myself and hopefully have a spot of fun along the way. I’ve certainly done both, and I hope you have too.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

While you're watching the Packers get bitch-slapped by the Bengals, I'll just say that it was an admirable effort. Nice job.

Anonymous said...

I agree, good effort, and congrats on your 100th post. It's been a great read.

I think that until you've decided that you're truly not interested in the collecting side of things, it will never leave.

As mentioned previously, I'm struggling with it now as well.

James said...

Ah, the Packers got beat down. On the plus side, the cards I have on my list might be cheaper because of it.

You know, I think this collecting thing is here to stay. But I can honestly say I think it'll be easier to control from here on out.