Last night, on my way home from whatever it was that I was doing, I noticed a sign for a garage sale today (not to mention an estate sale). I'll admit that I don't really go out of my way to frequent such things, but since I had another errand that took me back in the same direction this morning, I figured: why not stop by. So I did, which had the result of.....
.....me getting yet more books that I don't have time to read. But at $0.05 a book, I wasn't one to complain. 2 of them, I'll admit, I'm not actually going to read. They're in really good condition, and I'll flip those for trade credit at a local store, for which I hope to get rather more than $0.10 in store credit. The other 3, though, I may well read, which may send me into a slightly black mood, given that the stories are pretty dark. But they're all quality selections, so it's high quality literary depression there :) .
That sale was the garage sale, where the books were the only items that I purchased. I saw a cool-looking bookcase, and I have a few others at home in the same style. However, it looked as though the bookcase was part of a package with a table and a lamp, so I wasn't inclined to shell out the bucks for all 3.
Next was the estate sale. There, I restrained myself completely, no purchases of books or anything else. If nothing else, the prices were much higher by comparison, $1 for paperback and $5 for hardbacks. Likewise, I didn't have much use for the dishes and other material, although there was some cute framed artwork.
Yet what got to me, which tends to happen when I chance across an estate sale and walk in, is the sinking feeling that one day, that's going to be my situation, namely, that I'll be gone, and what was the point of acquiring all the stuff? True, one uses the stuff while one is still around, and one can arrange for selected items to go to family, loved ones, or friends down the line. But it's hard for me to escape the melancholy downer feeling that way, about all that stuff that gets piled up in life. This makes it sort of nice when I'm able to trade something in, or sell it on-line. Of course, then getting more stuff negates all that.
So, with that (as opposed to MO state legislators showing how reactionary this state can be here), time for the usual SNLC protocol, namely your loser stories of the week.....