Kelly Willis ‘Bang Bang’

Again, just to refresh your memory or a note for new readers, the title of each blog entry is the CD or tape that I’m listening to for the day. Every recording goes through a cycle that I’ve created. I switch off every day and today I’m on CD’s. If I were to explain my music cycles, it would expose one of my many neuroses.

I do it to keep all my music fresh. And what’s the point of having it if I’m not listening to it?

So with the cycle, I listen to it even if I’m not in the mood to hear what’s chosen. And usually, the mood comes around and I can get into it.

I’m listening to Kelly Willis’ CD right now as I type this. I just got through working out to it and when I leave for work tonight, Ms. Willis’ recording will make the trip too.

Over the years, I’ve acquired so much music that I’m running out of space to store. I have thousands of CD’s and LP’s. I also have hundreds of cassette tapes, which include my own mix tapes as well as those made by friends.

When I move, it’s absolutely no fun carrying around all those albums. Those jokers are in Peaches crates and they’re heavier than hell. And what albums aren’t in crates, I’ve got them boxed up and stored away.

The last time that I moved, we definitely used hand trucks to cart those babies around and it was still a big ol’ pain in the ass.

Although I currently do not have my turntable hooked up, I’m keeping my LP’s. I’ve got some that may NEVER see themselves on CD. I got over the collecting a few years ago. If I can get it on CD, I’ll get rid of the album no matter how rare it is. If it makes someone else’s day to own it and I can get it on compact disc, that day will be their lucky day.

I sold a rare KISS LP a few years ago at a record show in Hillsborough. The rare items on the disc are available on CD now and so I let it go for about $60. The book value of it was $75. The couple was very happy and appreciative when I sold it to them. They weren’t dealers. They were true KISS fans and I felt good that it was moving from my storage to a proud and respected place in their home.

I sold a few things on eBay over the years and have managed to fetch some nice cash from those items, but I haven’t done it in a long while. To me, it seems that eBay has become overrun with charlatans and folks that rip you off with shipping prices. It’s no longer a great place to pick up that rare item at a fair price.

I looked for a DVD copy of ‘Vanishing Point’ on eBay. I’ve found that it’s cheaper to purchase it through Amazon than with anyone on eBay. The sellers really stick you with the shipping and since I sold items on the website, I roughly know how much is a fair price. Hell, if you’re shipping it through the USPS Express service, there’s very little cost to the seller. The USPS provides the boxes but yet, those sellers will charge you 7 bucks for something that should ship at $3.75 (since the rate change, it could be slightly higher now).

I checked eBay first for ‘Firefly’ on DVD and if you read this blog regularly, you know that I got it from Amazon. I paid $32.94 with them and the lowest I could get it from an eBay seller was around $38.

Enough of that….

For the second time in my life, I got my checking account balanced and I came up with the same number that they have. Everything balanced out, but there was a discrepancy. I had a purchase for $32 from a place I had no receipt for. And if that were not enough, it’s a place that I had to look up in the phone book because I had no idea where it was. I have never been there even though I NOW know where it is.

The place is in a rough part of town and because I like walking above ground, I would NEVER go into that place.

So, I called the bank up and let them know what was going on. They’re going to send me an affidavit to sign and send back in order to establish an investigation. Also, they stopped my check card and I’ll have to wait for the next one to arrive sometime next week.

I can’t understand what’s going on with my card. I don’t let the thing out of my sight. The only thing that I can think of is that someone wrote down the numbers and used it that way. And as far as I know, they have only used it once.

This hasn’t completely soured me on the whole cashless society yet. I will keep you posted on what happens