Self Destructive Lethargy

You know, I could actually use the advice of that weasel, Alex In California, because I have bid on e-bay for a set of books from Mel Bay.

The opening bid was a paltry 6 dollars. But, the "shipping" is 12 bucks!

You can't tell me that it takes 12 bucks to mail 11 pamphlet sized books (realistically about 3 pounds max) to somewhere in the same country. And, so with 3 hours left, someone outbid the 13 dollars that I had bid.

By 50 cents.

I have never used e-bay before and I don't know the etiquette; and what someone is trying to say by outbidding you by 50 cents. I figured the books were easily worth a dollar each (plus another whole dollar each for the U.S.P.S.)
I would pay 44 bucks for them. I wonder if I should just bid that amount. Does this bidder want to play cat and mouse, with each of us on the website as the hour draws near, going up 50 cents per bid, like a see-saw that alternately has one of us as the "winner?"

Alex in California would know. I really want the books enough to pay a lot more. What's to stop the guy from putting a dollar higher bid on his screen and then waiting until one minute before the close of the auction to hit send?

Maybe I will place a bid like 5 bucks higher and then just resign myself to mashing the send button one minute before the close of the auction; regardless of whether or not I see him outbid me in real time on the website; better safe than sorry. I would pay at least 5 bucks for just the Charlie Bird method book, just out of curiosity, since I've never heard of the bird man...

I'm pretty sure it is the 12 dollars "shipping" that is the deterrent for higher bids; it's almost like a baked in profit for the e-bay seller. Is that to cover the prohibitive cost of having it returned by a customer and winding up mailing it out twice with the burden passed on to the consumer?

Yeah, that wishy washy never Trump snowflake probably could have given me some decent advice.

The flat-picking book alone, I would have paid up to 12 bucks for.

Somebody outbid me by 50 cents, after I had doubled the opening bid. Surely this indicated that I really wanted the 11 Mel Bay books...or did it?

I think the person is hoping that I would get busy and forget about the auction and he would scoop them up for $13.50

You know, I could actually use the advice
 I keep meaning to pick up a bottle of that Prevogen (sp?) stuff which is a brain food type formula that has memory increasing or aiding; I can't remember which.

But I keep forgetting to get some when I go out.

I know Walgreen's has it, per their commercial.

I think the Orwellian utopia would have me parked in front of my TV the whole day through, absorbing the propaganda and taking my Soma.

I'm taking my Soma, in a sense.

And I have graduated to attempting to watch two (2) daily episodes of Jeopardy, along with watching one (1) airing of "25 Words or Less," a show that comes on right after Jeopardy, and even with a deceptive cadence that has the fanfare of its opening coming right when you think there should be a commercial; like between Jeopardy and it.

That is how I first saw it, and shook my head, thinking that to follow Jeopardy, your show has to be more high brow than 25 Words or Less.

But, I gradually started to like the game, which is like the opposite of Charades, where the contestants can only speak in describing the word they are trying to describe using as few words as possible; but they aren't allowed to gesture; no charades allowed.

I find it compelling to watch and sometimes truly feel embarrassed for the contestants who are clearly not fluent in English, and to hear the clues they give.

Getting someone to say "dog," for instance, you might have to use a 2 word clue like "not cat." That would work, I believe in most cases.

But, to use the 1 word clue of "canine" which is logically a great, word conserving clue, and then to hear the "where do they find these people" contestants start to hurl out guesses: "Incisors, molars, teeth, biting!" can be pretty nerve racking. Then the guy has to burn another word: "pet."

"Snoop blank!"

So, that is 90 minutes a day in front of the tube, with well times dashes to complete errands when the commercials, which you can't "skip ads" past, come on.

Empty, spray out and return Harold's litter pan before the Jeopardy theme begins, type of thing...
And now, though, there is Grit, which is free antenna TV broadcast in high definition, so you can see the graininess which might have looked magnificent on the big screen one hundred years ago.

There was a Western movie on that had Ronald Reagan in it the other night, and I hadn't recognized him; I only thought that that one particular actor, I had seen n some other role.

It was Ronald who was the first foundational move towards making a Donald possible. If an actor can become President, then bring on the actors; let's fight fire with fire. Bill Clinton playing the saxophone on Saturday Night Live stands out in my mind as breaking through some other kind of barrier, for the lone fact that it was Bill Clinton playing the saxophone on Saturday Night Live.

But, the Grit Movies are easily another 2 hours spent in front of the Tube.

The commercials for the drugs, OMG. Stop taking immediately and call your doctor if you start vomiting up blood, this could be an indicator of a much more serious condition for which your doctor can hit up your insurance company for a lot more.

All the while that "Lovely Day" song, by Billy Whithers (?) plays and the man, whose heart doesn't pump as well as it should, but who still wants to be around longer so he can dance in the back yard with his grandchildren to "Lovely Day" by Billy Whithers (?).

But look at this happy fellow, he's going to live longer. He didn't start having blood in his stools, rashes or swollen feet, not even night sweats; so give the stuff a try, your co-pay might even be zero!

I usually get the song stuck in me head on the way out with the litter box and so I'm humming it as I spray out Harold's poop.

Doing the jigsaw puzzle has the side effect of promoting the questionable practice of organizing the apartment by color. I started subconsciously doing it along with the puzzles a couple years ago, noticeable when I would have to look around for a minute for a guitar pick, only to find it almost invisible atop a magazine cover or something, on a spot almost exactly the same color as the pick.

But, this came in handy a couple times when I thought to look for something I needed and hadn't the foggiest idea where I might have put it, but then being able to find it in a spot where a lot of other yellow things, for example, wound up being thrown.