In this thread I said I decided to get rid of my stuff. Well, I started today. I put my G.I. Joe USS FLAGG on eBay. I set it up once when I bought it, and it’s been in storage ever since. Time to go. I’ve also put some SDRAM on offer, though I don’t know anything about it.
With all the crap I have around here, I think I’m going to be busy on eBay for a long time.
Good for you! I’ve collected comic books and action figures most of my life, and I’ve downsized both collections a good deal over the last few years. You’ll feel better in the long run, and the extra space and money will be nice. Just don’t get rid of anything you’ll regret, if it has sentimental value.
That U.S.S. Flagg is pretty damn huge, though. I knew one hardcore-crazy G.I. Joe collector who used it as his living room coffee table!
Oh man, I’m so sorry, I didn’t read your other thread before posting. I didn’t mean to come off so flippant, considering what you’re dealing with. I wish you the best of luck through all of this, and here’s hoping you come out a better person on the other side.
We all need to purge our unnecessary baggage once in awhile. I usually move every few years, so that helps. I end up giving lots of stuff away because I don’t want to haul it around. I have been in my current place for about 2 years, I think I have about 500 pounds of worthless crap I can get rid of right now. Anything of value will go to the Salvation Army, or maybe one of my neighbors, the rest gets chucked out in the trash.
It’s a Zen thing, and it is good. 
A coffee table! Now that’s hardcore! (I would have been happy to have a DC-6 main wheel with a glass top. Oh, and I should get some sort of chair base for my ejections seat.)
ccwaterback: I have a nasty tendency to stay put for a while. I was in my L.A. apartment for 16 years! :eek: I never dreamed I’d be there that long. When I was getting ready to move, I made several trips to the Salvation Army.
I think one of the next things I’ll try to sell is my '61 Rolex Sub with the NATO (as seen in Goldfinger strap and original bracelet. I can’t get a good photo of it with my digital camera. Stupid autofocus! Last time I wanted photos of it I set up my movie lights. Since the battery in my OM-1 was dead (it runs the light meter) I used my Minolta light meter. I managed to underexpose the dial, though everything else was perfectly exposed (the dial is what I wanted detail on). My scanner is down, so reshooting with the 35mm wouldn’t do any good anyway. But I have a friend who has a really awesome digital camera. So I’ll get the Rolex on eBay in the next week or so.
Then there’s the old Bolex H8. I don’t shoot regular-8, and this camera came as a ‘bonus’ with a case that I bought. It has the parallax viewfinder and two lenses, but being regular-8 I doubt I’ll get anything for it. I have two Bolex H16s and a Krasnogorsk-3 (16mm cameras) that I can sell, but the guy I mentioned in the last paragraph says he’ll let me put them in his studio as rentals.
I have a bunch of VHS tapes that I’ve replaced with DVDs. I checked a couple of titles on eBay once, and selling them might be more trouble than it’s worth. Maybe I should group them into lots instead of selling them individually?
I briefly uncovered a 17" monitor that I want to get rid of. It’s already promised to another Doper for the price of shipping it.
And then there are the boxes… There’s some stuff that I want to keep. Other stuff I packed, figuring I could sell them later. Other boxes just have stuff dumped into then because I was running out of time when I moved. Going through all of that is a daunting task.
Toys… A really great Universal Soldier Willys MB Jeep. That was cool on my desk, when I had an office job. Since I’m selling my CJ2A, I don’t need a toy jeep. I think they’re Universal Soldier, but anyway I have a really nice P-51 Mustang and a Messerschmitt ME-109. Pretty, but I don’t need them. I gave my Hot Wheels cars and my tiny airplane collection to the apartment kids before I moved up here, so at least I don’t have to deal with those. I have a Max doll in its original package from Where the Wild Things Are, complete with a miniature WtWTA book in his hands. Hmmm… Not fetching much last time I checked eBay. Might keep that one. And the Scotsman doll with the penis is mildly amusing. Might keep that one too.
The hardest thing will be getting rid of books. I don’t get rid of books!
Johnny L.A., first, I am briefly aware that you are sailing through some rough waters at the moment. For that, I wish all the best, and trust you’ll hang in there with the best of them. But I’d like to offer the following unsolicited advice from a total stranger: For various reasons mostly of my own doing, I have nothing which pre-dates my twenties. I have no pictures, no toys, no anything of my childhood. NADA. And I’d be lying if I said that doesn’t cause me some sadness from time to time.
The point being- be careful what you get rid of. Maybe try to see what you can keep, instead of what you can offload somewhere. You may one day in the future, decide you’d wish you had some that stuff back. Of course, maybe you’re doing that already; if so - disregard.
Take that FWIW. YMMV and all that. And best of luck to you.
I agree. I didn’t post in your original thread because of the pain that you’re going through right now, but I completely agree. During a time of crisis is NOT the time to make decisions like this. I know it feels like a purging of your old life but I don’t want you to have any regrets later. I’ve been through this myself and with friends during a divorce. You feel like you want to unclutter your life in order to get some form of control back. Unfortunately, some bad decisions were made in the process.
Take a breath. Allow yourself to heal, and then take that whole Zen thing and clear the decks. You’ll make a lot better choices for it.
Not to make light of your situation but I had to share this :rolleyes: moment from just last night. According to one of the late night talk shows (Jay? Conan? Etc?), a guy sold his childhood on eBay…complete with pictures, childhood drawings, and and report cards. If eBay is to believed, I think it sold for around $157. :rolleyes:
If I really wanted to do the Zen thing, I’d just get rid of everything. Right now, I’m just getting rid of the surplus. If Sandy changes her mind again and comes out, I’ll need the space. If she doesn’t, then I can use the space and the mobility.
A lot of people say, ‘If you haven’t used it in a year, you don’t need it.’ I have stuff (like the USS Flagg) that I haven’t looked at for years. I don’t need my toys anymore. (Say, I need to put my Strange Change Machine up for sale! And maybe my Creepy Crawlers, too.) There are things I’ll keep, such as dad’s sea chest full of stuff and his sword; but most of the things I have around here I don’t need. Either they’re from a different life, or they’re duplicates.
Besides, I’m still unemployed. I can use the money. I got the fuel bill for the trip down to Phoenix to see mom. Over $500. Better to unclutter, and build up the bank account at the same time.
I recently got a notice from my landlord (so did everyone in the complex) to clean up our front porches of inoperable bicycles and other junk or it would be hauled away. So a friend of mine (lives in same complex) and myself are going to take all of our junk and leave it outside so it gets hauled away for us.
My $0.02
Pretty smart, getting someone else to haul your junk away. Just be sure he’s not going to charge you for it. Landlords can be pretty slimy.
Dayam. What would a commercial flight have cost?
I don’t know. Probably about the same, since there was no time to order a ticket in advance and it was the Christmas season.
I’ll tell you: every time I drive, or fly commercially, I wish I had a Quickie Q-200 to get around in.
Aha! Here’s an extra Easton Press edition of Deathbird Stories, signed by Harlan Ellison, and a 400-foot mag for an Arri 16.
I never know what I’m going to find around here!
A set of plans for a 1/8 scale twin-ducted fan F-14A Tomcat. Man, I’d wanted to build that! Oh, well. It’s going to be listed along with the book and the Arri mag this afternoon. I hope they sell. I searched ‘tomcat’ and ‘plans’ on eBay and found copies (mine are original), but there are no bids for them.
Funny, there seems to be an awful lot of empty boxes in the room. Those’ll be easy enough to get rid of. I have a fire ring in the back yard. 
I’ll probably just end up tossing a bunch of stuff. I might donate other stuff.
CynicalGabe: Did the plan work?
To get rid of your old VHS, you might check out www.booksforsoldiers.com. Some deployed soldiers might appreciate them well above the monetary value you could get for them on ebay.
DVDs are the preferred format but some troops have the ability to watch VHS. Try posting it in the “I have stuff to give away” area.
The above also applies to any unneeded media – books, magazines, CDs, etc.
Good luck with everything!
Thanks. Just listed the mag, book and plans. Tomorrow I’ll list two pair of vintage Kneissl snow skis.
You don’t have an extra Moto Guzzi Breva 750 lying around, do you?
VHS tapes are death on eBay - a pain in the ass to list and to ship, half of the damn things don’t sell, and half the time the buyers are stupid and blame you for their crappy tracking, dirty tape deck heads, or other problems that interfere with their fine viewing experience.
Check your VHS collection for unusual, out-of-print tapes that are not in DVD release. Those will sell pretty well. Donate the rest to a Shriner’s Hospital or a women’s shelter or something.
Voice of experience - YMMV, of course.
Ha! I’m keeping the bikes. 
Uvula Donor: Not selling the deck. I have rare, OOP tapes I’m not selling. As for the tapes I want to get rid of, I think you’re right from what I’ve seen in the listings. I might be able to sell some of the anime if I can find an anime shop in Bellingham. Otherwise, donation sounds like a plan.