in underneath

Some places I am "in" already, like the library. Although I don't feel all that special, I seem to be one of the Friends of the library who actually shows up. I spend about a hour there putting books out onto the shelves and rooting through new donations for my own pursuits - my own unpolished gems - and occasionally finding something of real value. A Ray Bradbury or Stephen King chapbook.

Then I lug some of my lesser finds to Bennies or someplace where the young idiot clerks who don't know shit from shiola do just that - they take the shit and give me almost shiola in store credit. So, almost in revenge, I look for something that is completely underpriced and I know will sell for double or triple what they are asking, and I get it for my meager store credit and go from there. Or I get in store credit books that I know another bookstore owner across town would die to have. Hey, it's a gift (learned art).

My wife had to fly out of town for work. I don't ask much since I can't. All I know is that she'll be back tomorrow but instead of taking her overnight bag, she takes my orange backpack. I decided to carry some books out into the world in a grocery bag. Slightly inconvenient but not a problem.

I never sell enough. I always get more than I sell. The buy public is nervous about the economy or fickle or have behaved like lemmings and jumped over the cliff into e-books. Maybe a combination of these insanities.

There's the reality show that's on these days called Storage Wars and it's about this small group of parasites that buy the contents of storage lockers whose rent has gone south. The storage unit company hires these auctioneers who auction off the contents of these storage units to these low lifes who, at least in the TV show, are little more than hucksters. They own second hand stores or are collectors - doesn't matter. To me, it glorified theft. They are bidding on someone else's property. Yeah, okay, left behind property, "not up to date on the rent" property. To me, it feels scummy. It's like Antiques Roadshow for hucksters and "out-for-a buck" moles. I have little respect for anyone on the show or who made the show. Then, the topper, was when in two consecutive episodes of the show, one of these "experts" bemoan the fact that the storage unit they won (stole) had books in it. Of course, to them, books are useless nothings. At that point I turned off the TV and won't watch another second of that filth. They are all ignorant dirtbags.