Popping My Ebay Cherry

That's right, folks. I am no longer an Ebay virgin.

The foreplay started last Saturday when I got it in my head that I should replace all the lost/stolen camera equipment that I had when I shot all the photos in Everybody I Shot Is Dead. Yup. I'm either really sentimental (affirmative) or completely crazy (the jury's still out on that one). And the nutty reason I'm hell-bent on re-buying my original cameras is because I want to shoot concerts again and I want the pictures to be as good as the ones I shot way back when. Okay, the jury's back in... that's an affirmative on the completely crazy part.

Anyway, imagine my shock and delight when I found many vintage Pentax cameras available on Ebay. And I found one - a Spotmatic II - that matched one of my cameras, including several lens. Even though it wasn't closing for several days, I bid on it. It was the one I really wanted. In the meantime, there was an awesome-looking 200 mm telephoto lens that I wanted. I bid on that one but finally chickened out near the end as the price went a little higher than I wanted to pay, especially since I didn't even have a camera yet.

Then I bid on another camera and on Sunday, Aug 26, 2007 at 18:51:23 PDT I won it for a whopping (note intense sarcasm here) $51.00. Meet my new camera:


Notice the small dent on the left side of the lens ring? I swear to God one of my original cameras had that exact dent on the same lens.

Since Sunday, I've been an Ebay whore. Watching and bidding on some camera equipment and kicking as many others to the curb. All the while waiting for my first love to arrive. My very first bid. The one that I placed a maximum bid on last Saturday of $100. Fast forward to this afternoon... Aug-30-07 15:39:22 PDT to be exact... I was suddenly outbid bid by $5... then $10 with nearly 4 hours still left on the bidding. Was I going to lose my first love? The same camera I used to capture my sweet dead musicians in their glory days.? The musicians that I have lived with 24/7 for the past two years? Oh, the horror of it.

Not wanting to look desperate (in the world of rock'n'roll desperate girls are very unattractive), I slyly waited until 18:58:48 PDT (note that's over 3 hours of feigning non-desperation) to up my maximum bid to $120. A bid which held all of 6 minutes when I decided I better raise my maximum to $175. Not looking good with nearly 20 minutes left. These two last minute snakes in the grass were nipping at my ankles and seemed prepared to take me down. At 19:11:03 PDT, my bid hit my maximum so I quickly upped it $200. No way was I going to let those piranhas near my first love.

At this point I kept my browser open and refreshed the page every minute or two. YES!! My $175 bid was holding. The two poisonous snakes had slithered away. The clock ticked down. And down. Only two minutes to go. I was home free. Surely I would win my first Ebay love. I refreshed the page once more...

What the fuck? Who the hell is Glittergrl123? And why did she just bid $179.91 at 19:24:43 PDT, a mere 23 seconds before the close... refresh... Oh My God she upped it to $191.09 sixteen seconds later. Fuck, she's going to beat my $200 bid. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. I scramble to add another $2o to my max bid. Did I make it in time? The seconds tick down. I have no idea what just happened. I hit the refresh button one more time. Dammit, I'm going to hunt Glittergrl123 down and punch her in the face. How dare she come in at the last minute and tear my first love right out of my arms. Fuck her!

Wait... wait a second... the window refreshed. The winning bid was $193.59. Posted 9 seconds before the close. I won... what?... Holy shit... I WON!!!

Here is my first Ebay love with whom I shall live happily ever after, complete with all that extra stuff, exactly as it was way back when:





Go ahead. Call me crazy. I couldn't care less.