The long road to recovery

So it's been just over a year now since some of my stuff got stolen after I moved into that crappy apartment. Here's the recap . That whole phase of my life was a shitty mess but of all the crap I had to deal with losing stuff I worked hard to get was the one that kept me awake all night most often. The anger I felt over the break-up with that lying, cheating douche nozzle was nothing compared to the sheer blinding rage I felt whenever I thought about somebody taking my stuff. And the fact that they had no idea what any of it was, they just took it because it was there... I went cross-eyed when I thought about it, couldn't speak, just clenched my fists and made feral noises.

Does that make me shallow and materialistic, being more upset over things than betrayal and the loss of a relationship? So what if it does? I'm okay with that. I don't define myself by what I own. My collections of toys and knick-knacks don't make me a better or worse person. We all want stuff to varying degrees. I'm confident I can surround myself with the things in life that truly matter but I also plan to surround myself with things that matter to me. And by God, Satan, or whoever, if I drag my sorry ass out of bed, slog through hours, days, weeks, dealing with a job and all the joys that go along with it to get some money to buy crap I want then nobody better fucking touch it.

So here I am a year and three months later. I finally got a job that pays pretty nicely and I've been saving a good bit of each payday for things I actually need like car repairs and a computer. Then yesterday I thought "Peace of mind is kind of essential, too." I've occasionally checked on eBay to see if any of my stuff showed up but never saw anything that was clearly mine. Most of what was taken wasn't common, but it wasn't super rare either. Except for a few pieces and I never saw any of those until yesterday. No, it wasn't my stuff per se, but it was two of the rarer sets I thought I'd never be able to replace, and for not nearly as much $$$ as I'd been fearing if I ever did find them again.

One I was able to buy outright but one I had to bid on and wait. When I found it this afternoon it had three hours left and no other bids so I spent a tense three hours waiting to see if anybody outbid me at the last minute. Nobody did, I got them both. I also found one of the figures loose and got an extra one just to be safe.











The big name characters in the sets (Flash and Green Lantern) aren't what I was after. They're cool enough, variant designs that you don't see very often but not all that different form the many, many different versions of Batman floating around. My main objective was Blue Beetle. He's been one of my favorite characters for ages, and this was the first time he'd been made into a figure (I think these came out in 1999 or there abouts). And as a bonus his set also came with a tiny Atom that was also a variant because it featured a short-lived change to his costume, not that you can see it in this pic. The Doctor Polaris figure was also a bonus because he'd never been a toy either, and the Total Justice/JLA line didn't have but like three other villains.

So as luck would have it, these two sets and a loose Blue Beetle just happened to be available when I went to eBay yesterday and this afternoon. I still have to get all of the other sets and figures (there were only four I didn't have from the whole line) but I think I've made a decent start on rebuilding my collection. And my life in general.

p.s. The photo uploader thing for Blogger is still a big pile of crap and hassle.