Buying cool stuff on Ebay…

One of the best things about working for my writing clients, is I get paid in US dollars. This in turn makes it easier for me to pay for cool stuff on ebay without worrying about converting dollars and other math shit. So I’ve been doing better the last few months and am even almost back to the same production pace I was at before the stroke. So since the money is coming in again, I’ve managed to buy a few cool things on ebay.

I needed by buy a new shower curtain so I decided to go online and see if there were any cool curtains I could discover, and look what I found! I was split between this Godzilla curtain or one that was basically the Jaws poster, and I was even considering a cool curtain that had a giraffe riding a shark while welding a sword. In the end, I decided on this one because I think Ethan will love it too. That’s the best part about being a single guy right now… if I want a Godzilla shower curtain, then I’m getting a damn Godzilla shower curtain!

As I stated before my older brother Chris has a birthday last month and since I had a few extra bucks, I decided to get him something else besides the concert tickets we had to see Train and Hall & Oates. Chris has always been there to help me whenever I needed anything for the boys so I could have gotten him ten gifts and it wouldn’t even start to cover how grateful I was for his support. But I found a very cool gift on ebay and ordered it the moment I saw it.

Now a little backstory, whenever I buy anything from ebay… it always goes to my brother’s place because I had an issue with someone stealing packages from a place I used to live at. Even though I’ve moved, I left Chris’ place as my default address because that way if I order something for the boys, they won’t accidentally see it when it arrives. So when I ordered something for Chris, I just kept my mouth shut and didn’t warn him something extra was coming to his place. When it arrived, Chris was like “What the hell did he order now?” as he opened it to discover this amazing photo waiting for him inside the envelope:

Chris is a huge, and I mean HUGE Stargate fan… so his jaw pretty much hit the floor when this picture showed up in the mail. When my brother first saw the photo, which is signed by the entire cast of SG1, he was like “Oh, Peter’s not getting this.”

That was alright by me, because this was his birthday present… much to his surprise. I’m happy to see my brother is through the roof thrilled with his gift, and it didn’t break the bank as much as I thought it might. I got it for a reasonable price, though I won’t admit it to my bro and let him think I went all out this year. Like I said, it was the least I could do for him considering how supportive he’s been for me and the boys the last few years.

So now that brings me to my last buy of the month. Ethan has a birthday coming up in a few months, and since I got a great reaction from Chris… I decided to try the same gift and see how the little guy reacts. Recently, Ethan’s taste in movies has been evolving which his mother and I are thankful for. For the better part of the last decade, it’s been non-stop monsters here. Whether it’s dinosaurs, dragons, or Godzilla… we’ve seen the light at the end of the tunnel as Ethan has started to watch movies of a different variety. He’s enjoying the comic books films from Marvel and DC (who hasn’t, right?) and last summer he watched a certain film franchise for the first time and really enjoyed it.

So to encourage Ethan’s love for this new film franchise… I bought my son the following picture for his upcoming birthday in September:

In order to encourage Ethan’s new found love for Pirates of the Caribbean, I’m going to get a very nice frame for this signed photo so that Ethan can hang it up in his bedroom. I think it’s gonna knock the little guy’s socks off… just like the other one did for Chris.

While this one cost a few more pennies than the Stargate SG1 photo, it wasn’t as pricey as I thought it might be. And while it will be probably cheaper than what his mother spends on him, I think I’ve got her beat on the creativity category this year. I look forward to getting that “You bastard!” look that an ex always gives when you do something surprising right after Ethan unwraps this present. She won’t take it that personally, especially since she’ll appreciate it’s encouraging his moving away from the monster movies. I know he’ll never stop watching those movies, but as long as he’s not as obsessed with it as he used to be, that will be a vast improvement.

In conclusion, this has been on strategy I’ve used to help motivate myself to keep writing pages and comic panels… the chance to buy cool stuff for the people in my life. This is also why I love to participate in Reddit’s gift exchanges. While it’s fun to receive, I have a lot more fun finding and giving cool stuff to everyone else. There’s nothing more than than spreading the love. Sharing truly is caring, and with that being said… I’m going back to work so I can buy more cool shit.

So until then, take care people!

Peter