Sorry...just ranting freely.

I am sitting in my local bookstore, which is not so local since it is right outside Philadelphia and it takes me thirty minutes to drive. It is snowing outside and my windshield wipers don't work so well as my car is a little bit aged. I am remotely helping someone with their homework on litigation (something I know nothing about) and all I can think about are my books I ordered this past week. I checked their shipping progress with Fed Ex and they are here in Philly "ON A TRUCK".

My god what is wrong with them, don't they know I have valuables in there. My thoughts wander: will they be ok in these snowy conditions, will the temperature change the conditions of the books; sure they will all say 9.8 but will they be 9.8. Then I think well maybe they park the truck inside. OK I know they don't but it makes me feel better. The logical calming thought is they are still in the climate control warehouse waiting to be put on the truck and I am happy with that (even though that's not true either).

I spent a pretty good amount on the eleven books I ordered (by the way the total was more than my car, before shipping). I give myself an average price I am willing to spend and I spent under that budget, now I just need to budget how many I actually buy. I almost purchased a DD#7 in an 8.0 and I wonder if passing on this was a good idea or not. I bought a Sub Mariner #1 unslabbed months ago and it is not in the condition I wanted but it was the price I was willing to pay for the condition it is in. How much would I spent if it was in a higher grade I don't know.

I feel safe ordering a book graded by CGC because I know that everyone else will accept it ( I don't feel safe that they are freezing in a truck). I felt safe at the first comic shop I ever bought comics from because they earned my trust I had no problem spending four dollars on a Frank Miller Daredevil issue. Other places I'll see a comic book for $5 which guides at $3 and can not fathom how they got that price. Then again I spent $200 for a New Mutants 87 in 9.8. Which is another reason I like to keep my average at $45. it helps when I spend that extra money, by the way the DD# 7 was listed at $525. So then it begins (and when I say "it" I mean my thoughts) how much is too much?

The market of course is supply and demand, a higher grade is wanted more but I question my sanity when I notice a 9.8 sell for $80 and a 9.6 sells for $14 (not including shipping and handling). Are those extra fractions of a point really worth it. If you are a collector, let's face it, yes they are. If you are budget conscious, they are not, but what if your both?

Bagofleas ( the third time I mentioned him in my journals, can you tell I am envious? Yes envious and not jealous) has a New Mutants #1 graded as a 10. A perfect Gem, I still cannot fathom how he must feel about it, here I am happy because I have it in a 9.8, which seems to be a lot more readily available then I first thought, but that's alright, it's mine. How much would i spend for something like that? Once again how much is to much, a car payment or mortgage maybe? Fortunately I have my priorities straight, bills first, comics second, and food shopping third.

All that said, the snow outside is still coming down and the Fed Ex truck is being nicely insulated inside a climate control warehouse waiting to make the trek out to my house on Monday. I await eagerly to open the box and gawk at my new acquisitions partly for the knowledge that they are indeed mine and secondly to share them all here for others that might be envious of my collection.

Thanks for reading

Tnerb

PS. They are safe right?