busker

No dearth of sales, man!

It's ridiculous: three shelves of my linen cupboard stacked with nothing but banished CDs, each played once only before being stored upright. Not even the jewel cases are marked.

History of my last three years' CD purchasing.

• Order CD.
• CD arrives
• Play CD on PC
• Rip CD to hard drive
• Replace CD in jewel case
• Place CD in linen cupboard, next to all the other played-once purchases

• Grab eight CDs at random to test the waters:
  • a Bruce Hornsby radio hits or something
  • That Krall crooner in Paris - don't think I even got thru the first track. Not my kind of soppy muzak; no idea why I even ordered it.
  • Tom Waits Swordfish. Again, didn't make it to the end track. Bought it to be cool with the homies; soon as their backs turned, into the linen hoosegow cupboard. His " voice" ....
  • Some fado check - Mariza something? No thank you.
  • Charlie Hayden's Land of the Sun - still in its cellophane wrapper. Stunning album that I bought the day it came out. This was an Xmas prezzie from a pal with superb taste - just a little late.
  • Al Jarreau - still in wrapper. No idea where this came from but I am not a Jarreau fan
  • A ghastly guitar album by some flapper called Joyce Collings or Cooling or something. From her pic, wouldn't at all mind getting mamzel alone in a stalled elevator; trouble is, it would probably be her guitar sound that would be pumped thru during our tête-à-tête.
  • Yo Yo Ma's Silk Journey album: I'm a philistine for not liking it but he's gathered just too many weirdo sounds for my tastes or endurance. (Come to think of it, I should have given it to La Sociale Expectazione - just her thing and she could have listened to its wistful sounds as she gazed across the Hudson from her Hoboken eyrie.)
• 1545 hrs: Finish submitting sales details for all 8 CDs. Interesting to see the wide range of prices for CDs of identical condition: New, VG condition; Good but used. I'm a careful CD owner, none of mine is in bad shape. I pitch all my prices at the high end. I can always come down if no takers.
• 1600 hrs make tea. 1615 hrs: Inbox beeps and it's an order from York, PA for the Hornsby CD.
• Continue to drink tea.
• 1627 hrs: Order for the Tom Waits
• 1640 hrs: Order for Diana Krall
• 1650 hrs: Finish tea, print out packing slip details, address labels and stick on jiffy bags (of which I have a goodly supply, thanks to pathetic need to burn favorite CDs for favorite ladies in desperate last ditch bid to coax a smile or a sweet nuthin' from their lips. At least I'm now getting some return on a few of the jiffies.
• 1700 hrs drive to central Bainbridge post office opposite Thriftway
• 1705 hrs: ridiculously long queue considering it closes at 1730 hrs. Why don't they just shove off home and turn up early next morning? I am the only person under 60 and the only one without some infuriatingly complicated requirement (which, incidentally, seems to baffle the only two staff on duty.
• 1720 hrs: am at last served - $1.52 stamp for 1st class mailing, for which Amazon is automatically crediting me $1.84, so I am winning down the line.
• 1725 hrs: consign the three orders to the mail and purchase a further $15.20's worth of stamps so that I can complete this operation at home and avoid all this last-minute geriatric faffing.
• 1740 hrs: treat self to large vanilla latte at Métrion.
• 1755 hrs: Home and decide to check any email from mother in Greece or brother still lazing around in the Philippines. Nothing from family; just an order for the Al Jarreau.
• 1815 hrs: Pack and stamp the Jarreau and place on table for placing in mailbox later tonight to catch 10am mail Thurs morning
• 2015 hrs: Perform serious sift through rest of CDs for anything remotely not carrying its weight.