An old guy showed up today in his gold Honda Accord from the ’80′s hoping to sell me a box of records, a coffee maker, a toaster or a slide projector.
“i dont have no rock n roll,” he tells me. Christmas albums, Montovani, 101 Strings, the same lp’s you find leftover in every record bin.
Still, having people arrive with a car of goodies is fun. It’s been a stressful time for me at the shop.
Oggy wrote me some encouraging words:
I wish you success in your business. Are you renting booth space at Mixed Nuts? I went to an antique mall/flea market and realized there are more people who will pay to let you not sell their trinkets than there are people who will actually buy your trinkets. And then you are making money doing nothing.
Oggy makes a good point. I’d mentioned to him if I couldn’t make rent I was going to turn the place into a metal detecting shop for the beach combers since we’re only 15 blocks from the beach. He replied:
Treasure hunting is definitely an under-served market. I’d like to tape a documentary of a treasure hunter looking for specific treasure. If you hear of a fanatic who has some insane inclination then I’ll get my crew together. I’m wandering the midwest and looking for work. I’d like to save enough money to retire in Mexico. S.F. might be on the route but unless there is a job offer on the table then I can’t afford the gas to cross the mountains. Missouri was the site of many Indian/pioneer battles and now it is home to frozen custard and the widest asses in America wheeling themselves through Target buying slave products from Vietnam and Golden Corral buffet for more asian stye spare ribs. I do not know if this is progress. I am disillusioned with the disparity between false advertised white tooth America and the slobbering transvaginal mesh class action lawsuit country that we really live in. But that will not stop me from writing my homeless manifesto –
live boldly as the bold live forever
With that this wandering legend signed off. It’s friends like this that remind me it doesn’t matter if this shop fails. If the effort I put into it is insane, it will be fun. It’s not that the shop looks good, but that I’m putting all I have into it.