Hello. My name’s Drew, and I’m an addict…

“HI, DREW!!!!!!!’


No, I’m not a drunk. I’m not on smack, crack, heroin or anything else that I’d need to snort, inject or smoke. I’m hooked on something much, much more sinister….

I didn’t even see this one coming. Really, I didn’t. It started innocently enough, when I bought my Dreamcast off Ebay a few months back. I got a good deal on the system, and it came with some games, an extra controller and whatnot. A good package, but it didn’t have everything I wanted.

So I went back on Ebay.

I thought I was being smart about it. I’d arranged to have stuff sent to a friend of mine back in Washington. He’d get it all at his place, then send it all on to me. Great way to save on mailing costs, since a lot of Ebay sellers have a tendency to be total rapists when it comes to international shipping prices.

I got a few games sent to his place, and had myself set up with a decent assortment of stuff. That binge filled out my Dreamcast collection nicely, and I got all the games on my “must have” list. A job well done, right?

Almost too well done.It was so easy! I got the stuff I wanted, at prices I was willing to pay. What could be wrong with that? Well, to a geek, games (and other geeky things) are like Lay’s potato chips – you can’t have just one. And there was that Gamecube I bought last November. I don’t use it that much….mostly because I’m not really into the games I got with it….but I have been playing more of them recently….and there are some newer ones I’d like to play….and some older ones too….

You see where this is going?

About 3 weeks ago I started shopping for Gamecube games. Same deal as before – get them sent to my friend’s place and he’ll forward them on to me. It went smoothly, as before. I got some stuff I wanted at fair (or sometimes even great) prices. Then I fell into the trap.

Just one more.

He was still waiting for a few items to arrive, and hadn’t sent anything off yet, so how much could it hurt to add one more game to the stack?

Plenty.

I’ve now got a sizable collection of games waiting to be sent to me. Not that that’s bad, mind you. They’ll keep me entertained for a hell of a long while. That’s okay. But I know I totally overspent myself. I didn’t buy anything crappy (well, except for BMX XXX, but it was only $5.77 shipped, and my curiosity is worth that much), and got great deals on a lot of the things I did buy.

Hey! Was that a rationalization?

Hell yes it was. I believe I’ve mentioned my self-delusional skills before. They worked a tad too well these past few weeks. It was always “just one more” or “heck, I’ll never see that game that cheaply again” or something else that sounded good at the time. This is why I don’t have credit cards anymore.

So how’s this binge been financed then?

Easy. I use a debit card. I’m very careful about how much money I send back to my US account. I can’t spend what I don’t have, so I don’t send back much. My real savings are in my Korean account, where they go largely untouched. Except for when I buy food, clothes and motorcycles – you know, the necessities.

^.^

And is this something that’s going to continue?

Not immediately, no. I can’t say it’ll never happen again, but this binge is at an end. Really, it is. Stop shaking your head.

I can quit anytime I want!

ahem…Actually, the end of the binge it what causes the binge to end. With new games in hand – or, more accurately, in Gamecube – I don’t have time for Ebay. My nerves are happy (I get serious adrenaline rushes when auctions end if there’s active bidding and sniping going on), my debit card’s happy and my geek urge is very happy.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, there’s a princess in need of rescuing.

^.^