Over the past few months, there have been occasions where I've said to myself, 'Oh, that would be an interesting thing to put in a blog post', but I didn't do it, because I'd also decided to go with a new blog, with a new name that I prefer to the last one, and it all seemed like a lot of effort. But here it is at last, and over the next few days I'll try to think of some of the wildly exciting events that have happened in my life since I stopped blogging in June. I wouldn't go getting too enthusiastic though, best to just take them as they come.
The latest development is that I decided the other day that it was high time that I cleared most of the junk from my room, as my cupboards were crammed with junk which I felt that I couldn't chuck out, but had no worth. For example the two old grey Sony Playstation consoles that I have stuck in the back of one cupboard. You might wonder why I own two Sony Playstations. Well, actually, I have three, but one is connected to an old television downstairs and still works - I played quite a lot Grand Theft Auto and GTA2 when I was laid up with my leg. I imagine you're even more confused by the fact that I possess three of the things. But of course there's a perfectly good reason for it. Kind of.
A friend in boarding school started running a tuck shop in the dorms when we were in our fifth year (about 17-18). Basically he'd go from dorm to dorm in the evening with crates of cans and boxes of Mars bars and the like, selling them in order to earn a bit of extra money. This was an enterprise usually undertaken by a fifth or sixth year, as younger entrepreneurs were likely to get jumped in the corridor, or pushed out by the older ones who didn't like the competition. Occasionally I'd accompany him on his rounds, and one night one of the first years asked me to lend him a Euro. I had no intention of giving him anything, but I told him I would at 100% interest, which he could pay me the following week. To my surprise, he agreed, so I gave him his money, and sure enough, after the weekend I got my €2 back. Midway through the following week he asked me for more money, under the same conditions, and some of the other first years were keen to get in on it as well. I bought myself a little notebook and became more organised, and dropped my rates to 50% once they borrowed over €10, and I'd collect on Sundays when we arrived back after the weekend. It got to the stage where I'd arrive on Sunday, relieve them of all their money, and then lend them more at my extortionate rates for the rest of the week. Some second years also started borrowing as well. To be honest, it only lasted about three weeks, as some day pupils started borrowing, and weren't paying me back fully (my interfering girlfriend at the time contributed largely to that) and I started to feel things were getting a bit hot in the business anyway as too many people knew and it was only a matter of time before parents started asking why their kids needed €25 for the week (I capped it at that). I also didn't have what it took to go around breaking people's legs. So in the end I came out with a net profit of about €60-70. Not bad.
It just so happened that at the same time as I was shutting up shop, one of the first years - the one who had asked me for money in the first place, and subsequently became my best customer - was selling two Playstations complete with controllers and a few games, and wanted €60 for them. I figured that despite the fact that the Playstation 2 had already long since come out I could probably still flog them for more than thirty each. I did nothing with them and eight or so years on, having examined Ebay, I think I may have been mistaken. There is somebody asking for €40 for one with a large selection of games...but one of them is Time Crisis and I remember that being really good. I don't think he's selling it with the gun, though, so not such a good deal. I'll watch it to see how it does, though...
