Yesterday, I said:

I found nine hardback copies of The Happiest Days of Our Lives that I must have put there when they first arrived at my house a couple of years ago. They look as perfect as they did the day they were taken out of the box.

So I have this idea to sell them, that goes like this:

I will number these books 1-9, and sign them to whomever the buyer wants, with a dedication of my choosing. I will ship the book USPS Priority mail no later than Monday, which should ensure that it arrives before Christmas, in case that's important to you.

I'll do this for $50 a book, which will include shipping and handling.

I only have 9 of these, but I'm not sure anyone is interested in this, so before I go and set up the ordering and payment information, I need to know if anyone reading this is actually interested.

This would be a first come, first served sort of thing, sold to the first 9 people who leave comments at some time tomorrow (I'll figure that out and update this post later, if it's going to happen). I can ship internationally, but the buyer would have to cover the cost of shipping, because it's damn expensive.

I wasn't sure that anyone would be interested, and I'm delighted to discover that I was wrong about that. Initially, I thought I'd make it first come, first served, but I thought that might be a bummer for anyone who can't be at their computer at, say, noon today or whatever. So I thought that it would be more fair to everyone if it was a lottery.

So here's what I'm going to do: For the next 24 hours (maybe a tiny bit longer, if I sleep late tomorrow), you can leave a comment on this post, if you're interested in buying one of these ultra-limited signed copies of The Happiest Days Of Our Lives. 

Tomorrow, I'll roll dice (you know, like we gaming geeks do) to pick nine people who, uh, get a Golden Ticket, I guess.

I'll contact those people by e-mail, to let them know that they can buy one of these books. When those people respond, I'll get details and give payment instructions.

A couple important notes:

I'm only set up to take payment from PayPal, so if you hate PayPal (and I'm right there with you), don't bother with this.

Please ensure that you have an e-mail address attached to your identity here, so I can find you if you're one of the 9. Do not leave your e-mail address in your comment, because spammerbots will grab it and make your life miserable.

I will ship internationally, but the buyer will be responsible for shipping (express shipping to countries outside of the US can be very expensive, so find out how much that's going to cost ahead of time, so you don't get any unpleasant surprises.)

Please, please, please, don't use multiple accounts to enter this more than once. I can't stop you, but that would be really unfair to other people.

These books will be numbered "2010 Holiday Super Funtimes 1-9".

Yay!

Updated: Wow, 419 entries! That's awesome. I'll roll dice and notify the nine by Monday. (It's a very busy weekend here in Wheatonland).

I've been cleaning out my office, organizing comic books and games, and slowly crawling through a decade's accumulation of geek stuff.

It. Has. Been. AWESOME.

Last night, I went into the depths of the hallway closet, and behind a bunch of CDs and DVDs, I found nine hardback copies of The Happiest Days of Our Lives that I must have put there when they first arrived at my house a couple of years ago. They look as perfect as they did the day they were taken out of the box.

So I have this idea to sell them, that goes like this:

I will number these books 1-9, and sign them to whomever the buyer wants, with a dedication of my choosing. I will ship the book USPS Priority mail no later than Monday, which should ensure that it arrives before Christmas, in case that's important to you.

I'll do this for $50 a book, which will include shipping and handling.

I only have 9 of these, but I'm not sure anyone is interested in this, so before I go and set up the ordering and payment information, I need to know if anyone reading this is actually interested.

This would be a first come, first served sort of thing, sold to the first 9 people who leave comments at some time tomorrow (I'll figure that out and update this post later, if it's going to happen). I can ship internationally, but the buyer would have to cover the cost of shipping, because it's damn expensive.

So, what do you think? Interested? Let me know, or ask your questions in the comments below.

UPDATED: Okay, it looks like there are at least 9 potential buyers, so here's what I'll do: I'll put up a post later, where you can leave a comment to be entered into a lottery. I'll leave that open for 24 hours, and then roll dice to see who gets them. Maybe I'll roll them live on Ustream, if that's not to totally lame and ridiculous. I think that's fair, and gives everyone an equal chance to get in, even those who are /away from their computers.

After spending so many weeks on location, it's been more of an adjustment than usual to settle back into my normal routine here at home. For the last week or so, I've come into my office, opened up a text editor, and just stared at the blank screen and insistently blinking cursor until, frustrated, I give up trying to find something worth writing about and just go read Reddit instead.

I don't think it's the end of the world that I haven't been able to motivate myself to write more than a few words at a time, and I've come to sort of grudgingly accept that, after months of creative output, it's very likely that my brain just wants to recharge its HP and MP. Since I can't force inspiration, I've gone back to the most comfortable and inspiring constant in my life: comic books and RPGs. I've been on a real superhero kick, plowing through 52 (which I wasn't interested in at the time it came out, but have enjoyed tremendously; I'm up to week 18, so far), a re-read of 1602, and a Marvel TPB called The Heroic Age. I picked up Joss' Astonishing X-Men, and I have Brubaker's Captain America Omnibus on my desk, too. I guess, after 20+ years of reading everything but superheroes, I'm making up for lost time.

I've also been playing Fallout 3 New Vegas a little bit every evening. It's taken me 17 hours to feel like I'm really doing anything, but I've enjoyed every moment of it, so far. I would like to point out that, though the Powder Gangers and Legion really hate me, I've only blasted their faces off in self defense. Thank you.

I haven't been able to get my gaming group together since … well, shit, it's been so long I can't remember. I think it was March or April. Wow. I have all these RPG books on my shelves in my office, and nobody to play them with at the moment … just like when I was a young geek, carrying around my red box set and a folder full of characters, just in case.

It feels good to be home, even though it's sort of like putting on a pair of pants I haven't worn in a few months. I'm hopeful that, by taking time to relax and consume things, I will be able to get excited and make things sooner than later.