Getting extra hand action

I did it. I bought the 1974 Ponch C.H.I.P.S. Eric Estrada action figure doll. He’s naked and has black hands. Kinda weird, but he’s still cool. I also put a bid on a menagerie of dolls from the 70s and 80s (including doll heads and arms – even Cheryl Tiegs' head!). The German is worried I’m going to turn into an Ebay addict. Luckily, there is an online quiz to see if you’re addicted to online auctions. Here’s a sampling of questions:

1. Have you made repeated unsuccessful efforts to control, cut back, or stop online bidding?
2. Do you use auction houses as a way of escaping from problems or relieve feelings of helplessness, guilt, anxiety, or depression?
3. Have you jeopardized or lost a significant relationship, job, or educational or career opportunity because of online bidding?
4. Have you committed illegal acts such as forgery, fraud, theft, or embezzlement to finance online activities?

All I have to do is review the quiz and if I answer "yes" to any of the above questions, then it says I may be addicted to online auction houses. It also says these are signs that I may have lost control, lied, or possibly stole money just to support my bidding behavior. They do offer online counseling or I can purchase (online) an array of books or tapes on Internet addiction. Phew! At least there’s help if it gets out of control.

T-day was very nice. I was a bit worried about getting it all together food wise, but it turned out pretty good. R, M, and the Ps came over. Then we all headed over to S&Ms for dessert. That’s when my mother blew it and told people about my glass animal collection and those weird little shellacked mud dolls my aunt bought for me when I was a tot. I don’t know why grandmothers or aunts think it’s important for one to have a collection of something. And why would you get any kid a collection of glass animals? You can’t play with them. But collectables like this aren’t supposed to be played with and that just seems strange. Why collect something you can only look at and not touch? But here I am regressing into my childhood with a collection of male celebrity (and some female) dolls from the 70s and 80s. The difference is that I’m going to play with my dolls - blow ups and all.

Friday we went bowling, and man that was megablast fun! I completely and totally sucked, and the German wasn’t much better, but it was a good time. The last time I went bowling was at least 20 years ago at the Waveland Bowl in Chicago with Tim and Natasha. That’s a whole other story in itself. Anyway, I bowled 36 for my first game and 66 for the second! I totally improved in the second round!!! The German did a tad better, but his alley lane “run” looked more like sneaking up to kill some small burrowed animal (as Fred mentioned). All in all, the other peeps were much better bowlers, but we all had a good time (plus they played rap music over the loud speaker – AWESOME! And there were a lot of "cool" local teenagers hanging out there. Plus plus, there was cheap beer and smoking. DOUBLE AWESOME!!).

Then we headed over to Clark Place to listen to the "Alex Wilson Blues Band" from Milwaukee. It's a band of three brothers. All in all, they seemed pretty good to me, but there was some strange affectation going on when they were playing (you know that weirdo guitar face that looks so faked out sometimes?). The worst, however, was when the base player and the "regular guitar player" (I don't know what this person is called) did this sexual 69 position guitar kung-fu sound off. Totally weird and inappropriate. Luckily, it didn't last long. Then we all danced, and of course Fred and Ginger were showing off their talented dancing skills, so the rest of us had to get up there and douzy-do (sp?) with green Christmas tree peeps (supplied by J) in our mouths puffing out the marshmallow goodness to show that we, too, could get our groove on - even to blues music with a crowd of 15. It was a good time.

Are you an online auction addict? If you think you may suffer from this terrible disease, take the above quiz and I’ll send you the link to purchase those helpful books and tapes about online addiction.