In case you were wondering what I meant by
this, there's a bit of a story behind that comment.
I go to a weekly flea market across the border, well, every week. There are several regulars who, like myself, go to buy stuff to resell on the internet. I've... developed a sort of relationship with these people over the years - if I spot something that's in their particular field (artwork, decorations, electronics, vinyl records, etc.), I tell them about it. Likewise if they see something in my field (video games, CDs, music, doohickies), they'll let me know.
There are also many other people who, like myself, collect music and movies. There's two in particular who I'm very fond of: One's a middle aged gentleman from a city up North who introduced me to various new genres. Another is a middle-aged African American woman from the Los Angeles area who shares a passion for Jazz and uh... Black? music from the 50s to the 70s. (Though she bought a vinyl LP with Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson last week, which weirded me the hell out. The guy sings? WTF.)
Anyway. Over the past five to six months I've noticed someone new pop up once in a while at the booth where I get most of my music and DVDs: A girl, probably around 16/17 years old, who goes to look for stuff along with who I assume are her parents. She usually starts digging through the same boxes I do and asks me if I'd see music similar to the stuff she picks up, since she realizes I've already dug through most of the boxes when she gets there. All polite, of course.
And she surprised me because of her tastes. They are nothing what you'd expect to see in someone her age. She picks stuff in various genres and eras - who would expect a teenager this day and age to ask if there's albums by Elvis, Michael Jackson, The Beatles, and The Who in the same sentence? She also appears to be a big game nerd, and may be a reseller (or a trader) herself.
We were both around the booth when they brought out the box with the games I mentioned in that other post. I grabbed some games, one of them being Baten Kaitos. She said that she was interested in the game, and I said I'd been looking for it too. To be honest I wanted that game to resell it. The game was in decent condition, so I figured I could get some money out of it.
And then I realized... I probably shouldn't.
To put it bluntly, my karma is in the negative thousands, to say the least. I... did... bad things to some people in my past before I got into this hobby full-time. Several years after that I realized that I would never be able to set that stuff right, so I should try to help out others when they need my help. Be kind. Not be a dick. That sort of thing. (This is also why I feel bothered when someone gives me something for free or cheap. I don't feel like I deserve it when people are nice to me.)
So I told her, "Here. Take it. I'll probably not get to it anytime soon." By then she'd already grabbed six or seven titles from the box. I only kept StarFox because
I really did want that game for myself. She said thanks. I paid for my game and left.
That's one down. I still have like a million to go.
