#I'm going to be in Japan the day the book goes on sale

[riaaanna]

Some PSA and vent about the Sotheby's auction and it's technicalities... longgg post.

(This post is written with about 3 hours to the online Sotheby's auction.)

1) Item/catalogue availability.

If you're aware there are 3 live in-person auctions and 3 online auctions. Online auctions start today (11 Aug) at noon BST so in just about 3 hours ish. They are the "In Love with Japan", "Crazy Little Thing 1", and "Crazy Little Thing 2".

Now, someone on FB last week asked the Sotheby's staff whether the items that are sold in online auction will still be available on the exhibition, which runs 4 Aug - 5 Sept. The staff said that items in the online auction will be removed as soon as they're sold online. So to get to see everything irl, you'll have to be there before the online auctions (which is 11 Aug instead of 4 Aug which I think was the initial date? Iirc anyway).

(I booked a ticket to London for the 11th thanks to this so typing all this rant from the train 💀)

However, someone else asked another staff the same question, and they said everything will be available until 5 Sept regardless. I asked a staff myself yesterday and they gave me that same answer.

It made more sense actually. Removing and rearranging the exhibition every time something sells online is impractical. Besides, I'm not sure how the online auction goes: eBay style (known time limit to bid) or a live but virtual style (because the website does say lots will close at 1 minute intervals).

Afterwards, someone on the forum said that they asked the staff about the online catalogue availability. They said the catalogue will be removed after the sale due to copyright laws.

Thennn I thought. What if what's going to happen is that the online catalogue is going to be removed after each object is sold - starting from the ones in the online auctions? That makes so much more sense and is much more plausible.

All of this occured to me at half midnight. My train to London is at 07:30 AM. Cue waking up at 5 AM desperately mass downloading the HQs from the three online auctions before I catch my train because the sale will start at noon. 💀

So if you're scrolling through this on this lovely, tropical Friday morning, and you have an interest in saving HQs yourself - do it nowww. Honestly I might be wrong in interpreting all this but I'd rather be stupidly wrong than losing the online catalogue this early.

I managed to save all the pictures clothes, shoes, accessories in like 40 mins and I hope I didn't miss any. I cba with them discs, the pdfs should be enough. And speaking of pdf...

2) The book is not the catalogue.

To my observation this is somewhat common knowledge so far but in case it isn't - the £50 Sotheby's book is not equal to the whole catalogue. It's a beautiful book with lovely descriptions and images of higlighted items, you can watch a flip-through here. But it doesn't have every single thing on the website on there.

So if you want a nice gift for yourself then yes it's worth buying (maybe). If you're just archiving, getting it off the website I think is enough. But I'll give it a look myself when I get there and see what it's worth.

You can save the catalogue in PDF by clicking the print button on the website (not ctrl+P). Select all lots and tick all the boxes especially "alternate images". When the print window opens select the A5 paper size. I find that one works best without cropping any of the images. But these are not HQ images by any means, that one still requires some actual work hhh.

You'll also notice there are gaps in the lot numbers because they're not all out yet. Some of them are already in the Sotheby's book iirc, but as actual lots in the online catalogue, the staff said they'll be coming up over the next few days - presumably when the online auction starts, so they'll always have something up for sale. So if you're a completionist you can check every now and then to save them as they come.

3) The actual auction

That sounds like I'm actually gonna bid but no I just wanna be there to boo the bidders...

Jokes aside, I asked and they will be streaming the auction on Sotheby's website, but you need to sign up for an account first (it's free).

But also I am planning to actually go but as a non-bidder and if anyone wants to come with and hold me back from rioting in there hmu so we can get tickets together 🙏

That was so long and for you experienced ones all of these info are probably redundant but I just needed to vent because I'm not ready to actually go see these things like what if I break down but also I am in the train I cannot escape please send good vibes ❤!

[firespirited]

Got screwed by LaPoste again. Flatmate woke me up to pay €11: more than the cost of the item with postage: I'd already paid import taxes, it was tracked so they could have emailed me for the €3 custom fee, it had a CN22 that said both these things but it was folded inwards so their shoddy machines didn't scan it.

A few years ago this would have ruined half my day. But I've been doing whatever therapy technique it is to take your strong emotions and break it down into every single component and examine every facet until it's something you understand, can accept and form solutions

Here's a little peek at what comes out after lots of uncomfortable moments of digging down:

ANGER because this is ethically wrong and entirely avoidable:

If they'd bothered to open the CN22, i wouldn't have to pay. As is I was presented with losing the item and reorder (with wait time) or hand over the money. Their corner cutting on personnel led to this.

Customs fee was actually €3. The extra €8 is a handling fee for laposte. If your parcel has tracking, customs contact you by email and you pay online. I did it last week for the Japan parcel. I was not sent an email for this.

None of that €8 handling fee goes to the postie who has an extra five minutes to make up for. I wouldn't mind if it was a tip, we cash-tip regularly for difficult deliveries.

There's no receipt and most people pay in cash so an unscrupulous postie could ask for whatever whenever. Half of my spam is claims from various delivery companies claiming my parcels are held up and need money, they opened a terrible can of worms

Laposte is not great at what they do and have not operated as a public service for a long time now with massive inflation on the cost of sending stuff. A postcard stamp (in country!) will set you back $1.6

RESENTMENT because I was extremely strict about hobby money.

A €11 loss would have meant two yarn or partial reroots to make up for it. Possibly selling one of my personal collection. At least four hours of work.

Every single supply and unexpected expense like parcel loss or extra fees came from the hobby fund which would be in the red if it wasn't a current sales moment. (My first rotary tool was bought with hobby money even though it had non doll purposes for example.)

I knew at the time that it was unhealthy thinking but hadn't found an alternative or ways to mentally unblock.

IMPOTENCE:

recourse is nearly impossible the post office system is designed that way: no receipt and they can claim bad formatting of the CN22 masked the barcode. It's always something. They sent my australia parcel to austria, billed me, i opened a case and checked in every month and nothing.

poverty mindset: if you've ever felt the sting of removing an item from the conveyor belt to afford the total, you know that someone else's small change is something big and important and painful. Even once you have some money it doesn't go away: donating to others is easy, being cheated by a system is awful.

Solutions:

As much as possible, I don't use LaPoste and their extortionate prices for sending to France and the EU. My two posties get regular tips and cash gifts at Christmas but I don't use the post office unless I absolutely have to. Mondialrelay or Point to Point get my money whenever possible. That feels good and makes losses feel less bad.

I treat unexpected expenses like a lost parcel, disgruntled client or new fees as a tip to myself. I put in the work, did everything I could and something out of my control happened. The expense is marked down but cancelled out from my personal kitty. I have been inconvenienced: I'm not going to let it hurt or work it off.

Hobby supplies that are multipurpose are a third category. I was putting glues, chemicals, thread and needles under expenses when I use them for all sorts of repairs.

More importantly: the hobby money spreadsheet became a guideline not a business expenditure book.

Since about 2019 I've also been trying to integrate the idea of the joy of the hobby having its own cost and reward built in:

If i make no money back from a €30 gunky bundle of dolls, there was still €30 worth of enjoyment in fixing them up. The experience of practising even if it comes out all wrong is also valuable. And you often get a tutorial out of it 😁 (see my "mistakes I make so you don't have to" tag)

There was a time before handicap benefits where every cent counted but even then we all managed to make tough choices so we could save small amounts of 'cushion' money - We'd all learned to be so cautious that the cushions went mostly untouched until benefits hit and something unlocked despite still being under the poverty line: the cushion had gone from €30 (100 if we had a good series of months) to €300 emergency funds and no medical expenses were paid out of pocket (as opposed to upfront with a potential refund later) and that made all the difference.

But also a big change was the mindset:

Normal people's unwinding experiences often aren't free even if it's just eating your own snacks at a local bit of grass.

Really throwing out the idea that hobbies should be monetized (that part was hard to unlearn, not just because it was so prevalent but because of shame at not "having a job"- i know now that my full-time job is to keep this body alive and I get maybe 3 hours max to not be about surviving)

Even in poverty you deserve treats because those make priceless memories. Hobby time is valuable because it's what's makes us human not just productivity/survival machines.

-----------------------

Anyway I've also been trying to apply this to my rejection sensitive dysphoria, knowing I'm going to lose Lily soon, frustration with how slow core muscle rebuilding is taking, as well as the very real fear of alienating my sister by accident or just clashing needs (NGL I spiralled most of the day when we had the odd confrontation last week).

but I'd rather break down something less personal in public. ^^;

Here's hoping this little thing that would drive me batty from feeling powerless, which now doesn't sting as much helps someone

[takerfoxx]

I am about to become insufferable.

I am going to be THAT Guy. I'm going full Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons with this. I am winding back the clock on my years of maturity as a wrestling fan to become the most irritatingly whiny, self-centered dude that I can. This is my wholly unimportant, first world problem that I am going to be the absolute worst bitch about. I am overflowing with salt and spite and it needs an outlet.

Yes, this is a rant about Mox going over Naito.

I hate this. Hate it, hate it, hate it, HATE IT. I haven't been this angry about a wrestling decision in probably ever. And I like Mox! I'm a fan! But this has gotten me so angry that I am fully prepared to go full Jim Cornette with Mox slander.

I've heard people rationalize this. People talk about international markets, storytelling, what's best for business, on and on and on. Maybe they're right. Maybe, in a big picture perspective, putting the belt on Mox might be the right call. Maybe it will backfire. I don't know.

And I don't care. I'm not a booker. I'm not a promoter. Ticket sales, market value, all that stuff might mean something to the company, but none of that goes into my pocket. And right now, I don't care about the big picture.

What I am is a wrestling fan. I like to go to wrestling shows, suspend my disbelief, and cheer the guys I like and boo the guys that I don't. I want my favorites to win, because sometimes, being a mark is fun. All this behind the curtain stuff doesn't matter to me right now. I fully intend to be 100% selfish here.

Naito is my favorite wrestler. He got me back into wrestling back when I was growing disillusioned with the whole business back in 2016. I became a New Japan fan specifically because of him.

And I made my peace that his career is winding down, that this was probably his last run on the top. So when it was announced that the World Heavyweight title would be defended at Resurgence, which I had already gotten ringside tickets for, I was so excited, because I would get to see my favorite defend the biggest title during his last run. I started counting down the days, certain that this was a sure thing, because the title NEVER changes hands on foreign shows. Defended, yes, but never changes hands. Surely the Mox match was just another defense, and I would get to see my boy as champion.

Well, now I don't get to. This was my one and only shot to get to see Naito in a major main event match defending the big title, and it's gone, because this just had to be the one single time that they switch the belt on a Strong show. I'll never have that chance again.

Yeah, I know I'm being whiny here. I know people are tired of the bitching. But I really, really wanted this, and now it's gone.

[mamabearwonders]

My Depop Shop ~ A New Chapter ~ Shop of Your Dreams

So I have depression dips and I lost a close friend of mine👼that was super supportive of my depop business and I lost my passion for it. But now it's starting to come back. I still feel him with me and I miss going to the thrift store. I'm cleaning out stale inventory, putting the mega goodies up for sale and then planning on going back soon to my second home. Don't worry, that shop is the last discounted stop before it goes into the landfill.

Picture this. You get a package in the mail. It's like Christmas day🎄right? Well now what if you feel like you are a valued customer? What if you feel like that shop you purchased from was so happy that you chose them that they made you feel like you could come back anytime? That's how I want people to feel.

Your package has arrived! Check it out!📦

The Mailer💌 ~ Cute chibi dinosaurs, unicorns, cartoon cacti, black cats and moons or vintage Sanrio cartoons . Like sure we all get excited about packages, but I feel like a bigger smile would come out of somebody looking at like fun little cartoon animals instead of like a cardboard box. Safe bet. Hey I'm not judging people that like a classic cardboard box.

Bookmarks🔖~ Free with every book purchase! My previous ones whales and astronauts zooming in constellations. I used to be an avid reader and I was always losing bookmarks so that would be a nice happy little surprise. I was always using stuff that isn't bookmarks as my bookmarks.

Supporting Other Small Businesses🏩~ I purchase most of my supplies on Etsy. Most if not all of them are small businesses all over the world! I love tracking where my orders are. It's fun.

Washi Tape🍄~ It's cartoon reusable tape. I have two: a fox playing with mushrooms with an orange background and angel girls playing with golden hoops. So you can reuse it. I use it to help seal packages.

Stickers🌈~ I would include them or use them on stationary. Sometimes Sanrio characters. I like to buy mixed lots of stickers from Japan. It adds some extra joy.

Stationary📜~ I like to buy little post-it note size pads of paper from Japan with cartoon characters. I would write a little pick me up or/and a personal thank you.

Haters🚫~ Other folks within the reselling community can be brutal. They said it's a waste of time. I don't think it is. Anything that brings you joy is not a waste of time. It helps lift my spirits and I think it helps lift other people's spirits. I think most of us are dealing with a lot and I just like to make that a little bit easier and if I can do that through a package I'm happy with that. I used to do packages this way and my dad would ship them out at the post office, but I lost my passion for it. But now I'm back. Yay!🥳