Kerinthian's

The other morning I did a peculiar thing. I sat up in my sleep and thought about sleep walking before finally deciding against it and throwing myself back down into bed. Only, my subconscious forgot to include my pillow in the whole procedure and thought it best to send my forehead crashing into the corner of my bedside drawers instead. I woke up, needless to say, very suddenly muffling an expletive or two as they tried to escape the prison bars of my mouth which usually keeps the cursing under lock and key. I was sure I had just taken part in the creation of my very first black eye but thankfully my superhuman epidermis spared me the need for foundation cream. So I'm left to wonder what was going on deep in the empty caverns of my head that caused my violent wake up call? Was it simply that I hated my pillow enough to prove the point by trying to knock myself out while I was already knocked out to begin with? Or does it prove that in my natural state I am so lazy that even in m...

Oh look there's the finish line, just over there in the near future where a hundred bucks is waiting for me! I wonder if I should start taking bets for how many more weeks this is going to take? The idealist in me says one more week but then my internal realist is making sure that the idealist keeps his seat belt on! Anyone want to place a bet? Though, as far as this task is concerned, the past week has been a very productive one. I sold: Clavell's King Rat for $3 Feist's Murder in LaMut for $3 The Secret Garden for $6 Dune for $6 Thus injecting a further $18 into the exciting process! Keeping with my system I relisted the 34 unsold books and rummaged through some more dusty op-shop book shelves for eight more bargains to sell, spending a total of $5.50 for new stock which I quickly added to my listings at the cost of $2.40... Bringing my stock up to 42 items! So with a bit of fanfare I'd like to announce to the world that after subtracting success fe...

It’s all downhill from here. Last week I broke through the half way mark. It may have taken me 11 weeks but I definitely feel the pace picking up as I hurtle towards my target. That is, if “hurtling” means the same as “there’s still a few weeks to go yet…” In the week just gone by I sold the following books: Clan of the Cave Bear for $6 2061 Odyssey Three for $6 After subtracting Trademe’s success fees, and the money spent on replacing the books I sold, I am left with $56.16… like I said, it really is a downward slope from here on in, with only $43.84 until my eagle has landed! As usual I quickly relisted the 34 books that remained from last week’s listings and purchased 4 books to replace the two that I sold at the cost of only $3, boosting my stock to 38 books. If you would like to view my listings just click on the link below. Most of my friends and family have no idea that I am writing this blog and most of them would consider me the proverbial prophet without honor, ...

Last week I sold The Diamond Hunters by the ever popular Wilbur Smith on Trademe.co.nz for $3.50, taking my total balance up to $50.76, which means… I AM NOW OVER HALF WAY TO MY GOAL!!! Imagine that a hundred balloons and a hurricane of streamers suddenly appeared out of nowhere and flooded the room with triumphant colour accompanied by a cacophony of insane trumpets. So what if I’ve been doing this for exactly 11 weeks! I am now $30 richer than when I began, it’s taken me very little personal effort and I have actually been enjoying myself, hoorah! If you are new to this series then you can be forgiven for not knowing what I am talking about, but let me break it down for you. 11 weeks ago I began with only $20 and set myself the challenge, here in the public forum, of turning that $20 into $100 by using Trademe.co.nz, the New Zealand equivalent to eBay. Using my love and knowledge of books I scoured opportunity shops for titles that I recognized as potential sellers and pu...

Success needs no introduction, no matter how small it is. Some people’s successfulness shines like the eyeball splitting brilliance of Sol, the fancy not often used name of the Sun. Other people are more lunar in their triumphs, glowing in the night while we marvel at their hoity beams. I however, am more like the red dot of a laser pointer, darting about your living room floor tempting the cat to madness as it chases what it cannot catch. Allow me to point that dot at this week’s microscopic victory… This week I successfully fobbed off two books: 2001 A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke for $4.50 and Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte for $3 Thus making me the grandiose amount of $7.50, enough to buy a bottle of milk and a cheap packet of cookies in my country. Keeping with my plan to replace every item I sell times two, I have purchased four “new” second hand books to relist at the cost of $3 this week. I found myself in a Salvation Army shop in the small town of Huntley,...

Can we skip any mention of my cat this week? I'm still recovering from the grotty thing he did to me this morning. Do you really want to know? Yes? No? Well, if you're grossed out easily don't read the next paragraph, but if you're the brave or deranged sort, and can handle nature at its most vile then read on... I was up watching Sunday morning cartoons at around 6 this morning (don't ask me why) and as I lay shivering in the seemingly arctic cold of my living room, under a thin polar fleece blanket, I become vaguely aware of the scrunching noise small paws make when shifting the crystals in the litter tray. This is Cat for, "Flushing" the toilet. Moments later Felix comes waltzing into the living room as if he's achieved a breakthrough in physical chemistry, jumping onto my cozy spot to snuggle up to me - only he hasn't wiped his furry butt and wants to share the fact with yours truly in no uncertain terms. He's an evil cat and I'm re...

I’m well into week three of my ostentatious attempt of turning $20 into a chubby $100 and Felix, my testosterone factory of a cat has that snide look on his face as he licks his furry thighs while not taking his eyes off me. Oh yeah , he’s saying to me telepathically, you’re going to fail and ain’t nobody going to take my stones away from me! I burst a vain in the side of my head trying to relay my unspoken reply through the ether between us – better clean those things while you still have them cat! The war between cat and man has been declared, yet Felix with his claws has left me in the dust of the arms race as I wait for my slow economy to grow… Let’s recap quickly before the four legged ginger ninja manages his next strike! Last blog you saw me with $4 still crediting my Trademe account and a return of $17.50 from the original 20 that I “invested” into my Small Change Growth Plan. From that $17.50 I topped up my Trademe account, spent $6 on new stock and saved the m...