It's really hard to tell from this photo, because it's taken from a back side and there's a copy of The Onion draped over the top. But at some point I had at least 50 VHS tapes stacked on here, "to be sold".
I finally got around to putting some listings on eBay tonight. Two, to be exact. Namely for two sets of rare Doctor Who stories. I say "rare" because they haven't been released on DVD, and the VHS versions are long out of print. If you're a Doctor Who fan or know of a Doctor Who fan, click on the eBay banner on the left and check them out.
At least a couple dozen of those were of Doctor Who episodes. I bought a lot of them from eBay myself about 5 years ago, because they couldn't be found on DVD. But now that I learned to copy most of them to DVD-R or re-bought them if they were released on DVD, I wanted to get rid of the tapes. I wasn't sure how I was going to sell them on eBay. Selling them as individual tapes seemed like it would be a pain in the ass. But selling them in a single lot is obviously a gamble too. So a while back I made a detailed list, marking which ones have been released on DVD (and thus would be tough to sell). I tried to figure out ways that I could package them with the rare ones, selling maybe 3 at time. I had a system worked out, but never got around to putting up the eBay auctions.
Some time passes, and I find myself at a bachelor party, visiting an old fraternity brother whom I haven't seen in a long time. So I just threw a dozen Doctor Who tapes into a shopping bag, including ones I've either since bought on DVD or successfully copied to DVD-R, and gave it to him. He and his wife are Doctor Who fans, and unlike my ex-coworkers, are not repulsed by the medium of VHS. Could I have sold them to some stranger on eBay? Maybe. But he's happy to have them, his wife is happy that he has them too, and I'm happy that they're not in my chair.
Last weekend, it was his birthday. I still had about two dozen Doctor Who tapes left, half of which were of the not-so-rare variety. OK, what the hell: more Doctor Who presents! He appreciated them. His wife appreciated them. And another Doctor Who fan at the party liked the idea of the gift too. This finally narrowed down my collection to around 12 tapes. Two simple auctions. Done! Now hopefully these will sell and I'll be done with it, once and for all.
Funny thing about that chair. I originally moved it there from my kitchen for a birthday party I had in my apartment in 2003. It hasn't really moved since. But we'll see what happens when the VHS burden is finally depleted.
Speaking of video, my quest to convert the old Hi-8 tapes to DVD still continues. Yeah, yeah, I know I keep saying that I have a lot to say about reviewing this footage of my past, but I really don't know where to begin. For now, I'll just say this much: it's amazing how circles of friends can completely change in less than 10 years. I think I'll be making a few phone calls this week.