Fortress of Solitude by Lincøln
March 25th, 2008 2:29 PM
Which is all well and good and explains why I'm so poor. But as soon as I read this task, I stopped going to the comic book store. Actually I hadn't picked up any books all winter, and there's a box of books waiting for me at my comic store right now, and I was all excited to go get my books and geek out with them for a few days as soon as I had a day off of work, but I read this task before I got a day off of work. And if there is any addiction I could kick, this would be it. So I have. And this written up praxis has been sitting in my very large queue for a very long time. It had been sitting in there for so long because I didn't want to post it right away and say that I kicked the habit, because who knows how long it takes to kick a habit? So I just figured I'd wait a very long time. And the events of this task made me submit this task today (because they kinda go hand in hand). So it's been six months of no comics for me, and it has been very very difficult. Here listen to this:
It wasn't until after I'd recorded and listened back to that phone message that I realized I completed both halves of this task. I hadn't meant to get addicted to anything. But I think my tasking history shows that I have.
Update - July 2009
It has been over fifteen months since the posting of this task, which means twenty one months of not buying any comics. That's almost two years now. I have gone two years without buying any comics. I sometimes cannot believe it. Going to the comic book store was a weekly routine for me for a very long time. A very long time.
I have updated this task today, because I just bought two new filing cabinets so all of my books that have been living in boxes for the past many many years can now have a proper home. But before I put them in their cabinets I have to reorganize. So I have spent my 4th of July weekend sitting amongst piles and piles of comic books, organizing and sorting and on occasion reading through some old forgotten gems.
I'm reminded again about how much I miss my friends. I went into a comic book shop in San Francisco a week ago and looked around, but it wasn't as hard as this going through all of my books and seeing how every line stops somewhere in the middle of 2007. I miss my fictional friends.
Update - February 2011
It has now been three years since I have bought a comic book. In that time I have had a few good friends who are comic book geeks and who identify with me solely on the grounds of being a comic book geek "How long is this abstinence supposed to last? When can you get back to reading comics again?" And I always answer that I'm not sure. Maybe forever.
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(none yet)38 comment(s)
I know men like you. Here's a real challenge. Imagine selling the comics you own now. Imagine how much of your soul you would lose in that process.
(That is- one of my exes finally got to the point where he had to start selling his comics as he was moving to an itty bitty apartment halfway across the country.)
I've thought about it. I really have. I could probably buy a house.
Selling your comics to pay your rent is a sad, sad position to be in.
I had a friend do it. Every day that more comics sold on ebay the more it felt to me like he was dying inside. He methodically bundled them up, put them in boxes and shipped them off. It made me cry on a number of occasions. I wonder if he ever did.
This takes some serious self control. I had to do this with Legos not too long ago, and it was no easy feat.
Serious collecting. I usualy give up after a few months depending what im collecting. I remember i collected some buildable remote controlled car for a couple of months. It failed so i stopped collecting things.
I sold a bunch of mine last year... original Watchmen run complete... Original V for Vendetta run complete... original Miracle Man run complete up into the first few Apocrypha (even the old reprint issue with 3d glasses).
My idea was that I can get most of these items at my local library to just read them, and I knew there was someone out there that would enjoy having them in the collection more than I, and I could use the money.
I lost a bit of my soul at the time anyway, due to other circumstances, so I can't tell if selling the comics contributed or not, but things did come to a head the day I was packaging them all up to ship out. I'm not sorry I sold them, I didn't need them, but the shipping was hard.
So, you used to be addicted to buying comic books?
Impressive drawers, worth that many years. Have you moved around much?
I seriously had never thought about collections in the context of addictions.
In high school I decided I wanted to be buried with Uncanny X-Men #266. You're reminding me of days long passed.
A very impressive collection.
A Gambit fan are you Flitworth? The sexy Cajun-type does it for you?
Long hair, an accent, and a trench coat. What more could a girl need?
Good, I was hoping it wasn't the prepubescent Storm that tickled your fancy in that one.
Be careful when you meet my son, Flitworth. I've been teaching him to speak like a French Pirate (a G-Rated French Pirate).
Lincoln, you son of a silly person, your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries, that was an awesome completion, and you sound nothing like I thought you would.
Wow. So cold turkey? Obviously you're done collecting, but you're keeping them right?
Hang on. Rom, not worth much? Come on, that's some prime Mantlo right there.
I am certainly keeping them all. And I might even get back into collecting again at some point.
Can anyone tell me why my audio is playing back at lightning speed and making Lincoln sound like a chipmunk on crack?
Well, how much have you had to drink tonight?
But.. but.. Comic books!!! Comic books are awesome. You're a stronger man that I Lincoln. A stronger man than I.
I just looked around my room today and noticed that I was "organizing" all of my recent comics within the past few months and I stopped in the middle and now there are tiny little stacks all over the place, just leaning up against the walls all over. So every day I see many many stacks of comics. I guess I did it accidentally on purpose so I'm not without them. I haven't opened a comic book in the same period of time that I haven't been buying them.
Guh.
Hey, I'm having the same audio problem as Bex.
I'm no techno-geek but maybe it has something to do with your browser?
I thought the podcast account would've given you a vote by now for completing the podtask, but no worries i'll go do it now.
Yay!
A vote from the Podcast!
(that's kinda like a vote from Piratey Monkey)
Piratey Monkey and you've completed the Piratey, Podcast, Scienceguru vote set!
Wow, that's a vote set. How about adding Rubin to it?
I got one from Piratey (Nonsense), and one, two three from scienceguru, and this one from the Podcast. It kinda makes me feel like a rock star. If only I had a vote from Rubin, that'd make it really something. Or a vote from Eleanorest. I guess I'll just keep trying to up the awesome and hopefully the votes will come. Even though Rubin hasn't voted since last summer, I still have hope.
Scienceguru won't even be my freind, let alone vote for me. :{
It is now a month later and I still have not yet bought a comic book. Is my addiction kicked? Have I built my fortress?
Does it count if you buy a ticket to "Iron Man" next month" (You know you want to).
BTW - Scienceguru is my friend after all!
Yeah, I'm gonna see Iron Man. And no, it doesn't count. Just like reading old Preachers I already own doesn't count.
Yeah... I guess you can't re-use an old drug once you've used it... though I'm sure if there was any way Robert Downey Jr.'s tried it. I didn't even consider how picking Iron Man - the story of an alcoholic - played by an ex junkie - fits in with this praxis (will they hit the alcoholic angle for the film, I wonder?). Perhaps there will be lessons.
I have not bought a comic book, nor been in a comic shop in 11 months.
Thanks SFØ.
Now that this task has been un-retired, I have updated it, because the addiction is still kicked and it has been almost two years.
6 months!
Woah, you take open-ended tasks seriously.