Hello Spooky Friends,

I was wondering if there are any other like minded addicts out there. I love to buy a bizarre item and usually check the for sale section a few times a day. The addiction has got to the point I sometimes get depressed when there is nothing to buy that is bizarre. On account of this addiction, I have much more bizarre stuff than I really need and love them all. Whenever I think of selling some of it my heart races and I get sweaty and nauseous, so I put it back on the shelf for another day and the feeling subsides. When I get too depressed, I usually just kiss a cadaver or embalm a drunk friend, but the drinking friend list gets a little short sometimes. It is to the point I am not sure if I have an addiction or a possession. I really need to break this addiction/possession and my greatest fear is that someday I will die and my wife will sell all my stuff for what she thinks I paid for it or donate it to a charity as old boxes and trash.

So I was thinking:

Perhaps we need a thread that lets us come together as Bizarre Anonymous to support each other. We can assign a friend that we can call or text when we get fired up by the addiction and our blood rises in our veins, and we hyperventilate at the next great purchase. The friend would immediately respond, "Just step away from that purchase!"

Me: "Hi, I'm Willie and I am a bizarre addict!"
The group: "Hi Willie!"

Will:

I have no idea where you are on the compulsion-obsession-addiction-possession spectrum, if anywhere. .

But as a writer you are an imaginative, amusing, and entertaining stylist. Thanks for your posts.

George

Thank you George for your kind comments. If interested we have a spot available on our next double-occupancy burial if you are ready to go.

Do I get to choose the other occupant?

No it operates on the first come first serve basis. I do have a different program where you can arrange for the funeral of another. It's the Refer a friend or enemy program.

Are you to the point of buying magic every night?

Only if it is the bizarre genre'. I would say when the magic purchase and house mortgage is weighed in the balance and you choose the magic purchase you are pretty much bizarre demon possessed; but they make me feel so good! No, No , don't take them away.

I will say this, I search the make a deal for bizarre several times a day, in between embalming cadavers.

At one stage I checked the for sale section lots. But few UK sellers now. But I don't make many purchases these days. Just looking for the nicest version of the few effects I use. But been through the buying lots of Tarot decks I won't ever use. But I know now I'll pretty much only use Rider Waite and a few Marseille variants. Then much of the rest is making my own props to suit what I want.

I once found Willie down in the mortuary rocking back and forth cradling a small ornate box in his hands.
He just kept repeating "Don't let them tricksy hobbitses take my precious......my.....preciouuuuuus......

When he saw me it suddenly vanished from his hands and next thing I knew I had bought three new deluxe coffins.....

I believe you are a possessed addict, weepinwil

But I gave you a great deal because they were pre-owned. One rented and two repossessed. Stop griping and use them. lol Or maybe you were bragging?

Thanks for the encouragement. It is a happy addiction, though.

I am currently addicted to buying books, not apparatus. I often give in to hype. It's a mild problem, not consuming a lot of cash but still... it feels a little bit out of control at times.

I know that feeling too. I love books and am in the process of culling out a 3500+ volume library. My problem is it is like saying goodbye to a good friend. I feel the same emotion discarding a book that I feel at a funeral. (attending not conducting. conducting is a lot of fun and money. when I say, "Sorry for your loss, it is the money I am referring to).

Hi Willie,

For once I’m going to treat your post seriously and without any jokes (I’ll try my best anyway) and I hope you know that means I’m taking you seriously!

If you really are at the point that you are weighing up a bizarre magic purchase against the mortgage then yes you may well have a problem!

If you are checking the for sale section several times a day, every day, then yes you may well have a problem!

If finding nothing for sale genuinely makes you feel depressed then yes you may well have a problem!

I’m a fully paid member of the compulsive club. In my teens it used to be books on ghosts, poltergeists, sci fi and fantasy to the point that my father was concerned about the sheer weight of my collection ending up with my bedroom appearing downstairs in the dining room one day! Anything I collected I did compulsively no matter what the cost in time or money.

When I got back into magic in my 40’s I bought every single deck and new trick on the market, I have boxes of cards etc. that I don’t and never will use. I have effects that would take me years to be able to perform even remotely well. And then when the dark side of magic called, two of my worlds collided. A youth spent learning and teaching scientific parapsychology and investigating the paranormal and then bizarre magic where I could actually call on real experiences to add to the effect! I spent a small fortune on items. I experienced that pure rush of adrenaline when an e-mail from Outlaw, Gemini, Alchemy Moon or Lebanon Circle dropped into my inbox. And I clicked the PayPal button even though I knew that I really shouldn’t.

It took a long time but I managed to get it under control. I set myself a monthly budget and I stick to it. I save up a small reserve in case Prof B.C suddenly surprises us (like he just did) and I no longer allow myself to click the Paypal button without asking myself a few things first:

Do I really need it?

Will I actually use it, does it fit in with my current effects or will it just get tossed in a drawer in three months?

Am I buying it just because it will look pretty on my shelf where only I will see it and my wife will tell me to dust it?

A few words of wisdom from a guy called Martin Lewis who runs a website called moneysavingexpert in the UK:

If you really want something, sleep on it for a night. You may find it doesn’t seem as attractive the next day! (Difficult sometimes when Steve Peebles has a new idea, but seriously most other big new bizzarre items don’t sell out in a day do they?)

If you’re tempted by an impulse buy, work out how long it would take you to earn that money in hours worked. So if you get paid £5/hour and it costs £150, that’s an extra 36 hours you’ll need to work to fund it, taking into account tax.

If you really want to buy something new, see if you can sell something you don’t use any more to cover the cost.

Pay yourself pocket money - set up an account just for magic purchases and pay yourself a set amount of pocket money each month which is yours to save towards a big item or spend as you like without feeling guilty.

Compulsive buying is an addiction Willie like any other addiction and it is really hard to kick. But the good news is that a) you have identified and admitted that you have a problem. b) you have had the b@lls to post about it here where it might also help others. c) you’re not alone, there are probably quite a few of us on here who have had to hide the credit card bill or seriously weighed up buying flowers for the wife or a new effect in the past (Hint - get the flowers, much more impressive than another Tarot based trick)

I would also seriously recommend that you talk to a professional, there are loads of free resources available in the UK and I am sure the same goes over in the USA. An addiction is exactly that whether it’s drugs, drink, shoes or bizarre magic and it can have just as much of a detrimental effect on your life and your loved ones lives if you let it take over. And you already have my e-mail Harold, if you ever need to talk or you would like to buddy up with me and send me a “should I buy it” e-mail whenever the little demon whispers in your ear next then I am just a click away my friend!

Wonderful post Bogbadger! Thank you.

My goodness, what a serious and important post, Bogbadger. Excellent advice that I will use.

Bob is a great and caring guy. His advice is good to remember. It reminded me that my addiction isn't just to buying bizarre magic but also cars, stamps, books, old stuff, sport trading cards, magic the gathering cards, food (4 year supply), water (720 gallons), guns, ammunition, and military gear. Luckily I have a purpose or reason for much of it and have made considerable amounts of money on the investment. With food and water storage was able to feed an entire neighborhood for 3 days until help could arrive after Hurricane Flo hit last year. Gosh, I even have my own NBC survival set.