Big Money

That Reeves charged Vintage Club members for King a few days before the start of April, without any advanced warning, is not something I consider outrage-worthy. This is what they do: I’ve been around long enough to know that they don’t generally get things right on the first try.

They do it so often, it’s almost as if it’s a part of their Standard Operating Procedures.

I’m a little surprised that more people are not surprised at Reeves’s ability to screw things up on a regular basis. It’s not something intentional, or done with any malice: it’s part and parcel of being a smallish, independent business. You can’t afford to hire a person to exclusively be in charge of just one thing or another: everyone in the company has got to wear multiple hats.

Sometimes, those hats don’t fit.

I make no secret of my rather tiny horse-budget. I know, more or less, how much money I can spend in any given month on the hobby. Last year was a little unusual in the respect that I sort of lucked into several collections, more or less hit the jackpot in the NPOD, and had an rare run of luck on the Web Special drawings at the end of the year.

Luckily for me, my year was just a bit better financially than the previous, so I was able to compensate a little. I am also hoping that my luck is a little less generous this year, to make up the difference.

(So far, so good: no mega-millions winning tickets here! Truthfully, those giant jackpot lotteries kinda scare me. Yeah, it’d be great to win a gazillion dollars and have the freedom to do whatever the heck you wanted, but money of that magnitude warps reality - and seems to stupidify everyone in proximity to it.)

Anyway, when I signed up for the Vintage Club, I automatically assumed the money from all four releases as "spent", and adjusted my budget accordingly. It only made sense, especially since we weren’t given a precise shipping schedule in the first place. Better to assume the money already gone - and simply unredeemed - rather than budget around it.

As much as I complain about (my lack of) money, I’m not all that materialistic a person. If I came into a boatload of cash, I’d probably (a) pay off my bills, (b) buy a new car - something practical, like a Subaru Outback, (c) buy an old "money pit" city house in Detroit to fix up, (d) build myself a little art studio/colony type thing on a few acres out in the country, and … that’s about it.

New and improved "horse rooms" would be attached to the country studio, of course. Where I’d periodically host awesome model horse get-togethers/clinics/mini-shows/seminars/swaps/retreats. It'd be like Model Horse Camp! (But with better leathercrafting instructors.)

I’d still shop at the Salvation Army and the flea market. I wouldn’t spend much more than I already do on the horses; I’m not going to pay more for something just because I’d have more money. I’d rather pay what I think it’s worth, and if there are people out there who think it’s worth more, then it’ll be their financial problem, not mine.

I've had my fill of this topic for now; something less contentious next time.