What's Next? Part 1: Comic Books
Now that I'm out of the classroom, I'm thinking about all that I want to do. There is a long list of things I want to accomplish. I guess for lack of a better term, I'm making my bucket list. Not that I plan on dying any time soon, though there's a story here that needs telling.
When I started teaching in Elkhart in 1997 at the ripe old age of 32, there was a science teacher down the hall whom I won't name, but trust me, I've remembered her name at the close of every year since. She'd had cancer, and was out sick quite a bit. She had already been eligible for retirement for a few years, but she had a college-aged daughter to get through her final year of schooling. My ex-wife often substituted for her, and the teacher struggled through that last year before she finally decided to call it quits.
Three months after she retired, she died.
Those of us who knew her mourned. Not just because she had passed, but because of the lost opportunities for her to enjoy life beyond the classroom. She had taken care of her responsibilities, and then had no time to enjoy a peaceful retirement. I determined then and there that I would not spend one more day working in teaching only to die without enjoying the fruits of the pension that I worked hard to earn for over 30 years. Cancer does not discriminate by age, and both my parents died from it, and three out of my four grandparents had it, so I'm not wasting a single day.
And now, here I am. Sure, I still have to work. I still have to supplement my pension to make up for lost salary, but look; My pension is about 40% of my current salary. That just means that if I continue going in to the classroom where I currently work every day, I'd only be earning 60% of my salary. I'd get the rest even if I never showed up again. So, I'm doing something else.
I'm doing everything else.
A tale that I've often told is how I suffered from physical and emotional abuse at the hands of my stepfather. But the worst thing he ever did to me was to burn my comic books--all of them, in front of me, in a burning barrel, in the winter of 1971. He claimed that they gave me bad dreams, which of course, they never had. So, I've spent time for the past few years going around the country to various comic book conventions, recovering some of those comic books. Sometimes I recognize them by their covers. Sometimes I see them excerpted online and recognize the stories. Then I go find them later. I found one by accident just yesterday, buying comics for resale purposes. That's one of the things I'm doing to earn money. It was World's Finest #198, featuring the third race between Superman and The Flash. It wasn't really a race-race, but a contrived plot to get them travelling together through space. The Guardians of the Universe made a pendant that provided the Flash with a moving track and the ability to breathe in space. Yeah, it was like that: Glorious!
When I started teaching in Elkhart in 1997 at the ripe old age of 32, there was a science teacher down the hall whom I won't name, but trust me, I've remembered her name at the close of every year since. She'd had cancer, and was out sick quite a bit. She had already been eligible for retirement for a few years, but she had a college-aged daughter to get through her final year of schooling. My ex-wife often substituted for her, and the teacher struggled through that last year before she finally decided to call it quits.
Three months after she retired, she died.
Those of us who knew her mourned. Not just because she had passed, but because of the lost opportunities for her to enjoy life beyond the classroom. She had taken care of her responsibilities, and then had no time to enjoy a peaceful retirement. I determined then and there that I would not spend one more day working in teaching only to die without enjoying the fruits of the pension that I worked hard to earn for over 30 years. Cancer does not discriminate by age, and both my parents died from it, and three out of my four grandparents had it, so I'm not wasting a single day.
And now, here I am. Sure, I still have to work. I still have to supplement my pension to make up for lost salary, but look; My pension is about 40% of my current salary. That just means that if I continue going in to the classroom where I currently work every day, I'd only be earning 60% of my salary. I'd get the rest even if I never showed up again. So, I'm doing something else.
I'm doing everything else.
A tale that I've often told is how I suffered from physical and emotional abuse at the hands of my stepfather. But the worst thing he ever did to me was to burn my comic books--all of them, in front of me, in a burning barrel, in the winter of 1971. He claimed that they gave me bad dreams, which of course, they never had. So, I've spent time for the past few years going around the country to various comic book conventions, recovering some of those comic books. Sometimes I recognize them by their covers. Sometimes I see them excerpted online and recognize the stories. Then I go find them later. I found one by accident just yesterday, buying comics for resale purposes. That's one of the things I'm doing to earn money. It was World's Finest #198, featuring the third race between Superman and The Flash. It wasn't really a race-race, but a contrived plot to get them travelling together through space. The Guardians of the Universe made a pendant that provided the Flash with a moving track and the ability to breathe in space. Yeah, it was like that: Glorious!
As I was able to buy comics again when I went to live with my dad in 1977 just after I turned 12, and there were periodic visits in the early 70s during which we were allowed to get comics and leave them at my grandparents' house, but there are literally hundreds of stories I missed out on and I'm eager to read them. There were also times when I got to read my friends' and my cousins' comics, but those were also few and far between. So, my mission is to keep the ones I once owned, but to buy, read, and sell the rest as I find deals on them. So, I'm really accomplishing two of my list items at once.
I've done this before with a large collection of comics when we were trying to raise money to adopt Sera. But back then, eBay was cumbersome to use. Now it's fairly streamlined, especially if you can find a similar item to one you're trying to sell. But if I'm already doing conventions anyway and taking on the expense of travel and lodging, I might as well be selling something that I know generates income, even when Solution Squad and indy comics sales are not guaranteed. I'll take eight short boxes of better books with me to shows, and sell the bulk books online at the same time. It may not be the usual convention setup for a comic book creator, but when have I done anything the same way as everyone else?
I've done this before with a large collection of comics when we were trying to raise money to adopt Sera. But back then, eBay was cumbersome to use. Now it's fairly streamlined, especially if you can find a similar item to one you're trying to sell. But if I'm already doing conventions anyway and taking on the expense of travel and lodging, I might as well be selling something that I know generates income, even when Solution Squad and indy comics sales are not guaranteed. I'll take eight short boxes of better books with me to shows, and sell the bulk books online at the same time. It may not be the usual convention setup for a comic book creator, but when have I done anything the same way as everyone else?
No comments: