“Aw, crap.”

I've been at my job* (that I'm not quite able to summarize in a few words) for a good nine months now and the money is, for lack of a better word, amazeballs.

For the first time since my customer service days, my income and account have outpaced my expenses. My situation is such that I am but a stone's throw away from paying off one of my credit card bills. I didn’t think this would ever be possible lest I sold a screenplay or one of my vital organs...and to be perfectly honest, selling one of my organs would've been far less of a hassle.

I’m even able to satisfy my soundtrack buying habit, blithely spending on any releases that come out or that I need to catch up on. One of the ones I felt I needed to catch up on was the Deluxe Edition of Hellboy, perhaps my favorite Marco Beltrami score. The Varese Club 2-CD expansion is topped off by lush cover art from the great Drew Struzan.

Oddly enough, Varese would utilize this same cover art for their LP release of the score. As long as I have a CD player, what use would I have for LPs? (What’s more, can you imagine the Venn diagram of people who still listen to LPs and collect soundtracks?)

The other day on eBay, I saw the Struzan cover art of what I was sure was the Deluxe Edition available for a reasonable price. Of course, I snapped it up.

It arrived the other day...and much to my surprise, it turned out to be the LP. One supposes that I could sell this to a record store. While this is, momentarily, a financial drop in the bucket, I think I’ll keep the LP as a reminder to not buy just anything that might catch my fancy...

...then again, I managed to find an online vendor selling the actual 2-CD Deluxe Edition for the not-unreasonable price of $35. Will I ever learn my lesson? Well, what do you get when you cross a rhinoceros with the worst word you could say according to the South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut song, "It’s Easy, MMMkay"? Fucked if I know.

* - I've been working from home since last December and thank the Gods for that. Still, I'd have no problem going into the office a couple days a week if the request were to come up. I figure that, no matter how tough things get at work, I have to grin and bear it. Quite frankly, I'd rather chug anti-freeze than have to work a job where I deal with customers.