Tobia Ziklik

Last spring, my sister and I planned a colossal garage sale where we would finally unburden ourselves from all the crap that was holding us back from the minimalist lives we aspired to.

Well, the garage sale was a complete success, due to the ridiculously low prices we set on our items, and we were able to wrap up shortly after noon.

Later that same day, my sister called to say that she had found more stuff to sell, and asked if we could hold another garage sale. She insisted that this next one would be the last (“the garage sale to end all garage sales”) since she was going to thoroughly pare down her belongings.

Well, two more sales later, we are now discussing our fourth (and hopefully final … “this time for real”) garage sale, set for later this month. We’ll see.

By the way, I was suprised and amused by some of the things people were willing to pay for. My sister had a pair of large, black, oddly-shaped zippered cloth bags with handles that held the removable seats from a car she no longer owned. We wondered if we should even bother trying to sell it, but then a man showed up and squealed “No way!” as he pointed at the bags. He promptly paid us and left. Bizarre.

Another man, who was very tall and very, very large, spotted Arnon’s San Jose Stealth lacrosse jersey (size medium) and bought it for himself. He told me that some time ago, he went to the Shark tank to watch arena football and got stuck in the seat. The staff told him that the armrests on his seat would have to be removed, but that that couldn’t happen until after the Stealth game that would take place later that day.

So, he patiently waited in that stadium chair, and after the lacrosse game ended, he was freed. He hoped wearing the jersey would remind him of that fun experience. Nuts!