Getting the Upper Hand

Well well, first Weblog entry so here goes!...

Felt compelled to make a note of a recent joyous occasion- a YJ win on some Mezzo Forte DSA artwork. Hope you enjoy the story; I think I'll look back on this occassionally and have a chuckle, heh.

Thanks to Startyde (Jon), we both went 50/50 on an auction lot of 35 layouts and Backgrounds and won but it was very tense and we were up against our Nemesis of several years, native YJ MEzzo cel fanatic- Ziggystardust. Ziggy has been outbidding Jon and myself consistantly over the years and we always dread his pressence on the auction we want to win. It's annoying because he has very deep pockets and when he wins the art, it seems to be hidden from the world in his personal collection- he doesn't have a gallery like us to display his goodies.

Ok, we had a full 6 days of notice about this auction, friends had emailed me about it and I happened to see it on the day too during a regular YJ browsing session. It seemed we had support *thankyou guys* but the action would't hot up until the last 15mins of the auction- a whole 6 days away.
Jon left me in charge of the bidding duties due to the time zone differene which made sense; it closed at 14:00 here in the UK whereas it was still 06:00 over in the US where Jon was. We agreed to set our max bid at 101,000y so we'd see how it goes. "This lot could be our making" said Jon, we both knew the stakes and quality of the collection, time to keep our fingers crossed.

Someone out their 1st bid in with 1 day to go- hmmm so there's some interest in the item but this could be some 'have-a-go-Joe' who's not really willing to spend a lot.
A couple more bids popped up in the last 30mins so I start getting anxious. No sign of Ziggy yet but he usually rears up in the final 10 mins.
We're in the last 15mins and I make my first bid, a conservative 12,000y to get the ball rolling. 3 mins later and up comes Ziggy outbidding me- "Ha, here you are Ziggy, knew you'd show your face!".
No messing around, there was 10 mins to go so I up the ante another 10,000y, knowing he'd follow suit; he did.
Playing tactically I upped it some more so he knew I was serious- approaching 60,000y for this lot now. The bids are mounting as Ziggy makes smaller increments trying to better me, only us two are fighting it out and the number of bids has rocketed to 34.
We're outbid again, Ziggy has it but I can go higher and make a couple of small increments to make him believe I was running out of money THEN it's time to go in for the kill! The timer counts down to 3 mins again and we're back on top but Ziggy soon responds- can he go any higher, this is getting rediculous?
Time to pay my final hand, max bid of 101,000y. The bid is placed, I can only wait and pray Ziggy gies up. Heart's beating fast, my twitching hand is hovering over the mouse- take in some deep breaths. I know Ziggy's thinking about it but will he go further?
The counter is down to 4 mins again, I can't bid higher so I'm relying on him giving up. 3 mins and the price is set at just over 84,000y, we're still on top. 2 mins and Ziggy hasn't retaliated. 1 min to go and I'm refreshing the page to see if there's a late bid then...
ENDED.
We won. WE WON! YES, WE BEAT YOUR A$$ ZIGGY! WHOOO HOOO! HA!
Time to put in my favourite 'upbeat/happy' CD, (RIDGE's- A Countrydelic and Fuzzed Experience in a Columbian Supremo) and skip to track two 'No Way Near', crank it up and dance round the room pointing at the monitor screaming "You Ain't No Way Near.."
Heh, heh, I sound really mad don't I?

Needless to say When I emailed Jon about our victory he was over the moon and it really made out Saturday. He made me laugh with the comment "It seems he f***s us good one on one, but combined, the allied powers come out on top...lol. It's like WWII all over again :)"

And that's the story on how I got the upper hand.