At the last minute, MiniMe and I attended a fundraiser for a local non-profit. Like many fundraisers, they held both a silent and live auction. Whether silent or live, I fall prey.
I bid on multiple items in the silent auction – constantly checking my bid sheet to see if others had outbid me and constantly learning I had, in fact, been outbid on several.
Once the live auction started, I figured I had probably only won one silent auction item, so I had money to spend on the live auction. CounterCat has been with me at events like this and she usually ends up with major anxiety after begging me to stop bidding on any and everything – she would have lost her mind tonight, while I lost my wallet.
The first few items sold quickly and for high prices. At one point, they were auctioning a 1970s Vespa. In between prices, the auctioneer asked if anyone had a child in college. I’m not sure if my response was delayed or I was played, but I apparently placed a bid. “You just bid $2500 for the scooter,” MiniMe advised me. “Oops. I thought he was still taking about college,” I replied. “I’ll represent you,” one of the attorneys at the table advised me. After seeing Bidder 70, having legal representation at the auction might not be a bad idea. Luckily, like in most of the silent auctions, I was outbid.
When they announced a Thai dinner for twelve with nine signature dishes paired with wine flights, I was sold. I love flying and, flying with wine (especially while wearing silk), even better! So I bid. One thousand dollars. I was quickly outbid by one hundred dollars. “Damn,” I told MiniMe, held up my bidding number, and bid twelve hundred. The price stayed steady and I was the proud owner of a Thai dinner for twelve. Sounds a lot like the Last Supper, except I don’t have apostles and I’m pretty sure they weren’t eating Thai food.
MiniMe got the bidding bug and decided to bid on a trip for two to the Virgin Islands. She originally wanted to bid on a dog, but we (me and the attorney) talked her out of it. She started lower than me, at $700. Others would bid, and she would outbid them, looking to me, the bidding connoisseur, for guidance. I’d provide the ‘go on’ nod and ‘go on’ she would. Sadly, she was outbid about $800 dollars later. Looks like we’ll only be having nine flights, not eleven.