John,
Great story...nobody understands the beginnings for the disease than I do.
This probably isn't the best analogy, but it seems to work much like the
desires of a serial killer. First, you go months....maybe 6 months....but
then the need gets stronger...you're down to 3 months....and it keeps
getting shorter...you're down to weeks....then days....then you find
yourself checking new items on ebay every day...then several times a
day...then you get software to help you bid.....
It's a terrible, yet euphoric disease.
Tom
> My name is John and I too just fell off the wagon.
>
> It all started two weeks ago with a trip to a store in Indianapolis to
look
> through their bins of used filters and cast-off cases. There is was, like
> a siren beckoning to hapless crewmen: a beautiful 300/4.5 Zuiko in
> excellent condition, complete with tripod ring, both caps and the original
> case. I resisted the temptation then and just bought the old OM-1 black
> case (the leather one with the tripod screw).
>
> But what followed was torture. Sleepless nights, awakening in a cold
> sweat, dreams of wildlife close-ups with beautiful bokeh in the
background,
> and eventually the trembling with nightmares and halucinations . . .
> followed by a nervous twitch to reach for the phone and my credit card.
>
> Went back today with the excuse I needed to run some other errands
thinking
> just looking at it, maybe holding it, would stop the tremors and
nightmares
> of long spindly fibrous fungus covering me, and the walls of my study. It
> was still there and beckoning even more, with its beautifully smooth and
> flawless black matte barrel, and the tripod mount not even scratched. I
> had to hold it, to look through it and peer through its 72mm objective.
> That was all it took. Beautifully huge glass with the heft of a large
lens
> meant to bring even the most distant subjects into clear view. Not a
> scratch, scrape or chip to be seen, and nearly zero dust inside. I could
> swear this beautiful Zuiko siren even winked its diaphragm at me . . .
from
> f/4.5 to f/32 and back again. And the price, the price was a reasonable
> bargain near the low end of what I've recently seen.
>
> Yes, it's mine now. The cold sweats have stopped, my pulse has slowed, my
> breathing deeper, and the haluciations of fungus have disappeared. Oh how
> I love being infected too. I wonder how long it will be before the
> symptoms recur and another fix is needed.
>
> -- John
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