Glitter Bombs and Tachyons*

The first law of thermodynamics states that matter can neither be created nor destroyed. It’s true because glitter is forever. From My Shelf Books & Gifts moved to 25 Main St. almost three years ago. The business that was here before us had seasonal items, and glitter, oh so much glitter.

Glitter is like the herpes of the decorative world. You can never really get rid of it. Sometimes, it will go into hiding, but you’ll run the vacuum, and—BAM— glitter! There’s bound to be an outbreak of glitter even if you inoculate and even if you are positive you've never been exposed.

Recently, across social media, there’s been an explosion of glitter. The new trend is to send glitter to people you don’t like, because it’s simple, easy, and forever. The movement was started by a young Australian who wanted to make a couple extra bucks.

His website is www.shipyourenemiesglitter.com For about nine Australian dollars, he’ll send the people of your choosing a big box or envelope of glitter, with a note buried among the glitter. So, they will know just why they are receiving their glittery surprise.

This gave birth to an idea. Our co-tenants, the owners of Pop’s Culture, expressed interest to our landlord in renting the entire retail space(I do have emails showing this as well). This evolved to what is basically a nasty divorce with people who used to be friends and business partners.

Our landlord served us an eviction notice in October of 2012, but we won our court battle against this, because the lease was never violated. Losing did not make the landlord happy. He’s a man who is used to his money buying him what he wants.

He displayed his displeasure with several incidents. Among them trying to evict our store cat, Hobo; sending us nasty emails; approaching other building owners encouraging them not to rent to us; and ultimately, not renewing our lease.

There’s a definite pattern of harassment flowing from the landlord. One incident caught me by surprise, but my lawyer and I figured it was the result of his anger, in the wake of the latest billing from his lawyer. Our landlord sent us this “anonymous” letter.

It really wasn't anonymous. It just wasn’t signed. It contained information that only I, the landlord, and both lawyers were privy too. It also contained the same pattern of sentence fragments, misspelling, and crude writing to which I have become accustomed when dealing with my landlord.
He didn’t put his name on it, because he’s a coward, but it’s all over the letter.

I’m going to include this letter so the general public knows just what type of man this landlord is, and just a little of what we have been dealing with. I will issue a warning first. It’s rude, crude, and there is derogatory speech that will likely offend.

I’ve worked in factories, so a little vulgarity doesn’t faze me, but the references to my wife’s bi-polar condition and why he needs to put outdated homosexual references does make me wonder just why this man is so homophobic and hateful.

The landlord references some crude Christmas card he implies I sent him. As you can imagine, I rather dislike the man, and wouldn't waste postage on him. In fact, I used to be able to able to pay my recent at Century 21 and get a receipt. You can see why I'd want one. He changed that, because he told them to no longer give me a receipt. Yet another way the man harassed me.

Obviously, a man this vengeful has more than one unsatisfied renter, and the more people who found out about my problems with this landlord, the more stories I heard, and continue to hear.

I even found out who sent him the funny Christmas card, though I won’t be revealing that little tidbit of information. Let’s just say it was a little crass and one of those cards that is only funny for a certain sense of humor, but it wasn’t so horrific that the response from a normal human being would be such a nasty, angry letter.

So, back to the beginning—glitter is forever. People don’t like receiving anonymous letters, cards, or glitter, and some people are willing to pay people to do it for them. My landlord did his best to intimidate me, and suck up my resources by dragging me through court and trashing my name. I need to pay my lawyer back and make enough money for moving expenses.

I could do this by selling glitter! Rather, I could send glitter for people who would rather send it anonymously. Selling is what I do. I sell books and gifts from the bookstore, and if you’d like to support a small, rural bookstore, I’d sure appreciate it. I really just see this as another service, and if there’s a demand, I’ll be happy to provide it. Here’s my link for glitter choices that you can find on EBay.

I also sell several other fun gifts on EBay, and new and used books on half.com, as well as new books on the bookstore’s website.

If you would just like to donate, there’s a fundraiser that has been a huge help. You can find it here. The fundraiser is to pay our legal bills from fighting our landlord’s eviction notice.

Though we won, we had to take it to the Pennsylvania State Superior Court. There, all three judges decided in our favor and found not only was the lease not violated, but that the landlord’s case was “petty.” The judgment of the PA Superior Court rendered the Tioga County Court of Common Pleas decision null and void.

Yup, it should never have been taken to court, our landlord's lawyer was asked "Should this case even be here?" We did offer mediation to our co-tenants and landlord, but in order for mediation to be successful, both parties have to be willing to sit down, and as this letter from our landlord shows, he’s only interested in feeding his greed and fueling our co-tenants ambitions.



*Tachyon is a theoretical particle that travels faster than speed of light



Glitter--it really is forever

Here's one copy of the "nice" letter the landlord sent me. I'm not an expert, but I think this is his cry for help. His allegations of harassment are of course unfounded.

Here's another photo of the same letter. Nancy boy? Does anyone actually use this term?

Here's a screenshot of the landlord using "Nancy Boy" Surely, there aren't two people using this term still?