"Good Will Hunting": An Academy Award-winning American drama film starring Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and Robin Williams.
Goodwill hunting: The act of visiting a Goodwill thrift store and scavenging for peppercorns in a manure heap of used clothes, appliances, media, and Depends adult diapers*.
My dad and I visited this Goodwill in San Marcos after an afternoon of barbecue gluttony in nearby Lockhart. Goodwill hunting is a crapshoot; you either leave empty handed or loaded with treasures. On this occasion, I'm happy to report that my dad and I both found several items of interest.
Most Goodwills utilize floor space wisely, but I found this location to be lacking in charity shop feng shui, with the front of the store (check-out counters and candy) practically barren and the back of the place (electronics and media) cluttered and congested. The manager should use the sprawling, well-organized Goodwill located in Monument, Colorado as a blueprint. But I digress and nitpick; I went here looking for cool stuff, not to lecture disadvantaged Goodwill staff on optimum floor space utilization.
This location came through in the areas that matter: variety, coolness, and unbeatable prices. In the music department, I picked up pristine CD copies of "True Stores" by Talking Heads, "Eat Me, Drink Me" by Marilyn Manson, and "The Best of Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians." Why these three CDs in particular, you ask? The answer: I wanted to be the first and only person to ever buy albums by Talking Heads, Marilyn Manson, and Guy Lombardo at the same time. I also picked up gently used copies of two David Cronenberg films that had somehow flown under my radar: "A History of Violence" and "Eastern Promises." The best part: the CDs and DVDs were only $1.99 each.
The electronics department was a bit of a mess, but I enjoyed rifling through a sea of pea green, tobacco-scented alarm clocks from the early 70s. I was also happy to find a gently used XBox 360 Kinect for $5.99 and a somewhat rare joystick peripheral for the original Nintendo Entertainment System for $4.99. The latter item, the "Beeshu Ultimate Superstick," often fetches anywhere from $30 to $50 on eBay, so I made off like a bandit.
If you go Goodwill hunting regularly, then you've no doubt conversed with your treasure hunting brethren; we Goodwillers just love to share our scores with likeminded folks. On this occasion, a precocious nine-year-old boy named Ethan noticed my interest in video games and struck up a conversation about Pokemon. In turn, I explained how to capture ghosts on film using a hacked XBox Kinect and a standard laptop computer. He was incredulous until I showed him video evidence captured by a friend of mine in the paranormal/ITC field. To Ethan's parents: I apologize for scarring your child for life, but please thank him for the lecture on Charmander's more esoteric abilities.
The next time you find yourself on the outskirts of San Marcos, consider dropping by the local Goodwill. You'll probably find something cool, and you'll help support a good cause.
*Why do so many Goodwills sell Depends? Did the boxes come from the estate of an adult diaper hoarder? I doubt that the diapers are "gently used," as implied earlier, but I have yet to verify. read more