During this morning's 4am coughing fit (third night in a row now) I looked at various lenses and other camera stuff on the internet. There wasn't really anything that I really wanted.
With this desire in mind and wondering what kind of deals were out there today, Ryan and I went for our usual Boxing Day walk. I was strong... until... we walked into Moog Audio. I should know better than to go into that store. Ryan and I had been kind of joking about buying CDJs - which is a pretty ridiculous idea and then I remembered....
CONTROLLERS!
Controllers are awesome. They are essentially a box with knobs, buttons and wheels that you plug into your computer. You can map the buttons / knobs to various functions in whatever software you're using and then can use both hands to control something on-screen. I think in some way it engages you more in the computer-music-making process. I had completely forgotten about these until I saw this lovely thing: the Vestax VCI-100... [insert sound of angels singing]. It looks pretty cool. And from quickly touching / playing with it in store, it felt pretty good too.
We walked out of the store empty-handed. I really wasn't convinced but it got me thinking - something like this would be really fun to play with.
I'll let the boxing day spending urge pass... I really can't justify spending so much money on something that I think would just be "fun to play with." I really should think about paying down the mortgage, future travel plans, paying taxes, etc... before I spend lots of money on something that I don't know that I'm going to use very much.
As for yesterday: it was a long exhausting day spent with the extended family-in-law. I just don't do well in these situations (in general - not just with in-laws). I don't really know what's wrong with me. Being surrounded by a large number of people for 8+ hours, having to make small talk just isn't my thing. Add in the uncle who keeps making really inappropriate jokes and has had too much to drink and I'm surprised I didn't end up hiding in the bathroom for most of the night.
And for some reason it's not over yet... there's another epic marathon-like 8+ hours to follow tomorrow (I really don't get why we need to do this again... but whatever.)
I realized on the drive home last night (at 1am!) that this is what "christmas" is all about. It isn't about what I really want but rather about making other people happy. That no matter how much I disagree with what the drunken uncle is saying, that I just need to smile and nod and be polite. I guess I was spoiled as a child. We always had a very small, intimate Christmas either at home or with my cousins in Ottawa. We would wake up, eat, slowly open gifts (it was a multiple hour ordeal - I admit that was a little painful) and then usually go for a long walk and then come home, eat some more and spend the evening listening to music while reading or playing with our toys together.
Anyway... I managed to coax Ryan into giving me a few hours yesterday before going to his family's to go out walking. It was nice. I'm glad I had that at least.
One fun part of the evening is that everyone gathered around and pulled out their fiddles and started playing together. I pulled out my camera, put on my 50mm prime and took a few pictures...
I really do like that prime lens. And it felt so much easier to use last night than I remember.
Hope everyone had a very merry Christmas day! Happy Holidays! I'm sure I'll write some more soon. :)
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