Ending February

Reminder: I talk from my own "first world" perspective. I can imagine how crucial some items can be for others in other places, cultures and/or different economic situations.

If you read this blog and find it ridiculous... that's its exact raison d'être.

When I was a little child, my parents used to tell me something like: "if we buy you everything you want, you won't be excited about having anything". While I know and understand what they meant, I no longer agree 100% with that idea.

Is it really OK to be excited about the acts of buying and having? The possibility of having new things shouldn't be the key to any kind of happiness. The act of desiring is in itself the root of the problem, the first step into a cycle that never ends.

The hardest point in this resolution is deciding what I would have bought or not. Should I blog about this item? Would have I really clicked the purchase button? ... Sounds dumb right? :)

Overall, February has been a quiet month, as I've tried to push my wishing to the minimum successfully. I've given away a book, I've sold stuff I didn't use, I've controlled the waste in my birthday and I've found a side job that will partially fill my evenings and weekends in a productive way. I've only spent some money on some burgers and beers! Trying to invest time with friends and family is the best!

In the bad side, I have had a lot of work so I couldn't invest much time in my personal projects, but I'm still looking for a good work/rest balance. I also need to exercise, because I've gained a bit of weight... Let's try to do better next month!

Fender Telecaster 72

This made in Japan Telecaster is on sale for 900€ in a second-hand shop I follow on facebook. I've been wishing a Tele for some years now, and this one looks great...

Playing guitar is one of my favorite activities ever. It lets me concentrate freely on one thing: my fingers, my whole body, and my mind are focused on the instrument and the music that I am trying to get out of it. Everyone should try the guitar or any other instrument!

I just have one electric guitar, a cheap Korean seven-string one, but I feel attached to it... somehow. I bought it after working for a whole week as a waiter at the local fair. That was my first job when I was just 22 or 23 years old!

I usually have my guitar in the studio, but yesterday, before seeing this ad, I took it home so I could practice and record something this weekend. Before going to bed, I spent some time practicing scales and other stuff on it and I've slept very relaxed and calmed... Of course, I was unplugged. Respect your neighbors! ;)

I'm going to try to record some personal music with the equipment I already have before buying anything new, so wish me luck (and inspiration)!

Item price: 900€
Total savings: 1754,82€

Giving Away: Teoría y armonía musical moderna vol 2

This book has been with me for so long... I remember that I bought it at a very difficult time when I left my first year at the University and needed to learn music in depth. I used to read it on my weekend trips to Cádiz, chapter by chapter, trying to grasp and visualize every chord. It was one of the first articles I bought online by the way :)

I have not opened it for a few years, and yesterday, after a conversation with a friend who was going through a hard time, I felt that this book could be good for him. This friend of mine told me about his need for having more free time and enjoying his hobbies. He told me that he almost did have no time to play music at home... You know, we all suffer that kind of moment, when we stop and think about what we are doing with our lives, and when we question ourselves about how dangerous the routine can be. When you least expect it, you're doing something you don't like and everything seems to make no sense. I guess we can blame capitalism :)

Books like this one can help you learn some theory concepts quickly, and that's incredibly rewarding! I think that giving it to him has been a good decision. I hope he enjoys and reads it as I did back in the day.

Selling Stuff: C-64s

I bought these two Commodore 64 units about seven years ago because I wanted to start writing music on them... The old SID chip sound is amazing, and even if old computer user interfaces are hard to deal with, I thought I could try and experience the ultimate 80s music writing workflow.

I just turned them on a couple of times to see if they worked. I never ever connected them to a monitor. And I had TWO units because one wasn't enough! How clever!

After moving the last December I thought that it was enough, so I decided that I had to sell them. There are lots of vintage computing nerds (in a good way) in my twitter TL, so I decided that it was a nice place to sell them.

My initial price was 35€, so many many people messaged me with better offers (they sell on eBay for about 30USD each). It was an easy deal to close: I ended up selling them in 60€ + shipping.

I still have many things I don't use so I will be thinking about what else should I sell really soon!

Managing Presents

The easy part of this project is not buying things for myself, but what about when others buy things for me? Christmas and birthdays are critical moments when it's especially hard to stop this kind of indirect consumerism.

When I first thought about this year's resolution, I had the idea of using every potential present as a way to get things that I really could need. I just turned 36 and some people in my environment do not feel comfortable with the idea of not buying any gifts for me. I tried to convince them, but since I do not want to be rude to anyone, I have accepted the idea of receiving gifts... with a bit of secret strategy: the new things I will get, will substitute items that I already own that are not in good condition.

I will replace my four-year-old wallet and some of my old jeans... and that's it! I have to check all my clothes and donate (or throw away) what I do not usually wear so I will replace those items in a 1:1 or higher ratio! It is the most positive way that has occurred to me :)

That's all at the moment! I will keep you posted on my progress!

Behringer Crave

Wow, Behringer Crave Synthesizer looks great! It sounds very nice and it's cheap (just 149€). It offers lots of wire-patching and knob-tweaking fun and I have felt sooo tempted :) This is the kind of sound toy I love.

I'm not buying it because I already have a Doepfer Dark Energy, which is something kind of similar (not really) and that I hardly ever use. I bought it years ago and have used it just for some sound effects and tracks.

Today I've also felt like I should enroll in a course (a very nice boot camp, for free, in my city). It seems like a great opportunity, but I'd better focus on my current projects: my game, reading, exercising, fixing my house, etc. I already have plenty of things to do!

Item price: 149€
Total savings: 854,82€