…they are the size of a Mastiff
Holy Crap! A post NOT about The Doclopedia!
After much thought on how to spend my alotted Xmas $$ (Grace and I buy our own presents, usually something practical and useful), I’ve decided to renew my subscription to The Mother Earth News and get new subscriptions to one or two other magazines, most likely those dealing with gardening and/or raising small livestock. If there’s any money left over, I’ll probably buy a couple of books at the used book store. I decided to buy the magazine subs based on their usefulness and the fact that they stretch out over a whole year.
But let’s look at what I didn’t choose to buy…
RPGs or Boardgames: On the RPG front, precious little of what is out there interests me and even less would get played by my gaming group. Boardgames are much more interesting to me, but having only 50 bucks to spend, my choices would be cut by about 50%. Also, the odds of playing them regularly aren’t very good.
Computer Games: Besides the fact that the internet both provides tons of free games AND sucks up too much of my time anyway, my poor old laptop won’t run most games that have come out in the last 5 years or so. Additionally, I hate shooter games and any MMO games, so those sections are right out.
Music: Oddly, I don’t listen to much music at home anymore, mostly because the tv is always on. At work, I have Sirius XM on most of the cars I drive and I tend to listen to Book Radio or the Radio Classics Channel or NPR. Sometimes I tune in the better, non-wimpy rock channels. In my own car, whose CD player died back in 2005, I tend to listen to NPR or the local classic rock station. I do sometimes crank on Pandora when I’m on the computer, but often as not, I forget to.
Books: This house is about halfway to critical mass with books because Grace and I have never met a library/charity book sale or a used book/thrift store we didn’t love. Also, my pile of “books to read next” is about 7 feet tall.
Clothing: Buying clothing for Xmas is just wrong. Also, I have plenty of pairs of blue jeans and t-shirts and socks and undies. What else would I need?
Garden Implements: I’m at the point where any garden implement I need or want comes with a gas engine or an electric motor and costs a few hundred bucks (chipper/shredder, I’m looking at you).
Livestock: Not until after the Great Garden Renovation is complete.
Kitchen Implements: Pretty much the same answer as books and garden stuff. Everything I need/want is out of my Xmas budget limit.
So it was magazines. Of course, in just over a month I’ll have to consider my birthday present, but I’ll probably just add that money to the Dundracon fund.
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