Is it materialistic of me to jones for a cello of my own or is it giving my musical side the recognition it deserves?
And if it’s okay to jones for a cello of my own how expensive of a cello is it okay for me to jones for?
And if it’s okay for me to jones for a medium-priced cello of my own and my cello teacher mentions he’s seen several nice ones lately, is it okay for me to seriously consider buying one of them? And if that’s okay, where the hell is the money supposed to come from? Is it okay to hit up the American relatives for a loan? Or maybe even a “loan”?
And if it’s okay for me to spend a reasonable sum of money on a genuine cello, oughtn’t I spend an equal amount on my wife? Or would it be enough to buy her a musical instrument of her own? Would that be generous, or would it be cynical and miserly, seeing as how she plays the recorder?
Or is that just her problem?
It’s just, you know. I’ve wanted a cello of my own for a long time. Since I started this blog. Since I started the predecessor of the predecessor of this blog.
Two hands. On this hand, I think about myself all the time anyway and am selfish and self-centered and egotistic and neglectful of others and insensitive and a frustrated bully. On that hand, I’m making a lot of progress on the frustration and bully things and you have any idea how pretty a cello is? Or whatever instrument it is you play? A new instrument, belonging to you?
But none of that matters.
On the one hand I’m broke, on the other hand life confronts me with cellos for sale.
If it’s a test, what is the right answer? Jump for once and buy the cello, or be frugal for once and not buy it?
An acquaintance mentioned a PC for sale recently, used, ultra cheap, but it was gone by the time I decided to take it.
It’s easy to say, go for it guy, you only live once. It’s not your money.
It’s easy to say, when you’re eighty and phasing in and out of consciousness you’ll think, where is that hot nurse and, did I ever buy that cello or not? so buy it. It’s not your money.
So to make it harder and more realistic, I’m charging $50/
Questions within questions
Posted in Metamorphosism
I won’t really send Beta to your house. She doesn’t have her driver’s license yet, I’d have to drive her. It would be terribly inefficient and cost-ineffective, unless you all lived on the same street or something.
angelina jolie has a thing for knives, so now i’m picturing beta as some sort of young, not yet driving jolie, with a harp. it’s not a bad picture.
this reminds me of one of the childcare books i got which recommended that i support the baby’s buttocks and legs with one hand, and his upper torso with the other, remembering always to support his head with one hand. one only has so many other hands.
i think you should be willing to spend money proportionate to the amount of pleasure things give you. whether you’re able to actually do that is another hand entirely.
Another good reason to switch to the electric guitar. One that’s cheap enough so you don’t mind smashing it into your amp, or throwing it into the audience or setting it on fire and stuff.
my girly-girl wants a plush toy snake for her birthday—a big snake. She’s not yet seven years old; any obscene remarks and I will find you and kill you … anyway. cello. You managed to scrape up the dough for a harp for Beta, it seems, and I don’t remember seeing any of those as trinkets in gum machines lately, so you’re not the only one that you spend money on apparently. There are limits to your selfishness, egotism, usw. If you actually play the thing, as opposed to letting it sit and collect dust bunnies, it’s unlikely that it will ever appear in retrospect to be a waste of money. If you have the money. But if you don’t have it, then you can’t get it—unless I buy it for you. So fine. Here. Take it. Pay me back someday if you have the money; if not, forget it.
i have yet to meet a real-life ma theresa, yanno.
re, jonesing: definitely not materialistic, i don’t think you have to worry about that. (i won’t even DARE try to answer the other questions, lest my bill here grow exorbitant…)
ok, so do you accept paypal?
;)
brandelion: Paypal’s fine, Confederate dollars, Chinese Hell money, Monopoly money, whatever.
anne: she’s got both the pale skin/dark hair and the wide-mouth-frog mouth of liv tyler, without either quite the height or the rock-star dad. liv tyler with knives, and harps. and more muscular shoulders.
on egotism, my philosophy is we have to be, no one else is going to be egotistic for us. in the long run, we have to be egotistical for our relationships to work, and for the sake of our children if we have them, we must be, for we want them to be happy and they learn by example. we can’t say: look, i’m miserable because i never thought of myself or actually i thought of myself but i was miserable and i thought about how miserable i was all the time and wished i could do something for myself and take what life offered me but i let it pass and don’t you make the same mistake. we can’t say that we have to show them how we want them to live.
but what i’m wondering about right now is, we want something or need something, and life seems to present us with a chance to actually get it, if sometimes in a way we had not imagined. and we sometimes chicken out. can’t blame life for that.
Buy the cello. If you think that you’ll have at least another forty years to play it, then do that accountant thing and spread out the cost over forty years of playing and enjoyment and the expense is really quite minimal. One of the benefits of being an employed adult is getting goodies for yourself now and then. Do it do it do it.
Send Alpha, send Beta, I am not worried. For gods sake though, don’t send Gamma! She is scary.
I think if you give Alpha a new recorder AND a new music stand it will equal out… :-)
it’s interesting you brought up the cello problem. a friend of mine recently had the same problem – she’d been playing for several years on and off and was offered an opportunity to acquire a new one. she paid for it, but then later reneged on it because it was too expensive to ship over.
so i guess the question is, how much will it cost? clearly there is a maximum limit in your head, too.
$50 is more like
You’re hesitating because you know that in two weeks the cello’s two new friends will be the rusty beer fridge and your set of golf clubs, you ummed and arred about buying, at the back of the garage.
Buy it.
You could compromise and buy the small version of the cello, a violin. I have one for sale.
I like your reasoning. How much are you asking?
Despite its size, I’ve never heard a cello solo. Can they make melody and music alone? In fact, can they stand alone?
Despite the forgoing questions, we only pass this way once and therefore, anyone who plays a cello should have one even if they have to rent or borrow one.
[Roberta S] Cellos can be gorgeous just by themselves, or they make great continuo for, say, a recorder.
Buy it. A good instrument makes a world of difference and you’ll be making beautiful music, for yourself and everyone else. Money’s just money.
Where do I send my $50?
Cello solo is exquisite. Listen to Anner Bylsma playing Bach sometimes, on a Stradivari no less. It doesn’t get any better than that.
zedzdead pretty much sums up why I am hesitating with this – ought I get a garage before I get a cello? So I’ll have somewhere to stash it when I lose interest? Except, I don’t really collect expensive things in that manner. Or do I?
Somebody…please introduce Roberta to Yo-Yo Ma or Charles Lebouc or Ray Brown or my mom.