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Originally Posted by !@#$%!
sorry i didn't answer this sooner but last night it was spa night at the !@#$%! house and you can see how bath salts, massage oil and smooth nooky must take precedence over the arguing on the internet, right?
anyway, this is a public internet forum, and so everything that gets posted in it is subject to public discussion, isn't it? i'm also not implying you don't have money to pay the rent, i'm just putting into perspective the size of the purchase, which is not trivial. those $543 could buy you external backup and insurance for your machines though. but i digress...
ha ha ha, ok, maybe. but i have to make some assumptions, and i think it's a common fair assumption to make that students who aren't on trust funds are strapped for cash.
now, before we continue, let me say that i like you "no homo" (ha ha), and you're one of my favorite posters here-- smart and reasonable and funny, etc., so please don't think i'm trying to shit on you here, or anything of that sort. farthest thing from my mind.
HOWEVER, being someone who is past the abyss of 30, married, and working full time, i may have a tendency to adopt a "dad"persona, even though madame !@#$%! and i have no kids yet-- though we are at constant risk for that. now, im not anybody's dad, and you sure didn't ask me to play that role for your benefit, but look at it from this perspective-- i taught college for 4 years while i was in grad school (2 years for the master's, 2 years into the PhD) and had i continued i could be your prof. so you could call me "professor". ha ha ha. ok that was goofy. but it's also besides the point. what's the point?
oh yeah. so i'm expressing these views out of concern not just for your well-being but that of gullible people in this board who might decide to mortgage their futures on the altar of consumerism. screamingskull comes to mind-- she's a sweetie, i love her to pieces, but seems a little naive when it comes to assessing the true cost of expensive gadgets. anyway, i'm the self-appointed catcher in the rye. and why was i saying this?
oh yes. so, the purchase, the price, etc. when i was teaching college it seemed to me that the students who had a harder time with classes were the ones who were busy with jobs jobs jobs. always working. no time to study. stressed out running from one place to another. now, again, don't get me wrong, maybe you're in the dean's list, maybe you're gonna be valedictorian, but in principle the idea of being a student is that of sacrificing some earning power & the comforts of money making in order to receive later payoffs, i.e. a degree that confers you greater earning power and the satisfaction of a more pleasant job.
$543, assuming you make around $8 an hour, equals about 68 hours of work, or 8.5 days working full time. that's enough time to take vacation for almost 2 weeks of finals, for example, so you could get a higher GPA which means better chance of funding for grad school, for example, or (as i said before) an external drive and theft/damage insurance for your music machines.
now you already made your purchase, which was your free choice as an adult, and you're committed to it, there's no backing out, and you might as well enjoy it-- you'll want to do that, rather than fill your head with buyer's remorse. but i just wanted to point out for the rest of those who may feel hypnotized by the marketing of expensive gadgets that
<dad_persona>
money doesn't come as easy as it seems when you're looking at shiny objects
</dad_persona>
and that
<dad_persona>
students who need to work to go to school don't need to mortgage their futures buying expensive things, because they will be able to afford them once they graduate and get the fat paychecks.
</dad_persona>
and that
<dad_persona>
having your money work for you is better than you having to work for money
<dad_persona>
sorry man, again don't mean to shit on you or patronize, but i do have strong feelings about consumerism and its shitty consequences on people's lives... oh and i'm speaking from experience here, i've fucked up plenty in this area, i have the scars to prove i know what i'm talking about.
anyway, i should get back to work. arguing over the internet does beat work though, but the clients are waiting.
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