For anyone thinking about shopping for me for Christmas, I have this one piece of advice: don't do it.

The kinds of things I would ask of Herr Sinter Klauss are either too pricey for casual gift-giving or too specialized. It's not like you can pick up Hajime Chitose's Shima Kyora Umui from Best Buy. And do I matter that much to you to spend $300 on a pair of studio monitor speakers? Didn't think so.

I know there's some debate or other about giving cash as a Christmas gift, but for me, cash is so much simpler. I know where to get what I want, and I'm not afraid to risk my credit card number to get it. My gift-givers in the past, not so much. And most of them can't read Japanese anyway.

The first time I made a list of various sundy items for which I was desirous, I ended up getting a lot of them. The last time I made a similar list, I later decided I wasn't really in a position to make much use of them. (A camcorder? QuarkXpress upgrade? Really?)

This time, I'm making a list of things I actually foresee myself getting in the near future. That all depends on the tax return and the second half of the company bonus. It also helps that I'm in the last few months of my car payment.

So I want but not necessarily for Christmas …

  • A pair of studio monitor speakers. I'm tired of using my computer speakers, of having to anticipate how the bass presence on these speakers may translate when I listen in my car or at work. I would like to have some monitors that have no color — like the headphones I bought in September — so mixing isn't such a guessing game.
  • Bass traps. I've already treated the room with some acoustic foam to handle the high frequencies. I'm not sure if I really have much of a problem with standing waves, but I could feel a subtle difference when I installed the foam. Perhaps bass traps will enhance that difference even more.
  • Singing lessons. My breath control sucks, my timbre is off and my mic technique is non-existent.
  • Mastering Audio by Bob Katz, or The Mastering Engineer's Handbook by Bob Owsinski.
  • In the Aeroplane Over the Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel. I'm probably going to get this when I start doing my Christmas shopping.

Now if you're not going to heed my advice and you insist on shopping for me, let me make it easy for you: Guitar Center Gift Card. I actually tell people this every year, and it never happens. One of these days, it's going to stick.