I just got back from a gift exchange with Double-A at Musashino. I also got my sister's Christmas card in the mail. So these items need to be added to the list:
- Philip Glass, Mishima
- A vampire-themed calendar
Double-A saw Mishima listed as part of my Kronos Re-Acquisition Project, an effort to reacquire CDs of Kronos Quartet albums I never upgraded to CD or had sold for cash in the past. That pretty much leaves Osvaldo Golijov's The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind and Tan Dun's Ghost Opera. I'm saving Ghost Opera for last because it's not really a great piece.
The calendar makes mention of a "Day Walker", an idea I once described to her for a novel I've been trying to write since the early '90s. If I haven't gotten it done by now, there's little chance of it happening. (I have a novel on Lulu.com, by the way.)
My sister sent cash, serendipitously in the amount I withdrew from the bank yesterday to pay for tonight's dinner. I like how that balances itself out.
Should I bother mentioning the $310 pair of monitor speakers I bought on Friday? By its proximity to Christmas — the day after, specifically — the purchase date would indicate yet another exorbiant gift to myself. No, I think at this point, I'm considering it a business expenditure. They will certainly be considered as such at tax time.
I went with the KRK Rokit Power 5, which gets pretty good reviews despite its relative cheap price. I tried to mix one of my original song on them, but I didn't get results that really satisfied me. I think it's more a problem with the song's arrangements than the speakers themselves. So I worked on a SUPERCAR cover instead, and when I got through it, I was encouraged how well the mix sounded when I switch to my computer speakers.
But all that working put a pinch in my elbow — Pac Man elbow of lore — so working today took a bit more effort. Maybe tomorrow I should work on vocals. That's what I'm supposed to be doing with my vacation time anyway.
Oh, and here's the SUPERCAR cover: