January 2, time to go back to work (from home, at least) and try to remember what I was doing…
And well past time for the earworms from a particular couple of Christmas musicals to be jettisoned from my headspace. Especially that one, thank you very much… uh-oh there it is again. If I had a bugle I would BLOW IT UP.
I’ve had to resort to whistling “Cruel Angel’s Thesis,” “Katamari on the Rocks”, “You’re Welcome” and even playing “Everything Is Awesome” to try to crowd these out.
I made a list of my current music gear, hardware and software (the “active” list that I use to select plugins in Bitwig). The intent was a sort of checklist to make sure everything gets thoroughly explored and maybe I’ll document that exploration in at least some cases. But laying it all out in that way opened my to just how much stuff I have to choose from, so I have amended my gear plan for 2024:
Don’t buy stuff. With the following exceptions:
- Direct 1-for-1 upgrades which have an obvious benefit.
- Possible replacement of Blinds with Toppobrillo Cluster.
- Filling available Eurorack space is OK.
- Trading modules is OK if well-justified, but this should be minimized.
- Accessories, knobs, panel overlays, etc.
- Software that is especially novel, exciting and relevant to my music — provided I first review my list of current gear to remind myself of what I already have.
- (EDIT: and really cheap fun sound toys.)
I really enjoyed assembling the Lego bonsai tree my brother got me as a Christmas surprise. I have some fond memories of building stuff with him using our combined sets (mostly Space and Technic). But I don’t particularly want to keep the finished models (as neat as the bonsai is) to gather dust and potentially lose pieces; I’ve already been considering what to do with my modest minifig collection (a proper display case, or box them up or sell them) to get some useful storage space back.
But, why not just get a more general Lego set, combine the stuff I have and enjoy the occasional transient build and teardown? It’s more about the process than the results after all.
I found an 1800-piece “Creative Fantasy Universe” set on Mercari at a decent discount. (I’ve seen in reviews that this set includes a lot of small pieces, especially eyes for some reason, so the piece count may not compare to some other sets… although the number of pieces in the bonsai set was inflated by having 200 “pebble” bits too. But still it should be a pretty helpful starting point.) That plus the various stuff I’ve got should be a nice starting point, though I could see myself adding a bit of Technic or other stuff later. Most likely I’ll want something to store and organize parts a bit, some kind of craft box/tackle box thing with a bit of room to grow.