In retrospect...

"Longview" from Green Day came on the radio today while on my way to work. I hated, hated, HATED this song, and Green Day when they first came out. Nowadays, I kind of like it. I look back and think to myself: "Green Day was actually pretty good." (It doesn't hurt that their new album, while predictably overplayed, is pretty awesome.)

But it illuminates something I think about sometimes. Bands that I didn't much care for 10 years (or so) when they first emerged, but do now, is it because my tastes have expanded to include them? Or is it because, in retrospect, they're much better than what's being offered now? Like, in 10 years, will I be saying: "That Franz Ferdinand is really actually pretty good"?

OK, I really doubt that one.

I prefer to think it's the first option. But that's mainly because I don't want to turn into one of those guys that starts all their sentences with: "Back in my day, music was..." But who knows, maybe it's not stagnating curmudgeonny appearing as I grow older. Maybe rock music is actually getting worse. (I say rock music, because I think pop music of the past few years has actually been pretty good.)

One thing's for sure, it's always changing. Faster now than ever. And there will always be something new out there I'll think is good. It's just a matter of finding it.
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Speaking of music, I've heard "Burning for You" by the Blue Oyster Cult a couple of times recently on the radio. What a good tune. Never thought I'd be driving along and have that come on the radio and think to myself: "I didn't know it, but this is EXACTLY what I wanted to hear right now."
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Yesterday, I dropped $1,400 on a new laptop. It's a Dell, so I don't even have the instant gratification of taking it home right away. Basically, I spent all that money on the idea of a new laptop, the reality of which will arrive in about a week and a half or so.

Spending that kind of money all at once is always tough, even in a case like this where I have the money earmarked for just this purpose. (I don't actually HAVE all the money yet, some of it's tied up in tax returns I'm still waiting one and Ebay sales of old comic books, and the impending Craigslist sale of a TV. But the money to pay for it will all be coming in within a month or so. I was going to wait until I actually had all the cash in hand, but I bought yesterday merely because Dell was having some good deals.)

But the point is, there's always that sharp and instantaneous, if short-lived, buyer's remorse after I spend that kind of cash on something. I configured my system on Dell's website, added it to my "Shopping Cart", put in my payment information....looked at the submit button for about two minutes....finally pressed it. And then 30 seconds later, after I got my confirmation, thought: "Oh, God! What did I just do?!?!"

This seems to happen to me with all my big purchases. Not that I didn't want to do it, but the idea of spending all that money at once always kind of weirds me out briefly.

But the computer....yeah this thing is decked out. Got it set up primarily for recording. I've been meaning to build up my computer recording rig, and this was step one, largely because I needed a computer with at least one Firewire port for the I/O I want to eventually buy. And also, because I wanted something portable. Now (technically: soon), I can record on the road. Not that I necessarily will a lot, that would be dependent on having the chance to, but I can. Also, this laptop has an internal wireless internet connection which rocks a lot because now I can do things like:

- Stat track my fantasy football teams while watching the games in my living room. No more running back and forth to my room during commercials.
- Surf for porn on the internet while watching porn on TV.
- Feel at home in coffee shops.

All in all, now that my buyer's remorse has gone away, not a bad purchase. Now if it would just get here.