My desk is kind of small, but it fits a 24″ monitor and a laptop docking station perfectly. I keep thinking it would be nice to have a second 24″ monitor, but this would require me to either have a longer desk and move my printer stand, or simply have the laptop docking station on the printer (it would work – it’s fairly flat). As it is, I saw a nice desk the other day that was long enough and would fit that wall, but it was rather expensive, and I’d still have to move the printer stand.
I have a PS4 and a PS3. The PS3 can actually play PS1 games but not PS2 games. However, there are a few PS2 games I’d really love to play again, so in order to do so, I have limited options: 1) I can buy a PS2, 2) I can buy an original “fat” PS3 that actually played games from all three consoles, or 3) ahoy there matey, treasure be all over the internet. None of these is ideal. If Sony had made the PS5 backwards compatible with everything, I would have pre-ordered that in a heartbeat, but alas, that was only a rumor early in 2020. On top of all this, I’m really starting to want to buy a Switch, and Black Friday approaches.
Both of these examples illustrate how there is really is no perfect setup. I haven’t even talked about backpacking and hiking gear, car tools, or computer parts. Whole industries seem to exist to confound and tantalize with options. Before deciding to axe my custom computer, I was looking up specs for another case and found a discussion online where the participants had voluminous knowledge of all the devices available and their appropriate specs. How many hours of your life do you have to dedicate to the field in order to know all of those things? And goodness, those will all be obsolete two years from now. These “experts” are at least helpful when you need them, but if that’s the kind of knowledge you need to get a “perfect setup” or close, most of us are screwed.
Right now I have to balance my desire to “improve my setup” with my desire to not spend money. Do I want a different file safe? Money. Do I want a different desk? Money. Do I want another monitor? Money. Do I want a PS2? Money. As I’ve said before, being particular costs. Even people with giant houses spend much of their time planning to paint and remodel. It’s not like they’re out of space, or at least I hope not, so I suspect it’s more along the lines of boredom than anything else. We seem to enjoy hyper-optimizing our lives for its own sake, because I guess sunshine and clean water aren’t enough. Then again, on rare occasions, some upgrades or improvements really hit the spot. But just as drinking a soda after a long hike is great while also drinking a soda the next day really isn’t, so these upgrades fizzle in their effect on our lives, but we keep chasing them.
It wouldn’t kill me to buy a Switch and stuff the PS3 in a box downstairs. In fact, buying a Switch would probably be cheaper than scrambling after all my old PS2 games (for comparison, I easily spent $200 on Gameboy stuff). The thing about video game nostalgia for me is that once I’ve captured those memories and fun, I’m done for awhile. That’s why emulators and piracy are appealing: it kinda sucks to pay for a console and games you only intend to play once every 5 years, and I really hate having boxes of old crap lying around. But that’s just me.
I kind of despise my printer, but it’s old enough that you can use electrical tape to trick it into thinking the ink is full. I effectively have a monochrome printer because it doesn’t complain about low a color is when you want to print black-and-white (and what a scam, I frickin’ hate these companies). These days, printers are more sophisticated and you probably can’t get away with doing that – you’ll have to ante up for color ink even if you don’t use it. Makes me question whether this is something I want to upgrade, or even get rid of then have to buy new anyway if I find I really need one. Might be safer just to keep it.
Oh, contentment. Where have you gone? I have missed you. Fixing and tweaking and changing – it all costs money and mental real estate. I’d love to just stop caring and appreciate the things I have for what they are.