If you are in the unfortunate position of being Paris Hilton, you know what it’s like to own money. If you are in the fortunate position of not being Paris Hilton, you know what it’s like to owe money. I owe money to people, one of which is a good friend of mine. About five years ago, he sold me his old computer, with the one twist that he gave it to me and we fixed a price, and I said I’d give the money to him as soon as I could. The years and the computer passed (away), and still I owed that money. Today, I paid back a substantial part of that money, and it doesn’t feel too bad. It does feel bad that I had to borrow money from my bank to pay it, but the fact that I was able to actually pay back a part without going bankrupt immediately after the transfer is a good thing. Well, that’s what I worked the whole summer for, translating technical gibberish.
Now that it’s all gone, let’s see what I could have bought for that kind of money:
- One of these IPods. Not the most expensive one, but still one with a whopping 4GB of storage, which in my eyes, is excess anyways.
- Three of these RIMM modules. Why in the hell do I have to have such a stupid motherboard which not only demands the most expensive RAM out there, but also wants it in pairs. It’s just not fair. Damn you, Intel, damn you! (I only would have needed two, but those more or less desperately)
- Up to one and a half of these flatbed scanners. (not exactly necessary, but to have one would have been nice)
- This ultimate Encyclopedia of Literary Translation into English. Not that I’d have much use for it right now, but you never know.
- About 20 CDs. For example this one. Or that one.
- The complete works of Neal Stephenson. In paperback. Maybe even in hardcover.
Well, no use in crying. The money’s gone, and frankly, I would have never bought that RAM. Maybe the complete works of N. Stephenson, but not that RAM. It wouldn’t have been right to pay that much for RAM, with all the world around me being able to buy that cheap stuff. So in the end, everything is fine. And to my friend, thanks a lot for not going crazy over that debt.