I like the stuff of productivity – as a kid it started with an affinity for office supply catalogs and school supplies.  I have a fascination with all the stuff that comes along with anything worthwhile that we humans do. People who sew, for example, need a lot of stuff – a machine, a box that holds all the needles and thread, a whole dedicated room of the house can help, lots of fabric, places to cut out patterns, stuff.  Car people have stuff – whole garages full of sockets and wrenches and jacks and fluids and parts and stuff.  Martial artists like me accumulate stuff – uniforms, belts, sparring gear, ice packs, headbands, weapons, books, stuff.  And raising children now requires so much stuff we create larger and larger vehicles and homes to hold it all!

Of course playing the violin takes stuff – an instrument, a teacher, a bow, a case, rosin, a tuner, a towel, a shoulder rest, music, a music stand, books, maybe spare strings, maybe a mute, Youtube.  Maybe more than one of any of these things, stuff.  And there are levels of all the stuff; the stuff is in a constant state of flux.

The state of my stuff:

• I love my teacher.
• I have no music yet, but after I memorize them I type out my little songs into my tablet.
• I will return my rental student level violin in the next few days, in favor of the one my father-in-law gave me, a much better instrument.
• I am deciding on one of the shoulder rests my teacher left for me to try last week, and retiring a sponge made for the same purpose.
• I use a tuner that’s an ap on my phone, and since the last update it’s become annoying because it wants to show me an ad before I can use it.  It was free, so I understand, but I now want a new one.
• I have two hunks of rosin that are poor quality, and I need to order a good one.
• I received a case for my new violin for Christmas – the one it’s been stored in for most (possibly all) of its 87 years must be replaced – but it does not fit, so I’m shipping it back today.
• I have selected the case I will buy, and provided it fits the instrument I am quite excited about it.

I’m not a materialistic person, but I can’t deny loving the stuff of a passionate pursuit.

Thanks for reading.

Ryan