So you returned after having crawled through yesterday’s entry? I’m impressed, I really am.

The most annoying thing about the death of my hard drive is probably that I have to rip all my CDs again. I don’t have a large collection, about 200 albums or something like that, but it’s still work that has to be done and it takes time. Lots of time. Since I have to manually load a new CD every time a rip is complete, I really can’t do anything else. But thanks heaven for CDex and freedb.org, without them I’d never survived. This is another good reason why I should buy myself a new MP3 player, one with a little more than 256 MB of storage. As MP3 backup. I still want a Create Zen Micro, but if I’m going to have all my music on the player, I might as well go for a larger iPod. Too bad it’s still a bit pricey. It would be like buying myself a Christmas present that’ll have to be my Christmas present to myself for the next five years.

Speaking of Christmas presents, I’ve not bought a single one this year. I’ve given some money to Médecins Sans Frontières instead of giving a present to my parents, they don’t really need anything anyway, and I’m giving money to my two sisters. I suck at finding good presents, Liv Marie will second that, and they probably have something they want to buy. Since one of them is pumping out a unit in a few months time, I guess she and her boyfriend won’t be having any problems spending the money.

Maybe I’m a cheap fuck, I don’t know. Some people will probably think that, why don’t I give away Christmas presents to all of my friends? First of all, I don’t want to contribute that much to the season’s shopping madness. I think our resident I-wanna-save-the-world-representative, Karine, has had some influence on that decision, although I don’t know if she’s done so intentionally. Also, I don’t want people to feel that they need to give me something in return if they get something from me. I don’t really need anything, so you don’t need to get me anything. And that how it works, if you get some, you’re supposed to give something back. But, hey, don’t get me wrong - if you give me something, I’m not going to throw it in your face. What I probably will do is panic, because I have to get you something and Christmas is approaching way too fast.

While I write this, I get an SMS from Teje, who wonders if I’m home so he can drop by with something he wants to give me for Christmas. I write about how I really don’t need Christmas presents, and I get a Christmas present. Oh, the irony of life.

I really don’t need a million dollars.

[…]

Didn’t work.

Anyway, to sum up this mess: I think that getting presents is great, but If I don’t get any, I won’t be disappointed. You’re not a lesser friend to me. Show me that you appreciate my company, that’ll be more than enough. If you just have to give something away, send some money to Médecins Sans Frontières, Amnesty International or another similar organization.