One of my friends, who also works w/me, thinks I am absolutely insane for spending the time and money I do on audio gear and recordings. I have hundreds and hundreds of CDs and LPs and he thinks I am NUTS. Yet he loves my system and always wants to come over and listen and borrow all the new music I've gotten etc. He and his wife dine out in expensive gourmet restaurants every single weekend; that is their only hobby and they do it w/a vengeance. I have dined w/them once or twice, for a birthday or something special, and was appalled at how much they spend on food and wine! Easily they spend $200-300 every weekend on restaurants. And sometimes they go out both Friday and Saturday nights! When I pointed out to him how insane he was, on his own passions, he didn't seem to see the analogy. Other friends ask me "how much did this cost?" and I've learned to just say, Oh, I got a good deal, or I traded for it, or whatever. I would never dream of asking them, How much did that suit cost? or those shoes, your hundredth pair? or that vacation trip to Italy? or the remodeling of your house? Sometimes I find it annoying, but mostly I feel fine because I love what I hear in my home listening to music, and I spend hours engaged in it, reading, doing chores, or just really listening. It's funny how audio is seen as an extravagance, whereas SUVs, restaurant meals, and expensive clothes are not. But I've always marched to the beat of a different drummer--and probably heard those drumbeats w/more detail and resolution and deep bass than the normal people who criticize our hobby.
