...the One Hundred Dollar toy car has been bought, except it turned out to be an eighty dollar car and a twenty dollar car. Over and above anything else, it was an extended (weeklong) period of stress spent finishing a very time sensitive project that pushed my desire past the point of controlling it. Fortunately, this little exercise in self-punishment paid fairly well so I was able (with the wife's consent, of course), to indulge myself just this once, even if it means a fresh and potentially longer moratorium.
There's really something to be said for buying such a lovely item...two of them, actually. Two different scales of the same car, the Porsche 911 997 GT3, by AUTOart. Probably not necessarily the most responsible way to spend money, but I definitely needed it at the time, having deprived myself of both sleep and time for my day job.
Anyway, a friend and fellow collector told me that the boon and the bane of being a collector, even a 'moderate' as opposed to 'hardcore' one is that no matter how gorgeous or definitively satisfying a piece is when one acquires it, x weeks or months later there will be something even more beautiful just begging to be bought. I know that, deep down, I still have a hankering for that Kyosho 1/18 Audi R8 that I just missed out on the day I bought the 1/18 911 GT3, even though I honestly do believe I got a better deal with the Porsche. I'm actually glad for the lean times I have to endure every now and then because at least the urge gets the temperance it needs. Barring another extremely high-stress, high-income stretch of time...or an insanely large windfall I can see myself putting off buying another big-ticket item (the Audi R8 comes to mind) until December at the very earliest, and I'm pretty sure I know where I'll be able to find one by then, even without the benefit of eBay.
But damned if this collector's itch isn't one of the most formidable forces I've ever had to reckon with in my life. I'm actually glad Matchbox makes such nice models; it's easier to keep the need at bay if I can feed it a little every now and then ;)
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