Quick Note on a Big Decision

I've got yet more housing paperwork to make sure gets done, but I wanted to share, cause I'm both excited and freaked. I spoke to mom and she believes that if I ask everyone in the family for money for Christmas, I can probably raise about $1000. This is enough money to buy pretty much the most expensive utterly non-essential thing I've ever seriously considered buying - the painting by Omar Rayyan that I saw at Gencon (see this post), called Man with Gold Earring (it's the default image on display at this link). That money won't produce until December, but I've been thinking about the painting all the time since I saw it August, and I've finally made up my mind. It will be mine. I just contacted the artist and asked if there was any smaller amount I could send him so that he'd hold the painting for me til I have the full down payment. The total buying price is $5,000. It's gonna take a while to pay for it all, but I'll manage. It's worth it to me, and that's all I really had to figure out. Guess this means I really am an art collector. Or something.