Because things can never be too easy for me, ya know?

Let’s just take it from the top, although I’ve already mentioned a few of my technological troubles before.  So, you know that I ordered the Wacom Cintiq a few months ago.  Well, actually, before we even get into that, I had to save up for the Wacom Cintiq, which took a few months.  Okay, so a few months of anticipation while I saved up.  Then, I ordered it.

$1,999.00.

But, it was on back order indefinitely.  I really had no other choice but to wait it out because there really is no other tablet monitor that’s as good as the Cintiq (that I know of).  So, I tried to do some research to find out what was taking so long on everything and there were some rumors here and there and nothing really substantial that I could really rely on.

Roughly two months of agonizing waiting later, it ships.  It gets here in two days and everything is all well and good.  Except, now I need all the software to animate with and an upgraded computer that would be able to handle it all.  I go ahead and order the software (Adobe Creative Suite 5: Production Premium) on Cyber Monday because it was the best deal I could get.

$1,650.00.

It actually shipped and arrived at my house in two days.  It was fine.  All I needed was to get my computer checked out.

So, I take my ancient Sony computer tower to a computer repair shop in town and I’m met by this ginger kid (don’t salivate, Katrina Storm, I think he’s underage).  I tell him my situation and ask if my computer could be upgraded to handle all the stuff I would need or if it would just be cheaper to buy a new one.  As soon as he opened up the tower, he chuckled and said the tower was no good and it would be cheaper to buy another.  He then offers to build one with the specific qualifications I would need.  Asking price?

Roughly $600.00.

He said he would need to order the parts for it and once they came in, he could assemble it in about two days.  The whole process would take about a week.  I tell him to hold off until I can conference with my mom.  Later that night, I talk to her and ask if I should go ahead or wait until I have more funds saved up.  I had just made two large purchases and wasn’t sure if I should proceed with another.  She told me to go ahead since I’d need it anyway.  She then offered to go to the computer repair place after she went grocery shopping (the place is right next to the grocery store) and tell them to go ahead and do it.

I come home from work the next day and Mom says she told them to go ahead.  Great.

A week later, she calls them while I’m at work and inquires about the progress.  They tell her they were waiting for our go ahead.  Uuuhhh.  We thought we had already done that.  So, she tells them again to go ahead and do it.  So, I was kind of irritated because I could have already had it by then but there was some kind of communication mix-up somewhere in the fold.  It worried me because this ginger kid, although seemingly intelligent, seemed slightly air-headed as well.  I wasn’t sure he’d do a great job assembling my computer.

And then Christmas came and I knew that would delay the process even longer.

Earlier this week, after I got off of work, Mom told me the computer repair people had called and said my computer was ready.  She went to pick it up the next day but they told her they would prefer if the ginger kid who built it would just deliver it to our home and set it up for us.  Okay, fine, whatever.  So, they made an appointment for him to deliver it the next day at 5:00.  I got off work at 4:00, so that worked out great.

Well, the next day, I get home at 4:30 and excitedly start straightening my room for the ginger kid to deliver my brand new baby.  I get a call from the computer people.  The ginger kid had an appointment in Enterprise and was running late and wouldn’t be able to make it to my house that night.  He got off at 5:00 every day and I was going to get off at 5:00 the next day as well so I assumed I wouldn’t be able to get it the next day either ’cause we’d both be at work and would get off at the same time.  The owner of the repair shop says the ginger kid will call me around 5:30 the next day and we’d take it from there.  Fine.

Pretty disappointed.  Pretty anxious.

So, the next day comes and I get off work and Mom says they called and for me to call the ginger kid back and he’d deliver the computer that night.  If I were able to glow, I would have.

I call him and tell him to come on over.  He says it would take about twenty minutes.  It took about forty-five because he got lost.

He hooked up the tower to the Cintiq and then installs Windows 7 for me as well as Firefox and some anti-virus software.  He also has to install a…wireless driver…I think it’s called?… so I can connect to the Internet.  I didn’t realize he would need to do that so when he asked if I still had the wireless CD for my current wireless device, I said I had no idea where it was.  He then tried to download one but when that didn’t work, he went back tot he shop and got another, which took about another twenty or so minutes.  He also helped me install all the Adobe programs.  The process took a little under three hours.  Fortunately, my irritation/unease about his abilities slowly wore off as we made small chit chat while he camped out underneath my desk, connecting wires and opening up the new computer tower to do this or that.  Turns out, he wasn’t too bad at all. 

Final price tag?

The roughly $600.00 turned into a bowel busting $735.00.

And while we are at it, let’s add in the cost of a new desk on which I would be animating: $180.00.

Grand total:  $4,564.00.

Certainly quite the investment, no?  The good part is I actually have about half of it paid off already.  All of that waiting around for my stuff to show up kind of worked in my favor because I was able to keep working and earning enough money to pay for all this crap.  It certainly wasn’t fun knowing how much all of this would cost.  I could have gotten braces for that kind of money or used it toward paying my student loans but what was done had to be done.  As I said, these programs and the Cintiq are top-notch and there really isn’t an equivalent.  And again, it’s an investment.

It’s just so weird sitting down and being able to animate again.  The first night I had everything set up, I was too tired to really do anything.  I spent all the next day playing around in the programs.  They had all been updated two or three times since I graduated so the layouts were quite different.  That coupled with my craptacular memory served to hinder my knowledge of the programs a bit but hopefully with more practice, I’ll get all the way to decent!

I’m not a patient person.  This whole setup has been close to a year in the making.  But, it’s here and I have it all and in a few more months and a giant hit to my banking account, it will all be paid off.  But, the really hard part is next.  Now that I have everything I’m going to need, I have to do something with it.  I have to start producing some awesome work to justify the price tag.  I didn’t get all this stuff for spits and giggles.  This is going to hopefully further my artistic expression and land me a good job.  That thought it quite scary.  All this time, I had to relay on other people to have this happen.  I had to wait for the Wacom company to get their stuff together and send me a Cintiq.  I had to wait for this ginger kid to build a computer for me.  But, now it’s in my hands.  There’s nowhere left to turn and no one to blame it on when things go off course.

It’s all on me now.

I’m scared.  Nervous.  Ready.