Jun 9th, 2024 Sunday Sunny
My husband finds the idea of 3D printing fascinating. He got to try some 3D printers through my workplace, and has been mostly pleased with the results. He even taught me how to use them, how to set up the models, and helped me with the cleaning up and polishing afterwards.
One day over dinner, he asked, “what do you think about buying a 3D printer for home use?”
My first reaction was, “that is expensive!” followed by, “WHY do we need one?”
He explained that the technology has advanced a lot since its debut, and it is reaching a relatively mature stage. Quite a few models designed for hobbyists (like him) are pretty affordable (it is worth noting that his definition of affordability is usually different from mine). Moreover, he could make “useful” things around the house as well (he did 3D print a replacement wheel for our dishwasher once).
While his arguments may be valid, I KNOW for a fact that 95 percent of the time this fancy machine is only going to print miniatures, little figurines, boulders, debris, and other perhaps cool/cute but completely unnecessary pieces for the campaign game that we are playing with some friends right now. In other words, I should evaluate this proposal as recreational spending rather than purchase of home supplies or appliances. So I adjusted my price allowance accordingly.
Fortunately for my husband, the actual price is lower than my expectation, and he happened to have gotten a decent discount due to Father’s Day.
Last Thursday this toy arrived, and the excitement was glowing on his face. He set it up as soon as he came home from work, and went ahead to print a bunch of models that he would later hand paint. He seemed determined to become a master of this art.
Once the boulders were finished, however, Yuuki heard the clanking sounds, and immediately became intrigued. She took the first chance to jump onto the desk, and pawed the boulders around like kitty soccer, eventually pushed some onto the carpet. Our attempt to prevent her mischief did not work – she remembered where her toys were, and returned for more.
Evidently, she was having fun. My husband sighed as he protected his “masterpieces” a fifth time from Yuuki’s claws and mouth (yeah, she would leave bite marks everywhere before you knew it). “You cannot stop a cat from being a cat.” is his logic.
“And you cannot stop a husband from being a boy.” thought I.
To a kitten like Yuuki, most of the world consists of just two entities: food or toy. A prey is both. We as cat parents probably are considered as the source of both food and toy, yet we are not the only source. Anything that falls out of both categories should either be avoided (danger) or ignored (everything else).
Sometimes it is nice to simplify life like a cat. As long as you still have a child at heart that there are activities that truly brings you joy, and you are able to indulge yourself every now and then within means, why not?
After all, is life without enjoyment really worth living?