I'm thinking again. I'm not exactly sure, but I think I've more or less made up my
mind about what to do with the credit card. As much as I would love to have some more keyboards, the most useful, and immediately enjoyable, item which I could purchase would be a power amp.

1) With a power amp, I could get back into playing. As a result, I could make some money, and with my current financial position, that's a definite selling point.

2) Not having an amp has always been one thing which has held me back as a musician. I've had to pass up lots of opportunities due to this.

3) I could use a power amp to drive stereo speakers as well, meaning I would have a stereo again. I could listen to my CD's and tapes without having to use those damned headphones. Plus, the modularity of this would mean that any equipment I managed to buy later on, for use in both recording and performances, could be used to process my collection too.

Okay. To be fair. What are the selling points on the keyboard, you might ask?

1) It would allow me to work on songs. That would prove a most useful asset, helping to heal the void which has seemed to come into being since my M-1 was sold. I could continue to explore.

2) I could use it in a band (if I ever managed to get an amp). This would greatly enhance the sound of any band.

I just don't know. The amp would have more practical uses than the keyboards. But I think the keyboards would be more beneficial, at least emotionally.

I've wondered if it might be cheaper to try to get the Ampeg repaired. If it needs a transformer, as Hames Music claimed it did, then it wouldn't be much cheaper. If, however, it only needs power tubes, the cost wouldn't be much more than $150, if that much. That would leave a lot of room to play with on this card.

Still ... current lines of thought seem to be leaning towards the amp. It could be used for more than one purpose, and that is the strongest selling point there is. Buying the amp would also leave enough room on the card to pay some bills. I've already written letters to all those goddamned magazines I subscribed to, asking them to charge my accounts to the card, although they were written with full knowledge that they may or may never get sent.

Jesus. Play it smart or play it happy? Either way would be nice. Either way would be progress. I suppose I just need to figure out which kind of progress, and
how much, I want to make.