I managed to complete my PC-FI rack project last weekend and I think it turned out better than I thought it would. AT first I thought it was crap but I’ve warmed a little to it. Now I need a new desk to match the teak stain but that is for another time. I’ve got too much shit as it is, I need to get rid of all the superfluous pieces of furniture that were handed to me when I was trying to get my shit together and although I was grateful to have them at the time, my tastes have matured since. Before I collect any more stuff to clutter the place up with I have to try and off load the stuff I don’t want and that is proving to be easier said than done.

Anyway, I probably need to tweak the rack slightly so the aluminium slats are sitting a little more flat. I used neoprene washers between the two metal pieces and after a rather long day drilling, filing and sanding I was anxious to just finish the damn thing and I didn’t pay enough attention to detail to get the slats flat, but I think the neoprene washers can moved closer to the centre of the slats so they don’t twist when I tighten the screws.

My Ikea mish-mash PC-FI rack in all its glory.

My next project will be to install speaker spikes into my speaker stands but after I messed up one stand already by not paying attention to where I was drilling, I have some touch up work to do with wood putty and painting. Again! I wish paint would dry quicker. I messed up the first time because I didn’t wait long enough for the shit to dry. I thought a couple of days would be sufficient but to my dismay when I used some rubber furniture feet inverted for my speakers to sit on and then deciding to use some sound barrier damping instead,  I discovered the rubber feet had dug into the paint, which as I found hadn’t hardened enough to support the weight of the speakers pushing on the edge of the feet. Into the paint they went..grrr! We live and we learn I guess but I must say I was pissed after spending days priming and painting the things only to find that my impatience ruined all my hard work.

Next will be some sound treatment for my walls. I want to mak some frames and stuff it with something to absord sound waves so they don’t reflect. That will definitely try my patience because I don’t see myself as any sort of handy man and it will be totally foreign territory trying to arrange some cloth in an artistic fashion. We’ll have to see if it eventuates. Having nowhere to work is limiting. I might have to visit my mates places to construct it. There are many downfalls to living in a flat. Maybe one day I’ll have enough money to buy a house but then I won’t have any money to buy the tools and stuff that makes DIY projects that much easier. Ah well. If I stopped spending money on my obsessions then I might have more coin to put toward the Australian dream. What can I say. I want it all and if I can’t have it all then just a little taste will do. Ridht now I’m merely tasting the fruits of the good life…which is rooted in accumulating the finer things in life. I’m not entirely sure if it really is the good life but it passes the time and gives one something to aspire to even if it is just a sensory stimilus based on material abstractions.