Come join me if you're in the mood for a good cry

I always seem to want to blog the most whenever I have something that requires work. Usually, in a write-a-full-page-on-something-you-know-nothing-about kind of way, rather like the homework I'm procrastinating now. And, as a result, here I am.
Following up on my recent post on shopping, I've actually included a detailed shopping list, with prices - all of which, together, make me want to cry for picking such a high-maintenance instrument.
It's not fair.
But, I do well on it so I'm sucking it up. Here are the choke-worthy tallies that I've compiled and am planning to watch dissolve out of my savings soon:

• From Laubin:
• English horn easel: $26.00
• Rigotti shaper handle: $100.00
• English horn Nagamatsu tip: $190.00 (this is where I felt a small part of my soul wither and die)
• Oboe Nagamatsu tip: $190.00
• Rigotti gouged English horn cane: $1.70
• Rigotti gouged oboe cane: $1.70 (these are cheap but they're on the list; I may as well include them)
• English horn bocal, size #1, 2, or 3: $390.00 (or $410, if I want a larger one)
• From Charles Double Reeds:
• Beeswax: $2.25
• Rigotti Engilsh horn tip: $115.00
• Rigotti oboe tip: $115.00

I think the fact that I can consider something that goes for $115 cheap just says a lot about how empty my savings is going to feel after I buy all this. I'm not buying four tips; I'll buy either Nagamatsu or Rigotti for English and oboe, but I don't know which. I'm fairly sure I'm getting Nagamatsu for oboe, but English horn I haven't a clue. If anyone has a preference, let me know. I'm open to input. 

Also, I won't be buying the English horn bocal right away most likely; I have two (a Fox and a Loree; the former, I never use) and they're (the Loree, rather, is) working fine. My teacher suggested I buy a Laubin when I get the chance, and possibly try and wheedle a lower price out of Paul Laubin when I'm down at the shop. I'm not much of a haggler, but I'll be there anyway to get cane so I may try.

All in all (including the price of the bocal so it sounds more dramatic and impressive and pitiful for my wallet), if I buy the two Nagamatsu tips, it totals $901.65, plus tax, and shipping, both of which are not included. 

Mother of God. 

I hadn't calculated the total before, and this just makes me almost want to major in ... in... I don't even know ...  when I get to college. Moving on - if I buy one Nagamatsu, one Rigotti, it comes down to $826.65. Somewhat better but the idea of bursting into tears sounds like a good one right now. With two Rigotti shaper tips, it's $751.65. It's still too close to a thousand for comfort...

If you take out the bocal (I haven't tried to add the twenty dollars for the larger one: I'd like to preserve what's left of my sanity, but you can see for yourself what it would that if you so please) it should be somewhat more rational... $361.65, $436.65, and $511.65. (I know that's out of order, but the 751.65 was still in my calculator when I subtracted the bocal so I did them out of order. Sue me for laziness; I can't be much more broke than I will be when all this is done. I'm aware that sounds like terrible English, but I'm fairly certain it's correct. The evils of slang strike again.)

Hopefully, most of these purchases will be one-time ones. Hopefully. I pray. I'd better do well on these shaper tips, because the thought of having to cough up another near-$200 isn't a pleasant one. And, unless I'm so unlucky that a truck manages to somehow run its tire treads over it, the bocal ought to be a once-in-a-lifetime investment.

This is one of those times where I wonder why on earth I chose this instrument.

[I somehow still adore it.]