This is my entry for the "My Favourite Things" contest for 
Well... I had to wander a bit through my house thinking about what my favourite things in my life were... and after a little bit of thought... it was quite obvious what it was going to be! After all, all of them are things that I interact with on a daily basis... so they are so much in my life that I can't really think about how it would be otherwise!
One of the very first things that I interact with every morning is this little machine! We used to have filtered plunger coffee... and then we moved to Bigaletti oven coffee contraptions. We stayed with that for quite some time, but when we moved to our current house... we moved from gas stoves to electric stoves and we've not yet had the time or treasure to renovate the kitchen (it's on the list of things to do...). As anyone that has had experience cooking on electric vs gas will know... electric stoves are a slow pain in the arse (we do plan to get induction when we renovate!). So, the stovetop Bigaletti were OUT!
In it's place was a one touch grind and brew cappuccino machine... Now, it isn't as fancy as a real proper coffee machine... but that sort of quality machine would be wasted on me as I've not the skill to use it to the maximum ability. My sister-in-law is really great with their one... and I would know that I would be just screwing it up! So, a machine that does it all and spits out my morning (and afternoon...) espresso... with which I can froth up some milk to make a cappuccino (and babyccinos for the kids) easily for my wife and myself.
It's a daily event... and one that is ingrained into our morning routine as much as brushing teeth and having a shower!
Second on the list of things that I interact with on a daily basis and has wormed it's way into my list of favourite things is my music. In particular, this violin (which I will sadly never own as it is on semi-permanent loan and not for sale...) ... which is a lovely instrument in decent condition from the 18th century. It looks after me and sings when I need it to... mostly we work pretty well as a team... if it doesn't, it's more often than not my fault for driving it wrong! The bow is an Australian recreation of a long Italian style Baroque bow... I've had it for nearly a decade, and it is something that I love to death! Fast, quick and agile... paired with the violin, they are a great team upon which I base my current career!
Under the violin (in such a compelling photo shoot... this is why I'm a violinist and not a photographer...) are some of my favourite pieces to play... Solo Violin music of Bach and Telemann (beauty and refinement... timeless music!), Italian sonatas from the completely crazy Veracini (who jumped out of windows...), a solo violin sonata by Pisendel (which is a fiendishly difficult piece to play...), personal transcriptions of music for the Viola d'amore (also a favourite instrument...)... and showpieces by Biber (some showy pieces that require re-tuning the violin to different tunings, a technique known as scordatura).
Lastly, I'm a gamer and nerd.... I love my computers and gadgets! But mostly, I just LOOOOOVVVVVEEEEE gaming! So, these are my current gaming workhorses. The S4 Mini which I built myself a few years back... a custom case design with stupidly powerful components housed in a casing that is no bigger than a ream of A4 paper! It's a triumph of modern technology and design... but I have to say, next time I will be returning back to a full sized ATX case... it's incredibly fiddly getting all those components in there.. and let's just say the wiring job is an endless work in process...
The other two are my mobile gaming stations the XPS15 and the Switch... The Switch has proven to be great for gaming on the go... surprisingly great ports and original games on hardware that is under-powered but still more than capable. It is a triumph in balancing quality and price, something that Nintendo often hits so well in comparison to the other consoles. The XPS15 is my mobile gaming centre... not quite as powerful as my previous gaming laptop, but more than able to knock over all but the most demanding FPS games. It is the laptop that I take with me to game when I'm on tour.. .and I have time to kill in hotels or before a concert!
So, there you have it... the three favourite things that represent my non-human loves in my life. Coffee (well, that might be more an addiction than a love... but it is so hard to tell the difference!), Music and Gaming! It's weird that it took me so long to realise that the things that are the favourite things in my life are actually the things that are almost invisible to me due to the fact that they are just part of my everyday routine... but I guess that is the truth behind real love and dependence... you wouldn't notice them until they are gone... or there is a
Just as a little disclaimer... I've not nominated any kids or wives (wife...) as one of my favourite things... not because I don't like them... and not because I don't interact with them on a daily basis... just that I'm not sure that humans fall under the general definition of "things"! Plus, it would make for difficult post as to which order I would list them in....
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