Agree with all of this. I have decided to prematurely purchase some things that I don't need, especially lighting, but that is because there is a 2 year learning curve on really using lighting to its best advantage. DMX and the correct software to do what I want to do was the first challenge, and I quickly noticed that all the usual lighting controllers and stuff that you see in a GC or PSSL catalog is insufficient to really control lights creatively. It is an absolute art form to do this right, and there is no way I could rent the lights and software and learn it all. I need the stuff in my house where I can play with it every day. So I went out and bought 4 pairs of moving heads that have different characteristics and design possibilities, as well as 40 or so uplights, and am busy learning how to program them creatively. Unbelievable fun I might add. If I had discovered this when I was 20, I would have never ended up in the real estate game. Most DJ light shows I see in the gig logs are what professional lighting designers refer to as "flash and trash". I quickly developed a distaste for that and prefer to learn a more theatrical approach to lighting my events. We'll see how that goes, as it's a much bigger topic than I imagined at first. But too much fun and at 59, you take the fun where you can find it!
