Weight vs Comfort vs Money

One of the big questions when it comes to gear is whether it is worth the weight. Some pieces of gear you need to have and then the question becomes is it worth the extra money to get something lighter. I started off with an obscenely heavy pack, about 55 lbs with food and water. I spent most of the first couple of days thinking about what I had that I could get rid of. At Neels gap which is 30 miles into the trail there is an outdoor shop that will go through your pack and offer suggestions on how to lighten your pack. Somethings I agreed with and I dropped about 5 lbs off the weight. But most of the suggestions involved buying new gear. Yes I could buy an alcohol stove that would be a lot lighter, but I already having a working stove that I am comfortable with. So all of the suggestions that involved buying new gear I disregarded (for now). Other things I decided to keep because I felt that is was worth the extra weight, like my insulated mug. Altough I realized that I do not need to hike with my 3 liter camelback and my quart nalgene full. There is enough water on the trail that I can start half full on water. That saved me 5-10lbs.
So right now I am taking my first night off the trail. I have hiked 66 miles in 6 days with 7 being my short day and 15 my long. There have been a lot of other people around. At least 18 other thru hikers started when I did, 18 the previous day, 51 May 1st, and I have met a lot of other people who started the friday before I did. The current problem is too many people around. The shelters have been full with as many people tenting around the site. But I have realized that I am a fairly fast hiker. If I get an early start then I have had no problem getting to the shelters early enough to get inside. I have tented twice when I have not wanted to make it all the way to the next shelter. One of those nights it started raining. I learned several valulable lessons on how and where to set up my tent. I did not get very wet, but it was annoying. That day it ended up raing from about 4:30am until 6pm. I have never felt so wet. I ended up wakiing up and starting to hike once it was light enough to see the trail. I got to the next shelter and called it an early day. It looks like Sunday may be another nasty day, so the person I have been hiking with, Shadow Cast, and I have decided that if we wake up and it is already nasty, then we will stay in the sheleter until the weather improves.
There are a lot of really good people on the trail, almost everyone is friendly and willing to help out. Most people have trail names, but I have named three people who do not have names at the time. People on the trail tend to keep an eye out for other people they have passed. The shelters also have logs so you can find out about the people hiking ahead of you. I am trying to leave interesting notes so that at one point when someone catches up to me they can say, "Tangent, I have been reading about you." It seems not worth the effort to say you passed through. If you are going to write something, make it worthwhile.
I am staying tonight at a hiker hostel with internet, which I will have to pass on to someone else in a couple of minutes. It was amazing how nice the shower felt, and I now have clean clothes again. It is amazing how all the simple things can make you happy when on the trail. Dry socks and hot chocolate are things of beauty.