busted and broken and purple

my digital camera has broken. i feel like an artist with no legs. suddenly so many things I want to photograph and can't because if there is any white or light source in the image, it will appear purple in the photo. according to a camera repair guy who had slightly more digital camera knowledge than the guy I bought a muffin from this morning-- it's not worth repairing. then he tried to sell me a new camera package for $1000. the camera I have now cost me $700 in 2004. i've taken somewhere between 3000-6000 pictures with it. he says I wore it out. i'm still suspicious of his opinion. needless to say, i don't know that i need to spend $1000 to replace it. i could get something far superior to my broken camera for $700. and the only difference between the $700 camera and the $1000 one he tried to sell me is a longer lens and a camera bag. the camera body is pretty much the same-- and I wouldn't know the difference because i'm not doing heavy continuous shot stuff where i would feel restricted at all. and either way, it's all better than what i've been working with so i don't think it will matter at all. now the only question is do i want to spend the $700? i don't know. i feel like i should make the camera pay for itself and go photograph weddings and do headshots and stuff of that sort. but i don't know if that's my calling. i'd rather spend my weekend photographing interesting cracks in the sidewalk for free and not have to deal with people and the service issue. but needless to say, until i figure this issue out, images will be absent from this bloggie.