Archive for September, 2007

My hands…. my hands….

Saturday, September 22nd, 2007

…are working out a bit, like a tiny rusty winch getting a drop of oil at a time. Not in the usual sense no, what I mean to say is…

I can draw again! It feels like… like… well… like whoa! (I’m running out of rethorics) Well, a little. My sketches still come out as goofy looking after a long time without practice. But more importantly, my head is exploding with ideas (like a bunch of sparrows clamoring and pecking out of my skull, demanding to be free), and the only way I can release them is by doing a short manga to let all the demons out.

Fingers crossed on when I can actually do them properly.

Oh and I’m soooooo getting a PSP in two months.

A little bird told me….

Thursday, September 6th, 2007

….actually, more like chirping. I never could understand what birds are saying in the first place so they always sound like chirping to me. That’s the first thing I heard outside my window on this heady day. A sense of clarity hit me: I know exactly what I have to do for my masters. It was so clear… like it was in front of my face all along and I haven’t realised it.

So off I went to the lab in the morning (which is now) and what do I do?

I write a blog. Pffftt… So much for chirping birds in the early morning outside my window. Actually the zen of enlightenment only lasted as long as I got out of the shower. Then blank. Gurrgh I hate it when that happens. It’s like dropping a coin into a gutter by accident. I guess I’ll just have to trudge back in the gutters to find it then.

Anyway…

Guitars… yesss… my current favourite subject. I tried out a Gibson Spirit Les Paul model the other day. The Spirit series is meant to be a beginner’s guitar and they have 3: the acoustic, the bass and the Les Paul. The body is VERY light, the finish is quite shabby in some places, particularly the neck and a very cheap looking plastic pickguard, but the function is simple. It comes with two mini humbuckers, a tone and volume control and a 3 way selector switch (hmmm sounds familiar). In short, it’s a Telecaster in a Les Paul body, although the sound is vastly different (the lack of twang for one). But here comes the surprising bit: plug it in and the sound is… pretty good. I wouldn’t call it awesome, but the initial action and response of the guitar is darn good for a beginner’s kit. It’s not as harsh as a stock Squier Tele and doesn’t require much setting. It’s basically out of the box and off you go. Granted I only played it for 40 minutes or so but the initial impression sets in pretty quickly. For RM550, you get the guitar, a gig bag, a set of spare strings, a pick and a tuner. My Squier Tele cost 580 and it only got me the guitar without anything else. Would I buy this guitar? It seems like a dream come true…

Nope.

I buy another guitar and my parents and girlfriend will kill me! (”Cakap nak simpan duit nak kawen… EEEEEEEE!”) I can hear it all now…. (yes, all 3 of them will say the same thing to me). The Spirit is one of those… small drops of candy that come in my way once in a while. It’s a small thing, it’s fun for a while. But I felt it won’t stay with me for long anyway. So yeah.

Other news is that this year, the puasa month will make me poor again. Yes…. putting aside a considerable portion for duit raya and new clothes, I pretty much can’t spend on any cool stuff :( Imma sad panda. My only cool stuff is that I might be selling off my amp to get a new one: a Marshall. Those things can make any guitar sound like butter… smooth and rich. Even the stock overdrive is awesome.

Okay, I’m tired of typing non-stop. I need a drink of teh tarik to keep me from hyperventilating with boredom.