strokes of exceptional luck
Today it is so abysmally hot that I am disinclined to move. Alas, today happened to be my guitar lesson, which means that I not only must move, but I must exert myself rather greatly on a road with no shade to speak of. I showered immediately upon coming home; I am beginning to think I ought to have taken a bath.
Speaking of guitars! Egad, have I got news!
Several days ago, Dad asked me if I would like an electric guitar, as his friend Jim Fitzgerald had one he didn't need anymore and had asked Dad if I might be able to use it. Naturally, I said yes, I did indeed want one very much.
Right, when I was writing out "Jim Fitzgerald is giving me one of his old guitars" in my head, I was thinking, oh, something several years old, maybe a little worse for wear, and probably a small amp because of course the guitar is relatively useless without one.
Er, well.
Guys, the guitar is practically new. It is a Fender Telecaster Deluxe and in shape looks like the one in the article, which I take to mean (and Mr. Fitzgerald impressed upon me) that it is of exceptional quality. Despite having played one for two years I do not know terribly much about guitars, but even my father, who does not play at all, looked at it and said, "Oh, a Telecaster," in the sort of tone one might also say -- well, some kind of generally nice car. I am trying to think of one but I know nothing about cars and am not particularly interested in learning about them. (So long as it drives relatively smoothly, is a pleasing colour, and has a fairly good stereo system and picks up radio well, it is suitable to my purposes.)
He also brought over an amp, which is also virtually brand new, and has fifty different settings plus pre-set drums and bass backings for me to play along to, which I am having no end of fun playing with. (Also an automatic tuner thingummy, HURRAH! I am absolute rubbish at tuning, which is a great detriment.) All of these new toys and capabilities have really revitalised my musical inspiration and I am remembering an awful lot of songs I had forgotten I knew how to play and doing an awful lot of experimenting. I am hoping some of this will invite lyric writing but I am not getting my hopes up. The guitar has got a very nice hard case, and there is a cord for the amp, and a cloth to clean the guitar with, and some picks, and a capo, and, seriously, you lot, I am a bit overwhelmed. It would be strange and marvellous enough if this were the first such occurrence, but this is the fourth guitar I have obtained by someone's whim or generosity at no cost to myself! The first two, as you may remember, were given in secret and I haven't any idea who chose to bless me with them, and the third is a sort of spare, and -- gorblimey, as I said, this is a bit overwhelming. I have been wanting an electric guitar for quite some time and have been ogling some of the more inexpensive ones at Spott's (by "inexpensive" I mean in the three-hundred dollar range, which is still far, far out of my reach!). I certainly haven't dared or really even thought to daydream about getting anything like this, certainly not with an excellent amplifier.
And here I am. Ignore the minor disaster which is my bedroom; I haven't straightened it in a while. (The bed is made, however; really, it is!) Also ignore the fact that I look a bit glum; I always seem to turn out this way in photographs. It is worse when I am smiling, anyway, because my unnatural smile is horrible. If I manage to catch myself in an actual smile, it is fairly nice, but otherwise, well.
As if that weren't enough, when Mum came home from grocery shopping on Saturday, she had a surprise for me. She had stopped at the Goodwill while she was out, and found for me, of all things, a vintage typewriter! Some of you lot may remember that a year ago when I was on holiday in Virginia Beach (and staying with
midenianscholar as well!) I spent a torturous hour ogling a vintage typewriter in a consignment ship and asking myself if I really could spend fifty dollars on it. I finally decided that I really couldn't, and bought two vintage hats and a wooden handbag instead, but I have kept wanting one. Mum found one for five dollars, and I think it might work sort of decently if I can manage to get it all set up. (Apparently one can still buy ink, too, at places as commercial as Staples.) Some -- well, a notable amount -- of the keys stick, but they are easy to un-stick. It looks exactly like this:
-- except much dustier and older. The one in the photograph is a replica -- they are still sold! and someday when I have a lot of money to spend on something frivolous I may buy a nice new one -- but the one I own, we have discovered, was probably manufactured around 1936! How fascinating it is to wonder about who owned it first, and how it ended up discarded at the Goodwill.
And now I am off to have dinner. Bedim this heat.
Speaking of guitars! Egad, have I got news!
Several days ago, Dad asked me if I would like an electric guitar, as his friend Jim Fitzgerald had one he didn't need anymore and had asked Dad if I might be able to use it. Naturally, I said yes, I did indeed want one very much.
Right, when I was writing out "Jim Fitzgerald is giving me one of his old guitars" in my head, I was thinking, oh, something several years old, maybe a little worse for wear, and probably a small amp because of course the guitar is relatively useless without one.
Er, well.
Guys, the guitar is practically new. It is a Fender Telecaster Deluxe and in shape looks like the one in the article, which I take to mean (and Mr. Fitzgerald impressed upon me) that it is of exceptional quality. Despite having played one for two years I do not know terribly much about guitars, but even my father, who does not play at all, looked at it and said, "Oh, a Telecaster," in the sort of tone one might also say -- well, some kind of generally nice car. I am trying to think of one but I know nothing about cars and am not particularly interested in learning about them. (So long as it drives relatively smoothly, is a pleasing colour, and has a fairly good stereo system and picks up radio well, it is suitable to my purposes.)
He also brought over an amp, which is also virtually brand new, and has fifty different settings plus pre-set drums and bass backings for me to play along to, which I am having no end of fun playing with. (Also an automatic tuner thingummy, HURRAH! I am absolute rubbish at tuning, which is a great detriment.) All of these new toys and capabilities have really revitalised my musical inspiration and I am remembering an awful lot of songs I had forgotten I knew how to play and doing an awful lot of experimenting. I am hoping some of this will invite lyric writing but I am not getting my hopes up. The guitar has got a very nice hard case, and there is a cord for the amp, and a cloth to clean the guitar with, and some picks, and a capo, and, seriously, you lot, I am a bit overwhelmed. It would be strange and marvellous enough if this were the first such occurrence, but this is the fourth guitar I have obtained by someone's whim or generosity at no cost to myself! The first two, as you may remember, were given in secret and I haven't any idea who chose to bless me with them, and the third is a sort of spare, and -- gorblimey, as I said, this is a bit overwhelming. I have been wanting an electric guitar for quite some time and have been ogling some of the more inexpensive ones at Spott's (by "inexpensive" I mean in the three-hundred dollar range, which is still far, far out of my reach!). I certainly haven't dared or really even thought to daydream about getting anything like this, certainly not with an excellent amplifier.
And here I am. Ignore the minor disaster which is my bedroom; I haven't straightened it in a while. (The bed is made, however; really, it is!) Also ignore the fact that I look a bit glum; I always seem to turn out this way in photographs. It is worse when I am smiling, anyway, because my unnatural smile is horrible. If I manage to catch myself in an actual smile, it is fairly nice, but otherwise, well.
As if that weren't enough, when Mum came home from grocery shopping on Saturday, she had a surprise for me. She had stopped at the Goodwill while she was out, and found for me, of all things, a vintage typewriter! Some of you lot may remember that a year ago when I was on holiday in Virginia Beach (and staying with
midenianscholar as well!) I spent a torturous hour ogling a vintage typewriter in a consignment ship and asking myself if I really could spend fifty dollars on it. I finally decided that I really couldn't, and bought two vintage hats and a wooden handbag instead, but I have kept wanting one. Mum found one for five dollars, and I think it might work sort of decently if I can manage to get it all set up. (Apparently one can still buy ink, too, at places as commercial as Staples.) Some -- well, a notable amount -- of the keys stick, but they are easy to un-stick. It looks exactly like this:
-- except much dustier and older. The one in the photograph is a replica -- they are still sold! and someday when I have a lot of money to spend on something frivolous I may buy a nice new one -- but the one I own, we have discovered, was probably manufactured around 1936! How fascinating it is to wonder about who owned it first, and how it ended up discarded at the Goodwill.
And now I am off to have dinner. Bedim this heat.