Choices

After months of scouring the internet (lie), I've finally found two semi/hollow body guitars that I really think is a good buy. But since I'm at my hometown now, I'll have more time contemplating whether this is just another GAS phase or some other shit. Ever since I saw Clapton playing with Lennon on the Rolling Stone's Rock n Roll Circus like fucking 7 years ago I've been wanting ES-335s. Then again, those Gibson motherfuckers sell these shit for such an expensive price :(

The two choices I have is the Ibanez AF75TDG which DeadEye is selling for 1.5k or so. And the other one is Cort Source-BV which if I'm not mistaken, is going for 1.4/1.9k. Gahhh!!!

Some of you might ask, why not go for Washburn 335 copies? Or Epiphones? Well I didn't use the word "scour" for no reason. These stuff are really hard to find in Malaysia, unless I've been looking at the wrong places. Epiphones... they're still goddamn expensive and 2nd hand Epis are nowhere to be found. Some people on the internet say that Epis are hit and miss guitars too. Some are good, some are bad. So fuck Epiphones.


Cort Source-BV

I really want a Cort Source but it's fucking Cort and I've never heard of the brand before. And I'm not sure if they have it in Cherry Red. So far, all the pictures that I've seen of this guitar is in black colour. However, it has the 335 shape that I love so so much!! ... and that's the only thing I like about it. Tone-wise, I've come to accept that sometimes these things are hit and miss. Besides, Sam told me amps matter the most...Sigh


Ibanez AF75TDG

On the other hand, there's this Ibanez AF75TDG. I love it's shape too, albeit slightly less likable than a 335 shape. And the colour!!! SOOOO NICE!! and GOLD HARDWARE!!! Selling for 1.5k which I can manage to shell out for!! BUTTTTT, it's not a 335 shape!!! And it's full hollow body, which I've heard people on the internet say that it gives a lot of feedback :(

I'm leaning towards the Ibanez at the moment, mainly because of its price. I'm hoping for some semi/hollow bodies experts to give me advice but there seem to be none in my Friend's List. Moreover, I changed my MSN ages ago and gapnap still hasn't add me yet. To call him for this problem is kinda like a dick move too since I haven't been to music master for months. And nobody's reading this shit to help me decide.

There's still one more month to decide, I hope I don't regret my decision when the time comes :(

Raw Like Sushi

OH MAI GAWD I CAN DIE PEACEFULLY NOW THAT I'VE SEEN THIS! HAVE YOU EVER SEEN GOD EATING FISH AND LOBSTER?!?!??!?!?!


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Hey

Hey.

How is it going, buddy?

I was just... Well, I'm leaning on the wall just hand's reach from you. I thought I might something since you're going to go to your aunt's house for Chinese New Year.

Remember when you first brought me home? You struggled to play Paul Gilbert's alternate picking patterns on me. You told me that this is the first time you're so happy about something you bought, unlike those clothes that you wear once and never wear them again. I like how you told me you didn't mind my colour being yellow, despite my inlay being red. You told me it reminds you of Racer X's colour. I was beaming with pride!

Remember the time you played "I Cannot Tell A Lie" and uploaded it to youtube only to take it down? I'm actually very proud of you. To achieve something you thought you never could do. To play all those songs you thought you could never play. You even had the nerve to tell me that you only learnt about the name of that box after years of playing it! The pentatonic box! That was ridiculous.. and still is, heheh.

OH OH, this image still lingers in my head every now and then. There were nights when you played me till you dozed off, on your bed. You'd be too lazy to let me lean against the wall again and have me lie on your bed instead. You did it with every one of your instruments though. I was jealous at first but it's alright.. cause you're my buddy.

Oh my, how time flies..

2 years have passed since then...

And I still reminisce those time..

You never really changed my strings. Only once. And it's almost 3 years now. You and I didn't mind though. You played with me through all that rust and dirt. But that was before my volume knob got spoiled. Before I was constantly going out of tune. That was before you picked up your old friend, the red Squier Strat.

I know you really want to get me all fixed and cleaned up. Give me a proper set up for the first time. You really want to, I can tell from your eyes. Gift me another set of PG endorsed DiMarzios. But you have no money to begin with. Furthermore, you want that Epiphone Dot so bad. More versatile, you say. Even though in your heart you know that it probably can't handle heavy metal.

But I forgive you, you told me you'll never throw me out. I am the one you learnt the most with. Hahah, I still remember you told me you only bought me because I have a reversed headstock.

It's still funny how crazy you are, being a Paul Gilbert fanboy.

I hope you keep to your promise of buying me all those new pickups, hardwares and finally cleaning me after these years when you get a job. I wanna play with you again so bad!

I love you.

Paul Crazy

Just finished preparing for my presentation tomorrow, and it's 4 fucking AM right now. I guess I'll only have 3 hours of sleep as I'll have to get up at 7:30 later on. Well, I didn't choose to start so late but there are just so many Starcraft games to listen to, games to watch, Paul Gilbert songs to listen to.

After all those prep, I realized that I've been doing all my assignments throughout my college life while listening to Paul Gilbert. He's been there everytime I needed someone to accompany through a long, tiring and obviously fruitful night. Also, looking back at my posts last year it seems that my love for Paul has been growing each and every day. Without any doubt, this blog is beginning to really look like a Paul Gilbert tribute site, heheh. AND THAT IS NICE! I WILL SPREAD GILBERTOLOGY throughout the whole world!



Just last night I dreamed about Paul. Meeting him face to face apparently, at some live show his. When I woke up I got kinda scared though. "Why scared?" you may ask. It's probably because I'm almost at the point of idolizing him now. It's like believing in God. Part of what's wonderful about religion is knowing that God is powerful and more importantly.. forgive me for using this word but.. "impossible"? Impossible as in "you won't know he's the real shit until you die" kind of impossible. Knowing that I'll most probably never meet and speak to him face to face kinda upholds this idolatry of mine.

I then imagined really meeting and touching him. I don't know, it's very confusing. It's like I might not think he's unreal and godly anymore. All those nights spent listening to him, scouring for latest youtube videos, interviews, checking his wife's blog everyday... they're almost like the bible to me. This is making less sense by the moment as I speak through my metaphorical pen-_-



Maybe it's like those stuff where once you get it, you don't feel like wanting it anymore. Which makes me feel a bit relieved inside for not meeting Paul yet. Honest. I hope I'm not the only PG fan who sounds this crazy. Hopefully I won't turn out to be his Mark David Chapman. I don't know if this holds true for every other Paul fans, but I don't think I'll talk music to him when I meet him. Maybe I'll bore him with my endless questions about his views on life, philosophy, maybe Starcraft, Asian cultures and all that. At this current moment, I look up to him not as a musician, but as a human being contributing to society... through his music, of course.

Goddamnit, 4:30 am and I'm talking about Paul Gilbert?! Fucking normal.... or am I just, Paul Crazy? Oh oh Paul forgive me, it should've been... GIRL CRAZY!

Truly Alone

This post is by x2650 from reddit:

At my Grandfather's funeral, I had a conversation with his best friend Jack. Jack is a widow, had no children, and is very old in his 90's. Jack started crying, which in itself is a very hard thing to see. He was not crying for the loss of his best friend, though. He was crying, because he had nobody left. He was completely alone. No wife, no kids, brothers or sisters, and now, no friends. He was talking about how unfair it was that he had to continue living. Alone. He kept repeating "there's nobody left!" Of course I was bawling the whole time, but there was nothing I could say or do. Now my Dad, has sort of taken Jack on as his new Dad. He takes him out for Lunch on Sundays, or takes him on car rides in the country to see the seasons change. But it is sad to know, that he is sitting by himself in his home, lonely and waiting to die. He doesn't feel sad and alone, he is .

It is obvious that I have absolutely no say in this topic, as I have yet to live till old age. I'm not even sure if I'll live past 50 given the lifestyle that I am endearing myself to right now. Life is beautiful but I guess there are times when it goes on for too long and it just sucks.

Kinda reminds me of my grandma, sitting there watching TV everyday. I'm not even sure if she understands any of it. Whenever I'm back I'll try to converse with her, never knowing if anything I say makes sense to her. Still, she has my mom and dad accompanying her but it's just sad sometimes.. Or I'm just thinking too much. What a powerful post, and it's just one of the reasons I love reddit.

AAAAANYWAY, what better way can we lighten up the atmosphere here if it's not another song by Paul Gilbert about being old!? GODDAMNIT PAUL YOU HAVE A SONG FOR EVERY SITUATION. I LUV YA PG!

2010

I'm absolutely sure that everyone will update their blogs today or yesterday talking about the upcoming/ongoing new year, that is unless they didn't forget their blog's URL in the first place. From there, they will choose a topic from a couple of options. These are:

1. A recap of 2010

2. Words of wisdom for the upcoming year

3. List resolutions just to show people that they will change TOMORROW, but not today.

4. Just a simple happy new year wish. For the Chinese, they will continue their never-ending quest for money by inserting monetary themes in their holiday greetings like "HUAT AH!!"... which roughly translates to ... earning riches?

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Since I have no words of wisdom (yet), no greetings cause I'm indifferent to whatever year it is, no resolutions or whatsoever, I'm going with the recaps in no chronological order. One of the proudest thing I did this year was to win around 600+ bucks up in Genting. This was around June together with Raymond, Tony and the others. Isn't it weird? Last new year's eve I went up to Genting and came back down with a loss, swearing never to visit that gambling den ever again. And when I did, I kept winning. No losses recorded this year, ooh yeah! Still, the score is not yet settled, Uncle Lim. I'ma hunt back my losses last year. Swords will clash, chips will be stacked, lives and friendships ruined until you give me back mah monayyyyyyyyyyy!

Hmm, what else happened? Sam becoming a blues purist is kinda of like a big thing too. We don't click as well since I'm less knowledgeable in this whole blues mumbo jumbo. I was once a purist too but never got as deep as where Sam is right now. Everything is still fine though, I respect the path he's treading in becoming a better guitar player, albeit it's a different path from mine.

Speaking of guitars, I've been experiencing yet another stagnation in my playing. Granted, I think I've improved. Thanks to Paul Gilbert, I've been able to lock in to the groove easier but it's really situational. Sometimes, the feel just isn't there. Learnt a lot of new phrasing ideas from PG as well as Guthrie Govan. Sam influenced me into playing low gain on a Strat too, which really makes individual notes shine much more. Technique wise, I'm still stuck there. Listening to Kanye West's new album right now doesn't really help too -_-




OH YEAH, I've discovered reddit.com this year and I can tell you only this, this thing is like crack! The community is awesome and sometimes post insightful reads on a variety of topics. I honestly felt like I'm ahead of everybody in terms of the latest memes, smack talks and such. Makes me feel nice about myself when I have friends referencing some memes and quotes that I've read months ago. HAHA! Even shed some tears on a couple of stuff they posted, goddamnit.

I'm also really glad I got closer to my current course mates in APIIT(University College). They're really great people and I hope for nothing but the best for them. Had a lot of laughs with them. I've never regretted changing courses halfway through the semester, these guys really made my decision worth its while. Happy new year to you muhfuckas.



Paul's Fuzz Universe dropped around August. I prefer SFBADR but this one trails closely behind. Mostly because of that droning Todd Rundgren cover and the lack of slow songs like I Cannot Tell a Lie, Still Have That Other Girl on the album. It's still good nevertheless! Favorite tracks from the albums are Bach Partita in Dm, Plastic Dracula and Propeller. I guess he'll be busy with Mr. Big in 2011 but I'm really hoping for another vocal album from PG. WE NEED SONGS LIKE MR. SPOCK!

There's also this thing... but it ended well, I'm really glad about it :)

I guess that's it, the biggest things this year. There are a couple more but the ones I mentioned are those that really made an impact in my life this year. One of my biggest regrets is saying that the new Mr Big album sucks but GODDAMN IT GROWS ON YOU! I would've like to see more pop-rock numbers on this album though... What's better than to end this post with a Paul Gilbert song? This is Keep On Keeping On

If I could give advice
Here's what I'd say
It's just the same shit
On a different day
So just keep movin'
And you'll find your way
To be strong
You got to keep on keepin' on

And from emigilbert.blogspot.com......

Here is PG "injecting" his Cherry Red Fireman with his latest signature DiMarzio Injector pickups. OMG YOU ARE SO FUNNY PAUL <3 <3

Fuck it, I really wanna meet him so so bad :( Not to talk about guitar, just life in general..... :(:(