Who knew mindlessly killing hordes of running zombies could be so addictive? I have been spending my last week of freedom with fellow undead hunting buddies Ken, Leon, Liang Zhi and KW. (Notice that all our names have either L or K in them? I'm a Leong.)
My computer cannot handle the specs of L4D, so i can't play it right now even if I wanted to :(. But it's a good thing actually. I might get bored of the game if I have it. Its one of those games that's incredibly addictive initially, but since there isn't much variety of what you can do in the game, it can get ennui-inducing after killing zombies one after another.
Let's blog about something else.
Because of the zombie infestation, I havn't been spending time doing more important things, like playing guitar. I havn't touch it since Tuesday, and I only played it for half an hour. Fine, after posting this I'm gonna play it. Guitar, not L4D.
This was my guitar when I bought it:
Obviously I have to screw it up. This is my guitar now.
See how badly I treat my guitar? The jack keeps coming off. Only tape can keep it there.
Here's the story of my guitar. X-Guitar Origins: Fat Telecaster. Also known as Mr. TV or Ugly Shit Guitar.
December 2006, a few weeks before Christmas, they day TOFU was being held in my church. I left early to go with my family to the Swee Lee warehouse. They were having a 50% off sale.
I already knew I wanted a Telecaster. Why? I dunno. I guess Telecasters look weird. They were unique in the sense that they were not Stratocaster-shaped, but they didn't look so different like a Flying V or a Moderne. I wanted something different from the ubiquitous Stratocaster, which just about everyone has. Les Pauls are expensive, and I don't like them anyway. They seem a little... proud. No metalhead guitars for me either lol, although I wouldn't mind a Flying V. But with a Flying V, how can you sit and play? If there were no telecasters available I wanted a cheap Ibanez superstrat, an Ibanez semi-hollow or, what the heck, a Squire Stratocaster.
I specifically wanted a Fat Telecaster. That means instead of a single-coil at the neck position, there would be a humbucker.
Why? Again, I don't know. I always assumed humbuckers can give a nice warm sound (apparently I kind of correct).
You can see that my requirements were very specific. I wanted a Squire Telecaster with a humbucker at the neck position. And Swee Lee actually sells them!
And Lo and Behold, a guitar that I fell in love with at first sight.
Look at that. Beautiful. Sexy. Curvy. Ebony. Hawt.
I found one beautiful Squire Fat Tele, a brown sunburst one. I took it and tested it out. It felt right! It just did. I don't know why.
I was playing around with it for about 20 minutes, when the bombshell dropped.
A stall assistant came towards us, and ask where I found that guitar from. We(my family) pointed out the stand where we found it.
"I'm sorry, the guitars in that area are already sold."
WTF?
It's the guitar I want! It's on display! There's no "SOLD!" sticker on it anywhere!
"The buyer is some Indonesian dude who is downstairs looking for a drum set."
From then on, I hated Indonesian drummers who buys Squire Fat Telecasters.
My mum, being the protective mother who spoils her kid, was a little angry and kind of scolded the poor assitant. She said that there should be at least a sign saying that the guitars were already sold or something. She also asked if there were any other guitars of the same model. The assistant just said, "I don't think so"
I nearly cried. I'm not exagerrating about this part. After all, this is a specific guitar we are talking about.
Then another stall assistant, a female who looked more like at aunty at a market than a guitar expert, came to the rescue. She saw me, a little boy, sitting on the floor (I was testing the guitar after all), with bloodshot eyes (ok this time I probably exagerrating) and a sad sad frown, found a solution to diffuse the crisis.
"Ah boy, don't cry! I think downstairs got another one!"
Ok, she didn't say that, but she did say something like that.
Quicker than the speed of sound (from a guitar) she rushed to the storeroom, and came back with a white box which looked like a guitar coffin. She opened it up, revealing a Squire Candy Apple Red Fat Telecaster Standard Series.
Not actual one. Probably a Fender. Pickguard is beautiful.
I heaved a heavy sigh of relief. Its a thousand times uglier that the brown one (hence its nickname, the Ugly Shit), but a least its what I'm looking for. It feels the same. Buy it lor.
It was 15 minutes to closing time, and the assitant told us to quickly make our purchase. Then we realised, "Oh shit, we don't have an amplifier!"
We were looking at amplifiers earlier, but didn't put much thought to it. My brother, the expert and advisor, quickly glanced around. There was this Randall RX20R which we were trying earlier, and since it wasn't too expensive, he just said "That one!". And that one was it.
Both the guitar and amp cost about $550, making a nett total of $1100. That's alot.
But if you remembered, it was 50% OFF EVERYTHING DAY!!!!
Thats $550 for a semi-decent amp and guitar combo pack, or an equilivant of a "Buy one guitar get an amp free" coupon.
And thats the story of my guitar. Rescued from a claustrophobic box in a storeroom (it wasn't even out of the box, let alone on display), to the even worse fate of the hands of a crappy excuse of a guitarist. The end
This post is dedicated to the Swee Lee Warehouse Aunty, who is the true hero of the story and saved the day for everyone involved. If I see you again in Swee Lee (I think I can remember how you look like), I will shake your hand like a crazed Korean drama fangirl and thank you profusely for securing my first guitar for me.
If it wasn't for you, I would have brought a $1400 Fender Stratocaster 1960s reissue which will probably sound alot nicer that the crap guitar I have now. But I would have spent alot more.
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