Philosophical cow dung on the life of little Ms. Imperfectly Fine.

Friday, August 29, 2008

Random I

This was simply historic. The last time I was in a bookstore with my dad was when I was little and I had an obsession for Enid Blyton's book. It was so adorable, my dad was kinda shy. He'd rather buy a book instantly without browsing through its content. So I had to ask the attendant to unwrap the book for him. I mean, if you're buying something, you need to know if it's worth buying of course.
This little precious bundle of love is Jada Kyra, my newborn niece (actually she wasn't newly born, her birthday; 20/07/2008). I went to see her the first time bringing Damo with me. Apparently, Jada likes my music, or at least I like to think so. She was making disgruntled sounds before I picked up the guitar and played HBKL. And the little sweetie kept quiet and just listened. It was funny the way her eyes were turned sideways to better see me sitting on the sofa to her right. The theory is that my sis, kak Juan went to see me perform at Laundry. Jada must have heard me while she was inside her mother's womb and liked what she heard. ;)

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Mine

TGA STR dlx

Grand Auditorium body

Solid Spruce top in gloss finish

Multiple bound top, tapered body

Rosewood back and sides, gloss

Mahogany neck, matt

Oval shaped, rosewood fingerboard

Nickel silver frets

Rosewood Bridge

Compensating saddle

Gold stepped tuning buttons



Meet my new buddy, Woodie Mallamy. I got this from my first cheque (yay!) courtesy of my record label, Indah Karya owned by Aidit Alfian.

This is a rather huge step from Johney and Damo. I got Johney 2 years ago. I didn't know what good guitars are capable of doing then, so I chose Johney basely upon face value. It was rather shallow but Johney and I wrote a couple of nice songs that I am proud of. But, it was due time to get a better sounding mechanism.

We were in the guitar shop testing out really nice (and i-wish-i-made-more-money) guitars. I had a taste of my dream 'guy' (guitar, of course). He felt so goooood in my hands and made the loveliest of sounds. Alas, I felt that the timing wasn't right. 1) I don't have the money (yet..) 2) I don't have enough skills to earn the ultimate pleasure of handling him. Between the two, the latter is a stronger reasoning to settle for Woodie.

By to settle, I mean it wasn't as if there wasn't any other choice. Woodie was a rare case of fate knocking on my door. Abg Andy suggested the guitar to me, somehow we share the same preference for grand concert and auditorium bodied guitars compared to dreadnoughts which was abg Aidit's special quest of the moment.

It was the only one of its kind left in the shop. It was love at first chord, G to be exact. *sigh. It was really nice to hold and I like how bright and warm it sounds. The best part about it is that, I could feel the notes resonating and somehow swooping down to grab a hold of my heart.

I had to make the decision between getting Woodie or saving the money so I could get a headstart on nabbing dream 'guy'. Since I am performing, I need to have a decent sounding guitar to carry my songs. So it was decided that Woodie should be a good enough guitar to accompany me in my shows. It is my hope that what earnings I have through the help of Woodie will finance my acquisition of dream 'guy'. When the time comes, the effort would be more worth it and perhaps I would be more worthy of owning such a fine instrument.

Until then, I just have to keep on writing, improving and work hard enough so that my next guitar would be an upgrade that's more natural according to the order of the universe.

So for now, I shall let my dream 'guy', an American of German descent, be the yummy healthy carrot to drive me on and on and on. ;)



Friday, August 08, 2008

guitar2 ku sayang


It's been a while since I acted really impulsive. Yesterday, I bought a low end guitar for RM90 from a stationery and photocopy shop. Ever since school started and I had to commute from Lembah Keramat to Shah Alam, often times I find myself missing the feel of a guitar in my hands. While waiting for the bus, sandwiched on the LRT, walking to class. The heart could never forget the joy of striking a chord to chase an irresistible melody, even for a second.

Of course, my soul craves to be in constant company of the guitar, only to improve myself. I don't mind having Johney around, but I figured I need a lighter load so I could avoid a permanent spinal injury. So I have faith that Sakura Damo (I think he's Japan-born and Taiwan-bred) would be an awesome traveling companion.

From now on, I'm gonna be shameless, if I feel like there's no harm in playing the guitar at any time or place, I'm gonna take Damo out and have some fun. This surge of carpe diem bravery did not blossom overnight however. It took me a couple of shows under my belt now and this burning desire to be a better guitar player for my own self-satisfaction. The gang and I have been discussing possibilities of us basking on the streets ever since that show we did at “that green thing”. We went unplugged totally. ;)

I only knew Damo for less than 3 hours before we had our first public performance together. I tried my “best test” to tune the guitar without the trusty electronic tuner (I’m usually a serious musician and do carry a tuner around but on that day I left my little guitar bag in the big guitar bag). It sounded fairly out of tune but it wasn’t disastrous as long as the strings were tuned on each other or tuned in together, I think, I hope. There was a charity carnival at my faculty so I sang two songs of my own. Someone requested Ghost and I was like ‘how in the world do you know that song?’ It surprises me each day to chance upon people who actually heard me on the net.

Anyway, Damo and I did Ghost together. It was a rather interesting experience. I wish I could say we sounded good together. I never knew how difficult it was to play with the mic constantly picking fights with my guitar strumming hand. And to concentrate on singing pleasantly enough while your eyes glued to the yet unfamiliar fingerboard to form chords. Playing Damo is going to be a tad torturous for the upcoming weeks I’m sure, but the outcome is gonna be worth it.

Having a closer inspection of Damo, I could finally make out the pencil marks on the plywood, the lopsided brand sticker, the messy bridge … Well, I got it for a dirt cheap price anyway. Of course it doesn’t matter if he’s of a lesser quality. As long as he gets the job done i.e. translating my ideas into music and helping me to improve my playing. I should probably state the fact that I have no intention whatsoever to be an extraordinary guitarist or pull a 2 minute solo on any one of my songs; I do have an amazing gang of musicians and friends ( the MARHAENS) to back me up on that. I just hope to be more equipped in delivering my songs as it rightly deserves.

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

i don't know you now

Why are you avoiding me? Don't you want to be friends with me anymore?

No, it's not like that. It's not like that, at all.

Then, why won't you pick up my calls? Why are you keeping quiet all of a sudden?

...

I don't understand. We're friends, right? Friends talk to each other. Why won't you talk to me?

There's nothing to talk about.

What do you mean there's nothing to talk about? You not talking is something that we should talk about? Are you in trouble? Are you unwell? What?

It's nothing like that.

Then, what is it?

I don't want you to trouble yourself with it.

But, we're friends. Friends help each other out.

You can't help me.

We won't know unless we try.

It doesn't matter. There's nothing you could do about it.

Of course there's nothing I could do about it, I don't even know what it is. Tell me, maybe you're wrong.

It doesn't work that way.

Well, it should. I don't understand why you're behaving this way. Was it something I did or didn't do?

It's not about you.

Then tell me what's it about?

...

We've been friends for so long. How come I don't know you right now?

Tuesday, August 05, 2008

the things we used to do

why did we stop?
when did we stop?
i never asked, so you never told me.

was it always that simple?
were you always that simple?
i'll never change, so you never will.