Stolen by simscustomshop.com

My original plan was to have gotten this guitar, strip off the shiny/sparkly silver star stickers and then have it custom painted like the ICJ100WZ. (Yes, yes, not original at all, but the originals are pretty scarce.) LUCKILY, a sig model showed up shortly after I shipped this guitar so my cheapo conversion became a back burner kind of issue.

In the conversations (by phone) that I had with Patrick Sims in August of 2009, he indicated a 4-6 week turnaround. After I paid him in advance (dummy), he quit returning e-mails, quit taking phone calls, and to this day I’ve never heard from him again.  The last I heard from him was an e-mail I sent in March of 2010.

“Where is my guitar?”

“At our shop….where else would it be??”

Let’s see, 4-6 week turn-around = a month or so. So, I should have expected the guitar in…uh…October or even late November if I’m being charitable.  So, by March of the following year, I get that response to a completely valid qurstion?  This is a 2010 response from a job that should have been completed in 2009 we’re talking about here.  It’s 2012.

I assume he still has this guitar since I haven’t gotten any contact, the guitar, or any type of refund since the last message.

There are many, many, many guitar forums full of people who have never gotten their money back, nor their guitar.  If you found this page because you were googling simscustomshop.com and think I have an axe to grind (no pun intended) then check out simswarning.com. I feel exceptionally bad for those people who have been ripped off by simscustomshop.com, the ones who were lured in by those really great pictures on their website and then shipped a prize guitar, or their ONLY guitar and are still waiting. I’m lucky that this guitar was nothing more than a fun project.

Do I expect that my graphic will get my guitar back? No. I don’t expect that at all. It’s my hope that more people are aware of what could happen if you ship your guitar to him. You may never get it back.

Since I’m kind of burned out on Burlesque shows, it was really nice to see a well run sideshow element. Honestly, I’ve never seen sword swallowing in person nor human blockhead stuff, but it all meshed really well. The MC Donny Vomit was great, and the dancers Little Miss Firefly, Go-Go Amy and Heather Holliday all put on a great show.  Would totally suggest that you go see them if they pass through your town.

One of my favorite parts of the show was the musical opener Eddy Price. I totally did not expect this guy rockin’ out.

As I mentioned, there is a douche element to North Oak Cliff and for the life of me I cannot figure out why the crowd at the Kessler (specifically for this show) was unlike ANY of the crowds that ever go to the regular burlesque shows around town. I did see one of the Lollie Bombs there, but in terms of local support, I don’t think there was much.

It DID sell out all the seating and I had to buy SRO since we’re last minute planners, so it’s great that fiscally it was good for the Peepshow to make its way here.

So, back to the crowd. This guy Eddy was rockin’. I mean ROCKIN’.  ’Verb was cranked, he’s wailin, the drums are thumpin and he’s killing it. Seriously, he was great.  The entire crowd was….motionless. They’re all just sitting there. I’m not sure if they just didn’t know how to respond…… or what.  I was head bobbin’ and my mouth is all sore from wolf whistling all night long, but he was seriously in need of some positive feedback.  In fact, I don’t feel like the Peepshow really got the props from the crowd that it deserved – especially for the quality of the show.

Great show, good times.

It doesn’t bother me much, the fluctuation gives me something to think about as I’m trying not to pass out from being there three hours earlier than I normally am.

The anniversary of my father’s passing happened two days ago, so my work schedule really started making me think about his job when I was very, very young.

From our home, he would travel by bus to Downtown Houston.  I can’t imagine how long that actually took for him to do, daily, but I’m getting an idea now as my commute gets radically longer or shorter depending on what time I have to be there.

So, we’re a single car family, he’s saving cash by taking the bus (which would take FOREVER, even in the 70′s) and then walking home from the bus stop.

One time, before I was old enough to “cross the street by myself”, I found myself running across the street to the school and looking down the road to see if he was walking toward the house.  I thought I was pretty sneaky, since I made sure to run fast.  Traffic was never really an issue with our neighborhood so I didn’t get hit or anything, but he did end up seeing me run across the street.  He wasn’t supremely mad (that I can remember) but as my brother and I were left to our own devices 90% of the time, I suspect his anger was misplaced.

I can still remember him walking down the road toward the house. It’s etched in my memory.

I wanted to find a nice clean shot of that street, but if you clicked the link above you’ll see that everybody and their brother was around that morning. Even the crossing guard is waving at the Google Car. Google Maps updated the ‘hood in March of 2010. I’m kind of bummed that I didn’t get a good pic to throw in, but seeing that the homeowners of my old childhood home cut down one of the big trees was pretty surprising.  And seeing the condition of the lawn/yard the HOA must be going nuts. They didn’t like us (for whatever reason) but at least our yard was in good condition.

Miss you dad.

Recently, someone from the relatively recent past dredged up the fact that I used to wear glasses. Thick, Buddy Holly type glasses.  A lot of times I forget that I wore them for so long, having Lasik for a little less than ten years now.  So this person called and said, “Hey, you look like Buddy Holley right?”.

It wasn’t surprising, since I’m sure that everyone from my childhood remembers me with glasses on. Think of the mental images in your head of some of your friends with glasses. Naturally, you imagine them with glasses on.  Even though this person had seen me since and KNEW I had Lasik, their mental image of me had those glasses on.

Here’s what they remember (excuse the non-internet quality – this is a really old badge):

In the span of about 2 or 3 years, it became: (Oooh. AND HIPPA Certified!)

So, the first one is what he thinks of when he thought of me. Even though he’d seen the second “me” in the period of time that he knew me.

Story time:

When I was in elementary school, video games “came of age”. I suppose I was 10, and arcades were EVERYWHERE. Rooms of video games. With the sole purpose of  sucking quarters. Old school, no bill acceptors built into these puppies. Dragon’s Lair, Space Ace, Defender, Pac Man, Burger Time, Q-Bert, Joust, Galaga, Tron, etc, etc.

So, one time I got invited to a church “lock-in”. I supposed I was getting invited to a lot of church events, but that’s pretty much how my friends rolled.  This specific lock-in was a lock-in in an ARCADE with FREE PLAY. You cannot imagine how pumped I was. I was completely addicted to video games, and this was like a dream.

We attended some pre-lock-in activities, which included a spaghetti dinner. Now, until recently, spaghetti dinners and me were not friends. Looking back, I think it had a lot to do with how much I was NOT eating as a kid. Pretty much no breakfast, crappy carb lunch, then more or less no dinner. In my excitement of the lock-in, I ate even LESS that day, and so we hit that dinner. Well, loading up on more carbs with no protein all day long I quickly crashed into a massive sinus/migraine headache.

We were about to leave to the arcade and I was dizzy, sweating profusely, and then I threw up all over the front steps of the church.

Needless to say, they took me home and I missed out on what would have probably been the highlight of my childhood.

Lastly, I love Zapps. That is all.

Guess I was wrong.

Either way, it’s nice to not have to worry about it now. Was also lucky enough to have noticed it early enough that I wasn’t stranded anywhere.

It’s interesting that the mechanic noted “disintigrated” on the diagnosis.

Their upcoming show is a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory theme – here’s the flyer:

The thing that REALLY impressed me is that they’re running a “Golden Ticket” marketing campaign.  In an era where most people use Facebook as a their sole source of advertising, the addition of the “hunt” element was really a cool idea. I almost wanted to feign sickness and start driving around town looking for these tickets. I know where a few of them are, but I bet I can’t get there before someone else does. I’ll try this weekend maybe. Frequent the places the tickets are known to be….spend some cash at these places so they know that this was effective marketing….

Seriously, how much more fun could this be?

*EDIT*

Here’s a pic from Facebook:

Yes, it was a random selection, chosen mostly by proximity to my house, but right before I went in, I made a decision. I made the decision that it was time to own up – for better or worse – that I had no idea what kind of shape I was in. I decided to be completely up front with my new doctor, that I was turning a new leaf and wanted to be open and transparent. I had nothing to lose, it was only my health right?

When I first went in, the nurse said, “Oh, your Doctor loves to do blood tests.”  I thought, “GREAT!” Sure enough, even he said that he performed a lot of blood tests – just to be sure.

Since then, I’ve continued to be open and honest with him, and my office visits are mercifully short because I try and get as much info out as possible, making it a one stop shop. He’s always willing to take the time to discuss anything I bring up.  He’s always in a great mood, and we laugh and joke while he goes about the business of making sure I’m a healthy dude.

Over the last year or so, I’ve put the weight I’d lost back on. In talking to my doctor, I’m approximately thirty pounds overweight. Thirty pounds! That’s pretty amazing. I felt I was about fifteen above where I should be, but this was a reality check.

Pretty crazy.

In other news, I rode the Dallas DART for the first time, and figured out that my camera has a panoramic function. Check it:

I never remember the song until the verse comes in.

The intro makes chills come up my spine – for the sole reason that the first time I heard it I was in a music class in New Zealand. It was probably the first week of being in a new all-boys school, and I was in a music class taught by a hippy-dippy woman who wanted us to absorb the wonderment of the lyrics. She played it over and over and over again.

I hadn’t been there long enough to pick up their accents, so she kept asking me questions which terrified me.

Every time I hear that song it takes me back to the drafty classroom next to the terraces.

This is a pretty nice picture. Good shot. Obviously you can see the terraces (which were lots of fun to get into fights on and then tumble down the sides of). However, you can’t see the tennis courts just below the music room, but you can see the creepy grounds-caretaker’s house on the left in white, then the creepy cemetery up at the top of the picture. The jogging class would typically end by running through the cemetery (which paradoxically we were strictly forbidden to enter) back onto school grounds.

Good times.

So far I’ve gotten a lot done in the garage and my music room. Strapped on a guitar here and there and even fired up an old distortion pedal that I kind of like now.

I’m trying to make an effort not to pay so much attention to my blog stats – although I can usually tell when some guitar forum posts a link to the guitar columns.

Unusually enough, I get quite a bit of traffic for searches on Edgar Oliver. You know, the “straaightjacket” guy from that show Oddities (and numerous other projects as his IMDB attests)

In honor of Edgar, I present:

“Is that a straaaaight jacket?” – Edgar Oliver

Commuting to work without my personal music stash is just too torturous.

My annual rebellion from TV and internet is also hitting me hard and I’m eyeing my music room and garage for what I’m willing to throw away to make it more condusive to practicing.

Oddly enough I played one of my oldest guitars this morning. It wasn’t as stiff playing as I remember it, but it was close. It’s unfortunate because it’s my only single coil equipped guitar. I have more or less two standing invitations to buy if I ever wanted to sell it. I’m going to have to take it to a tech to suss it out, but right now I think the neck angle is out just enough to be lengthening the scale slightly – making it more of an effort to play. Kind of a bummer.

2011 is almost done. Raising a glass to the year that brought me some steady employment that hasn’t (yet) driven me crazy. Toasting the upcoming year, with good wishes to all.