The Gift of Music

Epiphone Les Paul 100 Ebony

An early Christmas present addressed to me, arrived yesterday from Saint Nick. This one is part of his blasts from the past campaign. As a youngster and someone who liked Rock-n-Roll, I wanted a guitar and had an ok starter thanks to him. You know, one of those classic Sunburst models with a basic Amp for sounds to be heard.

I did my best to learn how to play some songs... ok parts of songs more or less. I had a few cords down and I'd say I more and likely sounded like a bad record skipping over and over. But I had a blast and a Guitar to show for it in the end. Time flies by and you grow up and I later moved on to spinning records, "Everybody wants to be a DJ" or so the song goes.

Now its Christmas present, well it soon will be and my dreams of being that next great guitarist are only 60 days away, or so they claim it is. A new product that works with gaming consoles called Rocksmith 2014 has the claim of being the fastest way to learn how to play a real guitar.

Saint Nick dropped off a little bundle that included a very nice guitar case and inside one Epiphone Les Paul 100 Ebony guitar, and a copy of Rocksmith 2014 for the Xbox 360. I have to admit, the kid inside of me had me smiling like crazy at the sight of this. This is a real guitar that will hook up to any Amp Stack and allow the sounds to come forth (music for some who can really play).

The cool thing is my gaming console will be my instructor and it has extensive lessons and mini game modes inside that will allow me to perhaps really learn how to play a full song now. I just might get passed the "smoke on the banks" parts and learn to play all of Smoke on The Water when I'm done.

I think I'm going to give it a real go and see if what they claim really will work. I'll need to make sure to play at least 1 hour a day for 60 days straight. I can see it now, I'll pick up some extra money as a Sessions player soon. Ok, I'll just shoot for learning how to play Jingle Bell Rock next year for now.

Wish me luck and as for my family, I'm getting them all ear plugs for their stockings this year.

Heading back to work at last

It has been a very long and hard 11 months out of work. Pretty much one of the hardest years of my life in many ways. At the start of last years school year my wife landed her first teaching job and things were really starting to look up for us. The only real downside was she had to commute during the week about 2 hours away. Leaving on Sunday nights and returning on Friday evenings made for its challenges.

Loosing my job after a month into this, really set us back and changed things up. For starters, it just wasn't suppose to happen this way to us. Our hopes of finally making some headway and paying for things and trying to make a better life for the family, simply needed two good income sources.

Working for thirteen years at the same place is no accident for me. I truly loved my job and what I did over those years. I actually believed in the brand and that made things easier to get up and do the work. Having my position eliminated simply stops the process and the paychecks. Don't get me wrong, I still like the brand, just not how things ended is all.

That's all in the past now and after searching long and hard for opportunities, dealing with e-mails that read, "Sorry we have decided to move on with someone else." or going through a pretty good phone interview, only then falling short of that next stage in the process. It's finally come to an end or actually a new beginning really.

A great phone interview finally lead to a great face to face interview and that lead to great follow up interviews the next day and those also went really well. When the phone rang and I finally heard the words, "We would like to offer you the position here." its the best thing you can imagine.

After searching for 11 months, you start to reach the point of taking what ever comes up is my only hope. You start to think its time to change gears and perhaps do something else. You still think about the things that could be the perfect job of all times, but it just doesn't seem to be in the cards and landing a stable job is all that matters now.

Lucky for me, I'm still working pretty much in the same field of Web Design/Development and its in an industry that I can really get behind and support. I didn't want to take just any web design job and be bored with the brand at the end of the day.

What makes it a dream job for me is its a product that I believe in and in a lot of ways a favorite hobby or form of entertainment for me. Its no secret for most people that know me, to understand that I have a passion for playing video games. So when I found a position at GameStop that fit my skill set, I was happy to give it shot and apply. When I got the call and offer, I said, "YES!"

I'm so looking forward to heading back to work once again and I really think its a Dream Job for me and my love for playing video games will continue as well.