Yet another birthday

I don't think much about my birthday these days, the administrator at work reminded me yesterday. So I took off a little earlier than usual to make sure I could cram in a shopping and baking session in the evening. Petit choux filled to the brim with wonderful créme de la mousseline, and a few more with the same filling but mixed with dark rum (cheap Negrita rum, I'm not really a rum connoiseur). I asploded one of the choux with the runnier rum créme and the only food disposer in this apt is my mouth, plus I wasn't exactly graceful with the pastry bag when done... Under the influence even before I go to work, excellent. And yet again the cashier in Systemet asked for my ID, 7 years in and still going strong :D Found some expensive Montrachet, maybe another time.

A better-than-expected photo on my balcony for the fellow surfer:

Random post

I don't seem to follow any regular patterns for dates any longer. Always was a rebel...

Finally got my Curtis Novak lipstick pickups and are they lovely. Crisp, glassy and direct, I finally have the thonk/twang sound on the wound strings that I always wanted. Plus they look ballin'. Activating my pedals and "cranking" the amp can give off some pretty crazy rock'n'roll still. There seem to be some shorting problems with them however, shaking the guitar a bit helps sometimes, I'll probably open up and inspect/fix all of them (fixed one, boy is that hard with no proper tools...). I've also ordered a new pickguard, a proper strap and a wah-pedal, so I probably won't touch the pickups until they have arrived. And after that, maybe I'll post some photos (and a video? who knows?!).

On the home stretch for my thesis, and working on a take-home exam. And I started to seriously look for jobs. I'd like to go to one particular place so much, but I need to muster up and start taking some chances for that to happen. I want to go there sooo bad...

I miss mountain-biking in the Juras :(

EDIT(2013-06-15 12:22): I still have to show ID when buying alcohol here in Sweden :D Funny how I never had to in France...

Ice hockey anyone?

SWEDEN, SWEDEN, SWEDEN :D

Sorry for the ugly 90s HTML, don't wanna waste time gimping something up. I don't watch sports a whole lot, but when Sweden's in the world cup final in ice-hockey... I suppose age is providing passion and understanding for the hard work that the sportsmen put into their work. Anyway, the first period was fun, the second pretty boring, and the third sealed the deal. The players were properly rough, so it was an engaging match. Now I just have to endure another season of silly football :p

Completely forgot to mention that I bought a Voodoo Labs Pedal Power 2+ pedal PSU and a Boss NS-2 noise suppressor pedal from my brother and my setup is now almost completely noise free. The evening I plugged it all in was one of the best in a long time, sweat and blood were pouring and shrapnel from exploded guitar picks were embedded in my walls. And then when my parents came around and were curious about my playing, all I could play was really tame and sloppy little tunes.

The weather was phenomenal around Gothenburg during the last weekend, my parents and I went north of the city to Marstrand. Quite possibly one of the most beautiful places I've ever been to, with quaint little white wooden houses from the early 20th century, the fort in the background, the fresh air from the sea, the rocky archipelago, the green Swedish nature all around... Wouldn't mind ending up here eventually, if I ever get (make) enough money.

I've been indulging in a hobby recently by buying a bunch of books. A hobby that I may not have talked about at all around here, not sure. Apparently, and understandably, one should not advertise the biggest dreams in life, because talking about personal things works as an outlet not only for issues but also ideas and thoughts. Keep them to yourself, realize your own dreams because you're the only one who really gives a toss. I've told a few people, but I'll try to keep it in for now and let it simmer until I have the resources to start and finish it. Or "them", if I'm inspired enough. My dream is kinda insane, big and costly, but when I'm done, I'll have something I've wanted since I was in lower-middle elementary school! Maybe in a few years you'll see... It'll be noisy.

Should head home, it's getting late and dark rain clouds are rolling in.

EDIT(just a few minutes later): Upgraded to thunderclouds!

Fuzz Guitar Show 2013

I'm throwing away money left and right these days, today I went to the Fuzz Guitar Show in Eriksberg/Göteborg. Fun stuff and they had a student discount on the entrance fee, which is why I went ;)

There was a discount on Gotoh vibratos (or tremolos if you like being wrong), but I couldn't find the one type I want for my guitar. Fortunately actually, I don't strictly need one, yet. Bought two packs of EB 11 sets, but I found no Tortex yellow packs, bah. Pedals were not very interesting, Rockboxes look nice, cost too much and imho sound pretty boring and "perfect". Lundgren pickups had a booth, but I've already ordered me a set of Curtis Novak lipsticks, gonna have a lot of fun trying to figure out how to shred with those.

Best part was looking at old 2nd hand guitars and price tags on strats from the 50-60s. I need to get a car first and learn to play properly though. Worst part was thinking about the rich douche bags who'll buy them and defile them with their rubbish playing or just put them on a wall, like putting a tiger in a 5x5x3 m³ glass box :p

Tomorrow I'll watch an acquaintance from the Chalmers Aerospace Club from back in the days parachute his way down to Earth. I'm not gonna, I'll just watch and point.

Paul Gilbert!

Paul Gilbert played for his Vibrato tour yesterday evening in Gothenburg and I was there :D

Best parts: Thomas Lang's drum solo, Emi's crazy keyboard solos and their cover of Man on the Silver Mountain (not counting Paul just being there, of course)!

My guitar saw quite some action too after that show...

Update(2013-04-24): Just wanted to add: WHOOOO, I saw Paul Gilbert live! \m/ >_< \m/

Easter and pedal mania

So Easter passed by and gave me the flu for the first time in 14 years. It's been a long time since my mom forced me to stay in bed...

I bought a Yamaha THR10 recently and that thing has had me playing a lot more than before. Really nice solid state amp for clean-ish sounds, but it's a bit bright and the gain channels are too harsh. Still, better than the 5W tube amp + Zoom g2.1u combo I used before.

I was thinking a lot about the SG clone, but my brother convinced me to buy proper pedals instead. Some of the best advice I have ever been given. I got myself a Strymon El Capistan tape delay simulator, Greenhouse Stonefish chrorus and Hartman Germanium Fuzz. Bit expensive boutique pedals for being my first pedals ever, but they sound amazing. A bit of delay and soft chorus and I can paint soft dreamy landscapes and space scenes like never before, and the Fuzz when I need it to go dirty and grimy. Check youtube for reviews and examples, all I can say is I couldn't be happier. I'm currently looking at the Maxon 9-series for an overdrive pedal and the Barber Tone Press for compression and I hope that should be it for some time, after all I plug it all into a THR :p

I'm doing ok these days, seems like my heart has stopped leaking blood and feelings and I can concentrate on programming and playing the guitar with full passion again. I'm attributing my increased will to be happy to my guitar pedals, they did wonders. So I should get the other two really soon :D

Went to a concert yesterday, my friend's wife played the harmonium in a church, and there were some other musicians playing the church organ, singing and whatnot. I've been to a few of her "shows", but I'm still a bit mesmerized seeing a world so different from my own.

Helped a friend from France with the horror build-story that is Geant4... Going home from work at 20.40, like a Ph.D. student in physics should :p

Update(2013-04-21): Got a Maxon OD9 and Barber Tone Press in the end, good stuff. Maxon sure has a bunch of od/ds-pedals, but the dark OD9 seemed like a good fit to the bright THR10, and the 808 was a tad too tame. The Tone Press seems like a really lovely compressor, I really don't know much about them, but the output is really soft and not as "plonky" as some cheaper compressors are. Those two pedals together made for some fun shredding. My setup is very noisy atm, I need to sort that out before I record anything (I know, I'm a perfectionist, but it _is_ gonna happen).

Oh right, gonna watch Paul Gilbert live at Sticky Fingers tonight! :D Camera ready...

Gotta post every month

Writing the thesis and finishing off the astrophysics course.

Programming every now and then, terrain texturing now based on Wang-like corner tiles, currently updating the FRM code for models.

Got interested in Gibson SG:s again, pretty little things. Too bad they're so inexpensive, I may waste money on one really soon.

And Fender now has American Standard Strats with lipsticks. *sigh*

Yamaha THR amps look like fun.

Trying to improvise the "solo bits" on "Mary had a little lamb" by SRV, great fun.

Still doing some Japanese, not trivial all on my own, but I'm progressing, slowly.

Not far from mastering Mill's mess with three balls.

I love the IT crowd. Moss would be an amazing friend, Sheldon's an ass.

Been looking at porting the iwlwifi 2230 driver to FreeBSD, wanna use that so bad (so I can wear the BSD horns, lookup at the FreeBSD mall. Btw that is a joke.).

Razer Abyssus is brilliant, light-weight and simple, especially on the Artisan Shiden mid. I thought the edges would hurt, but they hardly do. Lack of side-buttons is not a problem, people who give negative reviews for that on this mouse are idiots (like giving the best orange jam in the world a bad review because it's a bit sweet for potatoes). Tried a bit of CS 1.6 to try it out for real, first time for ages, popped a bunch more headshots than I did back in the day. So a good review from me on that pointer setup.

I feel like I'm flat-lining. It's the only way to keep myself in working condition I guess, 'cause I've figured my issues came to stay, forever.

In any case, I made an entry for March \../ >_< \../