I Donated blood today. It was actually the first day I was allowed to do it after the last one. For some reason I’ve turned into a massive blood donor - probably because in Sydney you get a free menchi dog (you know those yummy red processed sausages?) each time you go, whereas in Rockingham all you get is a refrigerated biscuit and a smaller-than-fun-size (therefore *not at all fun*) Cherry Ripe. Anyhow, to hit home exactly what donating blood is all about, the needle went in funny this time and squirted some blood on my arm. Then it hurt lots when they took it out. I said so and they gave me a tube of anti-bruising cream to take home. It feels better now though, and I don’t see a bruise yet. And I got my menchi dog.

Yesterday - while I’m all about whining to you - I went to try out some guitars. I was looking for a Japanese or Mexican Fender Strat HSS, something punchy and extroverted to contrast with the old SG. So the store in Pitt St let me try a couple out, but only through headphones because, I don’t know, they like their music store nice and quiet or something. At any rate, you just can’t tell how a guitar sounds through headphones and we’re talking a grand’s worth of strat here so I thought fuck it and went to the one near QVB. They let me try theirs out nice and loud in a special room. Still, I was a bit pissed off:

Moi: This guitar has a lot of fret buzz on it.
Store guy (let’s call him ‘Raymondo’): Yeah, guitars usually have some buzz - it’s a tradeoff with the height of the strings.
Moi: I also noticed that the neck seems to be dead straight, maybe even bent backwards a bit. They usually bend the other way.
Raymondo (completely dismissing my comment): No, the neck is bent forward. All guitars are like that.

I don’t think I’m the kind of person who looks stupid. Maybe I am though, or maybe only stupid people want Mexican Fenders. At any rate I’d rather be listened to by people to whom I’m contemplating giving some of my hard-earned, especially when Raymondo could have simply held the Strat to his eye and looked down the neck to see if it was the wrong shape like I’d said it was. *sigh*

Neck shape, you see, has to be set correctly to minimise fret buzz.