In anticipation of living near Bryan and finally having someone to play music regularly with again, I pulled out and tuned up my electric guitar yesterday. I think it's been at least a year since I last played electric, and I had forgotten how enjoyable it is. I've lost the calluses on my fingers, so I was in pain after just a few minutes, but it was still enjoyable to play through some of the old songs I used to enjoy playing like Rush's YYZ and Dream Theater's Ytsejam.

Inspired, I dug my 10-year-old ART SGX-2000 effects processor out of the closet. I saved up for months to buy this box back when I was about 15, and enjoyed it for years, but I haven't used it in about six years — since before I went to college. When I plugged it in, I was dismayed to find that it seemed to be broken. It powered on, but the screen just displayed the message, "AP RAM ERROR", and refused to do anything else.

I searched for company online and, while they're still around, my effects box was discontinued several years ago, and they no longer offer warranty service on it. I gave them a call just in case, and they said that they couldn't provide any service, but they could email me the schematics in case I wanted to try to fix it myself. The guy I talked to also suggested that I try opening it up and removing the main CPU, polishing the contacts, and re-seating it in the socket. I tried that, and was surprised to discover that it worked. It seems to be functioning normally now, and it's been fun rediscovering all the great sounds this thing has.

I've also been digging out all the other fun guitar-related gear I've accumulated, like the Roland V-Guitar which converts your notes into MIDI, letting your guitar sound like a pipe organ or even a drumset. Shut up, it's useful! Pipe organists are expensive!

I'm tempted to pull out the four-track and set everything up and start writing and recording music again, but that probably doesn't make sense right now, with my impending move and everything. But I definitely plan to make regular use of this stuff once I make it up to New Orleans.