As far back as I can remember, there have been certain musical instruments that, once I'd heard them, I could never forget. The first I recall having such an effect was the cello. The second, in a similar range, was the fretless bass. Although similar in some ways, they are very different instruments that each have their strengths and weaknesses. Regardless, I have long wished to have access to both, to learn and appreciate their ways. But I have neither the money, nor the training, to justify such purchases. The universe, however, had different ideas.

For those who don't know about the law of attraction, the basic truth seems to be that everything you focus on - good or bad - will find its way into your life. The more you focus (and appreciate), the sooner and more forcefully it will come. My life is full of examples, some of which, I will later write about, including the free moped, the job with no hours, finding Burt, my current apartment, and everything that happened on the way to Czech, to mention just a few.

There's a reason I'm mentioning this, though. Because, at the beginning of this year, I decided I was finally going to take a plunge and get myself behind a cello. And, when I was fairly good at that, I would eventually find myself a fretless bass. That was the plan and I was going to stick to it. Each instrument would be a reward for working hard on the previous one, so it wasn't just going to be self-indulgent and stupid (having lots of instruments I can't play).

The problem with the law of attraction, though, is that you only get to decide what you bring into your life, not how or when you get it.

Here's what happened:

During my recent summer road trip, I went to a town I used to know, in the hopes of tracking down some old friends. In particular, I was looking for my high school pal and fellow community terrorist, Denzil. Sadly, his entire neighborhood has now been claimed by the eastern europeans and the arabs, which is a little weird for me - I practically grew up in that place and never met anyone who wasn't born there. In my first visit in almost 20 years, it's all overgrown and I didn't hear a word of English (also weird because I did hear some Polish and Russian, which I understood, and that wasn't what I expected in this place, either).

Anyway, I guess Denzil and his family moved away a long time ago. Somewhat defeated, but not unexpectedly, I returned to Burt and began my journey out of town. But just as I approached the first corner after his block, I saw someone I hadn't set out to find. Another old friend. We spent some time together, had some laughs, played a bit of music and reminisced about the old days, as people often do. And then something even more unexpected happened; he reached over to his guitar rack and picked up a fretless bass and handed it to me. Excited to play it (or try to - I'm not a bassist, yet), I grinned and took it. And then I thought I heard the words "you can have that".

For a moment, I disregarded the sound, and continued plugging in, but then it hit me. I looked up. "What did you say?"
My old friend smiled at my disbelief, and repeated the offer. For a moment, I didn't process it, and probably just sat there like a dummy, staring at him. When that cleared, and I realized I had just been given the very thing I always wanted, I probably just sat there like a dummy, staring at him.

Friends, I couldn't be more grateful for this gift from someone I haven't seen in so long. And I'm going to play it 'til my fingers bore through it.

My new fretless, warm and haunting, with its mysterious ways. Some samples will be available, a little later on.