Luck Lost
Monday, June 23, 2008 at 10:10AM I used to be lucky. I used to win concert tickets on radio stations all the time. I would win raffles, 50/50 ticket draws, contests, and once I won a Palm Pilot at the concert I went to! I used to be lucky.
Now it seems that luck is gone.
On Saturday we attended a bowling fund raiser for a local counseling center and although I bowled a decent game, I was sure I would win one of the many raffles or the 50/50 draw. But none of my tickets were drawn and I felt as though all of the talk I did to those in our lane like “Oh I always win” and “I’ll buy lunch with the 50/50 money I am going to win” came back to haunt me, quickly. Oh well. After my friends were done making fun of me (rightfully so) I decided that it was time to just say goodbye to the good luck.
Fast forward to Sunday afternoon:
It is my son’s 14th birthday and we were planning on spending the afternoon at Disneyland. We had asked our son about what he wanted for his birthday and he asked for gift cards to Guitar Center to add to the money he is saving to buy “his” guitar.
After church I asked him, “So dude, how much money do you have saved up so far for your guitar?”
“251.00”
I was shocked. When I was 14 there was no way I could keep 20 bucks in my pocket without spending it. Who the hell is this kid?
“And how much is the guitar you want to get?” I ask.
“Like 1 thousand bucks!” He says laughing out loud.
I told him, “Okay dude, I do not think you should spend a grand on your first guitar. I couple of hundred bucks is cool, but for your first guitar, you should not spend that much. Your second or third guitar, when you are like Jimi good, then spend the grand.”
He agreed that 1000.00 was a little out control for his first axe. We told him that if we go to guitar center and find something he likes, and the price is not ridiculous, that we would kick in the rest as his birthday gift. At that point I knew Disneyland was not going to happen.
When we got there I asked him which guitar he was looking at. He said an “Epiphone Les Paul.” I know that my brother in law has one and it cost him around 700 so my guess is he saw some crazy one online and thought they were all that price. I was not prepared to pay another 450.00 so we had to find something cheaper.
He looked around and found nothing. Then he comes grinning from ear to ear and hands me this beautiful white guitar and says, “Here it is dad.”
I look at the guitar and it says, “Epiphone Les Paul” on it then I look at the price tag.
$299?
I ask a salesman if that is correct. He looks at the guitar, looks at the price tag, looks back at the guitar and says, “No, this is the wrong tag.”
Crap.
“Oh well. It’s marked $299 so that’s the price," the salesman said.
I know where my luck went.
Happy Birthday Son
Reader Comments (11)
WHAT!!!
I repeat WHAT!!
That never happens!
What a great story and a great birthday present. Tell little George I said Happy Birthday!
wow, what a piece of sweet luck! passed down from father to son..
great for him
awww. that was so cute I almost started crying! I'm glad you didn't come to the big D... :)
<3
OK - I find that super, duper cool. :D Bob just got a Les Paul Standard in white. They were just about to do markdowns - and the guy marked it from $2,800 to $1,600 for him... Rock. On.
Have fun with it, George Jr.!!!!! :)
Great tale George. Your boy must have been grinning from ear to ear.
Now you'll have to post a picture of him and his axe.
My goodness! I think I'd rather that sort of luck than winning a small raffle :D
Happy birthday to your son!
Oh - I vote for the full video of him playing something on the guitar.
Great story. Happy Birthday, George!!
Wowsers man! And I TOTALLY expect some youtube vids of him cranking out some hot stuff!
(no pressure little G-Money, we're an easy crowd)
Happy Birthday to George Jr!!!
And this was a great post, SuperG. Made me feel all sorts of warm and fuzzy inside. :)
I'm with Bernard - post son-and-axe photos!!!
I am grinning from ear to ear!
I am glad he has the old luck I used to have. I need it back for the lottery tickets though.
Check out YTT. I posted a clip of Georgie rocking out!