Walking to work is getting very, very old. Especially since this weekend it turned into January. Icy freaking freezing, and then snow, and it actually stayed on the ground, which never happens the first snow of the year. And it's snowing again/still. Sigh. I spent ten minutes actually doing my hair this morning, and then sixteen seconds out the door I had to mash it down with a hat because it’s FREEZING out. And then my hat wouldn’t cover my ears and neither would my scarf, and my legs froze, and my breath was sucked away from me, and my cheeks were paining from the sharp wind, and.. the thought of a whole ‘nother winter of this is very, very tiring. Last winter wasn’t bad. It was doable. The daily walks kept me sleeping, and I got exercise, and I had a toasty coat and it wasn’t too bad. But.. taken as a lump it’s just.. tiring. I’ll have to go back and think of it as One Day At A Time again, because.. argh.

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On Saturday, Kev and I were walking up the street to the store which carries my jewellery to see if she owed me any money. Halfway there, he stopped dead - in front of, fittingly enough, MusicStop. He was staring, practically drooling, at something through the window. I asked if he wanted to go in, because it was too damn cold to be hanging out on the sidewalk. He said, “I think I have to.”

Turns out, it’s a Gibson Semi-Hollow Body ES-135. Almost the same guitar B.B. King plays (but with one cutout instead of two, and probably a couple other differences). In Ebony. Details from a website:

Semi-hollow-body with a Florentine cutaway. Features laminated maple body and maple neck with a 22-fret rosewood fretboard. Also includes P-100 stacked humbuckers at the neck and bridge positions; 1959 rounded Les Paul neck; body binding; tune-o-matic bridge with trapeze tailpiece; and chrome hardware. Combines the look, wood tones, and feel of a classic Gibson semi-hollow body with the playability and pickups of a modern solid body. Includes Gibson hardshell case.

Kev wiped his mouth, took it down, and played a few licks. He was practically shaking with delight. This has been Kevin’s exact dream guitar for many years. Turns out, it’s been discontinued. As it also turns out, it’s on sale. Nearly half price. Instead of $3000, it’s $1600. Or, $70/mo. I looked at it, looked at the price, looked at the joy on the face of my love, and spontaneously said, “$70 a month? Hey, I’d pay half of that for you.”

The man nearly went through the floor. We left the store, but I didn’t let it go.

It took two days of cajoling (“You think about it now.” “Think about it? How am I supposed to think about anything ELSE?!”), but he finally agreed. Every few hours, he’d come out with something else to show he’d been ruminating. “$35 a month is nothing.” . . . "Devil woman." . . . “Seventeen-fifty a pay.” That was when I knew I had him :)

So! As a birthday/christmas/anniversary gift (all within a month of each other), I’m paying for half of his dream guitar. He’s going in to see the guy today to make him put it on hold, and I’m going to try and get down there with my good credit on lunchtime sometime this week and set up a payment schedule.

It totally ruins the plans I had for Xmas, but fuck it. This makes him happier than anything else I could have dreamed up. So, Yay!