Amitriptyline Dreams

I got my first guitar, a black Squire by Fender Stratocaster, for Christmas in the 8th grade. It was a terrible year. No matter what happens to me now, I can always say "at least I'm not in junior high anymore". That's another story, though. I threw my whole cold little heart into the guitar through the rest of my teenage years. I was limited by lack of skill and tiny little hands that make certain cords impossible, but I came up with some fairly interesting stuff within that framework. I'd usually take whatever stupid little technique I'd learned during a lesson (hammer-on/pull-off, drop D, etc.) and build a song around it. Eventually, I started to make recordings of these songs by putting some headphones in a microphone jack on my 80's era stereo and then attaching the headphones over my amp (DIY PUNK FUCKING ROCK, Y'ALL). This worked fairly well. I gave these tapes to my friends, who allegedly enjoyed them. One tape made its way to the high school weight room, intended for rock-out testosterone inspiration, or something. One time they played it while I was in there for PE, and our infamous coach asked what was wrong with the stereo. Heh. The cassette format was on the way out and CD burners will still expensive, so I recorded a CD version in the ag shop with the help of two teachers, who were really more like friends at that point. The recording software would only record 45 seconds or so of sound at a time, though, so I had to shorten the songs. I prefer the longer cassette versions and will mp3-ify them at some point, but the short ones are the most accessible at the moment, since I don’t have a tape deck. Here is the short version (which turned out to be only the intro) of my oldest and probably prettiest song, previously called "Barbie's Ace", re-christened "Amitriptyline Dreams."
ENJOY!

Showcase

I am a dabbler. I have messed around with all kinds of creative media,
including:

• Guitar
• Poetry
• Fiction
• Comics
• Jewelry making
• Customized clothing
• Structural equation modeling
• Insult sword fighting

And so forth.
All of these pursuits have failed for one reason or another, usually laziness or lack of time. It’s been suggested that since I am a happier person than before, I don't have much left to express. This idea is kind of melodramatic and stupid, but it may be true anyway.
Some of the stuff I have made is at least kind of interesting, and there's nothing more fun than embarrassing yourself on the internet...so I'm going to post most of it here. It will be kind of a showcase spectacular of failure! I'll also include unfinished work and new(ish) quick-and-dirty stuff. Next post, up as soon as I get around to it, will be either an old comic or an old (but never before heard!) mp3.