Chapter 17: Chapter 17: Guitars
I continued to watch the view of the night river. It is mesmerizingly beautiful here ... I think that the houses here also cost a lot of money. But I still live in a rented apartment.
Yes, even the most modest millionaires pale in comparison to me. I could have bought my own house a long time ago, but if I were to buy something, then only the best! And the best costs a lot of money. And for now, I mainly spend all my money on the company. But very soon, I expect to make a good profit from the release of the first game, and then I will get a normal home. And, to be honest, I have a certain passion for real estate.
Therefore, in the future, I want to have my own cozy nest in every city. My little dream... one of many. Eh, maybe I want too much in this life, but the more difficult your goal, the more motivated you are. I got into the car and went home to my two-room rented apartment.
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As usual, I woke up at 6 o'clock. This morning, the warm rays of the early sun made me happy. But that's understandable, because yesterday I came back from a date with a beautiful girl, and not from a terrible workout with a guy in a black cloak.
Having performed the ritual of morning warm-up,I went to work. Since I didn't show up at the company yesterday and Barbara was busy with family matters, my employees still didn't know that they now had a new immediate supervisor.
Naturally, I decided to fix this first and asked Heather to gather everyone in my office.
"Good morning," I greeted my employees.
"Good morning…"
"Good morning, Mr. Reath"
"Today I'd like to introduce you to a new employee. Barbara Gordon is the General Manager of the Mobile Games and Applications Development Division. From today on, she is your immediate supervisor. Some of you will remain in the mobile games production under her leadership, while others will move to the computer games development division. But it's too early to talk about this yet…" Although the employees were quite surprised that their boss would be a very young girl, they still tried to calmly accept this fact.
However, a couple of eyes showed a skeptical attitude. I don't blame them, they must have thought that I put a young girl in such an important position just because I liked her face. And it seems that some of them hoped that one of them would take the position. Alas, they will not be able to handle this position. In the future, the company will grow to a scale that they never dreamed of.
It's okay if they don't trust Barbara. She will definitely show them that they shouldn't underestimate her.
"The first game developed by our company will soon be released to the masses. This is our debut in the gaming industry, so we can't fail. We need to check the health of all the servers and prepare for any surprises. There will be a surge in downloads and we need to be as prepared as possible for it. Heather," I turned to my assistant, "How are things with advertising?"
"I made arrangements with the advertising company "Ad Star". They began promoting our game all over North America yesterday. The ad will run for a month," Heather reported, adjusting her glasses.
"Great! Less than two weeks until graduation. Let's get to work, guys."
As soon as everyone left, I began teaching Barbara the basics of game programming. She is an excellent programmer, but she knows nothing about games yet.
Heather introduces her to her upcoming responsibilities as CEO. Our Batgirl is very smart and picks up everything on the fly. And so as not to start from the bottom, she asked me to teach her the basics.
I could not refuse her request. I spent the entire day with Barbara. I was generous with praise when she made breakthroughs in her studies, showed words of encouragement when she made small mistakes, assuring her that this was normal. And by the end of the day, she made a giant leap! I flattered her by telling her that it would take no more than a week for her to master game programming.
She only smiled quietly at my remark. As nine o'clock approached, I went to the Batcave. Barbara was unable to go with me, as her parents were expecting her for a family dinner that night. After studying for a few hours under Bruce's guidance,I hobbled home with new battle wounds... Nothing new.
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The next day I decided to go to the local music instrument store. The last time I touched the piano, I remembered playing it in a past life. It is quite possible that I studied not only the piano, but also other musical instruments. But if this is not so, it does not matter.
I came here not only to test my theory, but also to buy something. The store I entered was quite spacious. A wide variety of wind, string and percussion instruments were presented here. Simply a musician's paradise...
"Welcome to our store *Quiet Guitar*," an elderly man of about fifty greeted me. "How can I help you?"
"Hello, sir," I returned the greeting. "I would like to examine several instruments."
"Do you need professional advice?"
"I would like to just look around first."
"Well, if you need any help, I'll be behind the counter."
"Thank you, sir."
I walked around the entire store, but the feeling I had experienced when I first saw the piano in the restaurant, I felt here only once, when I approached the stand with guitars.
Yes, that's the feeling... To be honest, I'm not too surprised that I knew how to play the guitar. After all, this musical instrument is considered the most widespread in the world. I'm sure I learned to play it to pick up girls.
Although it's not that important, the main thing is that I can play it, and it's cool!
"Sir, I would like to try out this guitar," I attracted the attention of the store owner.
Taking it from the stand, he handed it to me, "This guitar is designed according to an ancient Spanish tradition. The top is made of cedar, which gives the guitar a warm, velvety sound."
Taking the guitar in my hands, I reflexively squeezed the strings on the fretboard with the fingers of my left hand, and ran the fingers of my right hand along the strings. Hearing this gentle and quiet sound, I again plunged into memories. This time they were a little different. It was as if I was playing the guitar, singing a song, and people were listening to me, spellbound.
It was like I was singing a song in the company of friends. There weren't that many of them, but I still couldn't remember their faces. These memories were so familiar and warm, as if I had returned home.
The seller, seeing that I was frozen in a daze, snapped his fingers several times in front of my face, bringing me to consciousness.
"Dude, are you okay?" he asked in a slightly rough voice, but there was no malice in it, but rather slight concern.
"Yeah, sorry, I was thinking... How much does this guitar cost?"
"$900."
"I'll take it," I said hastily. "Can you recommend another non-classical acoustic guitar?"
"Of course... Cort Jade is an acoustic guitar. The body shape is classic. The top deck is made of spruce. The back deck and sides are made of mahogany. The price is $1,200."
I tried to play it and was pleased with the sound. Then, I asked to show me an electric guitar.
"Fender Stratocaster is a true blues instrument. Price from $5,000… Gibson ES-335 is a semi-acoustic professional electric guitar, a classic instrument of jazz, rockabilly and soft blues guitarists. Price $6,000… Gibson Les Paul is traditionally considered a classic rock instrument. Price $6,000," the store owner finished presenting the goods.
[A/N: These prices are just for namesake.]
In my memory, there are countless pieces of music in a variety of genres: pop, rock, blues. And each is best played with an appropriate instrument, so I bought all these guitars without ceremony for a long time. But do not forget that my beloved Vicki Vale loves to listen to piano performances. And to strengthen her love for me, I am going to dedicate a few more classic pieces from my past world to her. I need to properly prepare for the next date.
I did not want to buy a real piano, but something in between it and a synthesizer. The shop owner showed me the right instrument as soon as I voiced my wishes.
"Digital piano with synthesizer function - unlike classic synthesizers, such instruments are equipped with a full-size piano keyboard, providing a natural feeling when playing, so that your technique will remain impeccable, and the transition to an acoustic piano will not cause any difficulties. Also, this model provides the ability to connect pedals," said the owner, in a dignified professional manner. "The cost is $ 7,500."
After performing a short excerpt from "River Flows in You", I decided to buy it. I gave my address, and the seller assured me that all purchased instruments would be delivered to the specified address tomorrow morning.
"What's your name?" the elderly man asked me.
"Alex."
"When you came in here, I had a feeling that I had seen you somewhere before. At first, I thought that you might be an aspiring musical performer, and I could have seen you at some event, but when you performed that short composition, I remembered," the store owner began to search for something on the computer. "Here, it's you, right?"
On the screen was a video of a young man playing a white piano in a restaurant hall. It was filmed from above, and I would say that it was a video from a CCTV camera, but despite this, the quality of the video was quite good, and the sound was transmitted in the most original way.
This video was uploaded to YouTube yesterday evening, and has already managed to gain over 50 million views. Well, I did not expect that at all. While I was deep in thought, my mobile rang. It was an unfamiliar number.
"Yes," I answered the call.
"Alex? This is Alexandra from the Quiet Backwater restaurant," an elderly voice came through the receiver, slightly worried.
"Good afternoon, madam."
"Yes, hello. Sorry to disturb you, but a very unpleasant incident happened here. Do you have time to come to my restaurant?"
"To the restaurant? Of course, I will soon…."
It looks like she wants to talk about the video on the Internet. Well, I would also like to know what the matter is. She called me herself… It's not that surprising that she was able to find out my number, I left my contact details when I booked the table.
As soon as I headed for the exit, the owner of the store called out to me. "Was that Alexandra?"
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