Stop the press!

I recently heard some absolutely stunning news that I was totally unprepared for. I am quite taken aback about this actually. I think it might take a long time for me to get over this news but I'll try. I've gone through a few traumatic events in my life. I've lost loved ones. I've had close friends move away. I've seen Bill Berry quit R.E.M. I've gone through Kurt Cobain killing himself. But THIS? I am just totally flabbergasted. Just speechless. But here it is. Kevin Richardson has quit the Backstreet Boys. Yeah, I know... It's hard. I mean, who else could be "the older brother type" in this landmark musical group? I just don't know how I'll be able to go on. Now there will only be four other guys to over-emote and do the classic hand gestures of the "pull-down-hand-clench" and "the finger wave" and the "twirling Jesus pose." Okay, a moment of silence... But life MUST go on... It MUST...

Words to live by...

Last night April and I were playing Super Mario Bros. 3. While I was playing, April told me some sage-like words that I believe could be applied to life in general: "Give 'er shit and don't die." When you think about it, that's all you can really do in life.

New music...

There has been a glut of great new CDs coming out an in insane rate the last couple of months. So much greeat music, so little money and time to listen to it all. However, I recently picked up the solo debut from Amy Millan of Stars, Honey From the Tombs. It's a nice, mellow, mostly acoustic album of predominantly folky/country songs. It's a nice departure from her Stars material. I also picked up the new "best of" album from classic '80's indie/college/garage rock band The Replacements. The Replacements are one band that everyone should own at least one album of, so this best of is a nice introduction to Paul Westerberg's influential band.

Soooooo close...

Yeah, it's been a few days, but I was pretty disheartened watching the Oilers lose game 7 to the Hurricanes this past Monday. Mark and I watched the game at O'Hanlon's on a big screen. It was exciting watching the game with a bunch of hockey-mad people, but everyone at O'Hanlon's was pretty disgusted and disappointed when the 'Canes scored that final empty net goal with roughly a minute remaining. Once that goal was scored, half the place walked out to the patio in disgust. While I obviously would prefer the Oilers to have won, they had a helluva run. Here's to next year. On a side note, a few of the cast members from Corner Gas were amongst the crowd watching the big game. So I can now lay claim to the fact that I got to use the urinal next to the one that a certain Brent Butt was using. Woo.

I am sooooo famous

In every issue of Regina's independent newspaper thePrairie Dog, they have a contest where if you spot a typo you can e-mail them and you get entered to win a whopping ten dollars. Well, folks, I am now 10 dollars richer. Yep, I won the contest and a photo of myself now graces the Prairie Dog pages for the next two weeks. Normally the first one to enter wins, but this time around the Prairie Dog editors went for the most creative entry. So after sorting through thousands upon thousands of entries (OK... they probably only had maybe 11 people enter...), they chose my stunning piece of prose. It's nice to see my sarcasm has finally paid off for me.

a quick "picture" of my life...

It's been a while since I last posted but I've survived my school-induced coma relatively unscathed. I wrote my final for my spring course this past Thursday and I was going into the final with an 80 so I am extremely happy with that. English is such a subjective subject, so one prof may give you an 80 for a paper that is for all intents and purposes a piece of shit, while another prof may give you a 65 for a paper you are really proud of. This spring course was taught by a prof who gave me two of my worst undergrad marks. Now he has given me my two highest marks ever in an English course with an 83 and an 85 on my term paper, so I guess my style has finally meshed with his marking scheme.

I just got back from hosting karaoke at The Pump and it was quite the experience. I trained with Zubazz a couple times before, but tonight was my first time all by myself. Overall it was pretty fun, but it definitely had its moments where I could've just ripped my hair out. For the first 45 minutes I was pretty much just singing to myself and the bartender, just trying to hold off dead air. Most of the people there were pretty cool and laid back, but of course you have to have those people who just HAVE to get their songs in right away. If I played my cards right I could've walked out with at least 50 bucks in my pocket for people wanting desperately to sing next, but I settled for a couple of free beers. Damn morals! But the most fucked up thing about my night was two different people wanting to sing "Picture" by Sheryl Crowe and Kid Rock. As most of my friends know, this is probably one of my 5 least favorite songs on the planet since everyone and their dog sings it at karaoke. When the song first came out, I thought it was a decent, middle of the road song. Then it suffered the fate of many hit songs... it gets played to death, and it becomes a karaoke staple. (*on a side note, here are some songs that should just be forbidden at karaoke... Garth Brooks "Friends in Low Places", B-52's "Love Shack", Joan Jett/Britney Spears "I Love Rock n Roll", and Meat Loaf "Paradise by the Dashboard Lights"... and of course "Picture"...but I digress*). About 1 minute after this one girl, who I shall refer to as Girl #1, wanted to sing "Picture" with some guy, this other girl puts up the same song. After telling Girl #2 that someone else just put up the same song, she thinks about it for a couple minutes and decides to sing the song anyway with her boyfriend. Then five minutes later she comes up to me and begs and pleads to get her song up RIGHT AWAY because it's "getting late" and she "has to work in the morning." I was hoping to place the two songs a few songs apart to save a bit of monotany, but then GIRL #1 comes up to me and wants to be up RIGHT AWAY too. She was due to be up right away anyways because of her spot in the roatation, but I told her that another couple wanted to sing the same song too, but then she goes on a big tirade of how her and her guy-friend will do a way better job of singing the song than the other couple, so I just threw my arms up and decided to let them both sing the fucking song... back to back. A karaoke-off was about to take place. I don't know what would go through someone's mind to willingly want to sing the same song RIGHT after some one else, but Girl #2 was so adamant about it. So after two rousing renditions of "Picture", Girl # 2 and her boyfriend stick around for another half hour or so. So much for having to work in the morning. I'm used to being on the other side of the karaoke equation... going out with a few friends and singing some tunes. It is quite a drastic change being on the other side of hosting and trying to run a smooth show. I have a newfound respect for Zubazz and Stacey and Dee Dee and Gerda and Tina who are veteran karaoke hosts. But overall it was good experience and I worked out a few kinks and by the end of the night I was feeling a lot more natural and had a good groove going. Besides the pure boredom of it being dead for the first 45 minutes, a couple mislabled discs, a few people ditching out on their songs, and a handful of impatient people, it was pretty fun and it'll be a nice little part time gig to have while going to school.

I also have to mention that the Oilers absolutely dominated the Hurricanes tonight, so Game 7 will take place on Monday. After Dwayne Rolason got injured in Game 1 I thought the Oilers were doomed. And then they got down 3-1 in the series. But I think they can pull it off now. Jussi Markkanen is standing on his head and the rest of the team are playing with poise and confidence. It's looking like the Stanley Cup will finally come back to Canada, and it's pretty sweet that my favorite team are the ones who will likely do it.

a quick breather before i head back into hibernation mode

I am going to be a major hermit this week since I have a 20 page paper due this week for my spring course. The course has been pretty intense since we cover a ton of material in only six or so weeks. So this week will be hell, but it'll be worth it once it's over. So I will be dropping off the face of the earth for all intents and purposes this week. School-induced coma.

On a side note, I trained with Zubazz again this past Saturday for the karaoke hosting gig downstairs at The Pump. Besides a few minor glitches, I think it went fairly well. It'll be a nice little part time job for the fall. It was pretty amusing this past Saturday when this older guy came up to sing "Born to Be Wild." He was something straight out of the movies. He reminded me of a hybrid between Iggy Pop and Randy "Macho Man" Savage. He looked like a dead ringer for Iggy, but his voice was all Macho Man: "Step into a Slim Jim! Dig It!". Alright, time to dive back into the books.