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.