Rock Band: Failure Edition

Picture a calm residential street, a cool breeze blowing, some birds chirping, all is calm. Suddenly the sound of feedback comes roaring through the trees. Amateur sounding music blasts out into the street from a garage, disturbing the peace.

From the other side, however, the loud disturbance is so much more thrilling. The feedback from the amplifiers sends chills through each band member as they blast into a full-force heavy-metal song. The thrill of a rock band with a few friends is a great experience for the rebellious teen.

It was about two years ago when i started a rock band of my own with a couple of friends. We successfully could play a total of half a song, and the intro to one other. the guitarist and I had been good friends for several years, and always talked about starting a band, but could never find someone who played the drums.

When we got to high school, we found a fairly talented percussionist, and decided to get together one day. It went horrible. We didn't know any of the same songs, and it turned out my friend could hardly play the guitar. I had to teach him songs, despite his refusal to learn because he "already knew them".

After a few practices, we could play the first half of one song (poorly), mostly because we started arguing. It soon got to the point that we could not even agree on a song we could potentially learn all together, and when we would start to play something, one of us would stop, and play something completely different to show off our "amazing talent". We fell apart quickly, and decided it was best to be friends, and not the world's next Rush.

I have not had a laugh this good in a while. On The Jay Leno Show this evening, two very quirky characters named Hamish and Andy introduced a brand new 'sport' they invented called Ghosting. What this 'sport' involves is closely following people around to see how long they can go without getting noticed. The result of it is... well, see for yourself.
The actual 'sport' begins at about 1:53.



I also found this video featuring the same guys, only this time, believe it or not, they take things a step further by 'ghosting' tag-team style.

the event starts at 2:10. My favourite part is definitely at 5:48 where they do the unthinkable by performing the 'Double-Decker Ghost'. You are guaranteed to laugh.

Remember to Tip your Waitresses!

Everyone knows this phrase from the end of cheesy stand-up comedians' performances, but why only the waitresses? Why not everyone else that contributed to the meal you just polished off? If it wasn't for them, the 6 oz. steak you just devoured would still be the backside of a cow.

Most restaurants do give cooks a percentage of the tips the waitresses make, but when people tip something like a couple of quarters, which is all too common, 10 percent isn't all that much. When the menu says it is made to order, they aren't kidding. A lot of work goes into every meal.

It's not only the cooks, but what about gas jockeys? Those people freeze beside your car, filling it with fuel as you sit inside with the heat cranked, only allowing the icy wind to enter through the small crack at the top of the window when you say "20" and pass through a crumpled bunch of bills. Minimum wage does not suffice for the frostbitten hands and toes, and snot icicles making a rash on their upper lip.

All I ask is that you keep this in mind the next time you are enjoying an expertly crafted meal, or sitting in your car thinking, "I'm glad I'm not out there." After all, if it wasn't for them, you would be freezing your butt off, or at home cooking a pot of KD.

The Love of a Vehicle

Today, I thought I would talk about my car, and the way I acquired it. I absolutely love my car, despite it being what most people would consider a piece of crap. The story all started in the beginning, the day I got my license.

when I first got my license, I used my moms car to get around when I wanted to go see friends, or work. The summer following brought a job that required a vehicle for everyday, so I asked my dad if I could borrow our minivan while
I needed it for the job. He was happy to help, and I had a vehicle that was (almost) all my own. I was the only person that ever drove it. Having a vehicle was the greatest, it gave me freedom to go where i wanted to go, and in style too. Sure, it was a minivan, but it also featured a TV, VCR, excellent sound system, and incredibly comfortable seats.

When the summer ended, and school was back in, sadness swept over me, as I knew I would have to give the van back. However, it was agreed that I could use it for the rest of the year in school, as long as I kept it in good condition, which of course, I always did.

Fall and winter came and went, and many great memories were made in the van involving good friends, and usually large amounts of fast food. In the following spring on my way home from school, the engine temperature light came on. Upon further inspection, I discovered a leak coming from underneath. The van became immobile, left derelict in the driveway. I was stuck taking the bus, getting rides to school from friends, and even from my mom sometimes. (How embarrassing)

A friend told me of this guy that he bought his car from, and said he could sell me a really nice car for cheap. Of course, I was thrilled to hear about all the details of it, and the special features, the sunroof, heated leather seats, Bose sound system, powerful engine, it had it all. The only downside was that this guy's shop was located in southern Manitoba just before the Floodway, and it was spring. That meant flooding and lots of it. I had to wait. I waited three weeks, and finally got the chance to head down to see my car, only to discover that the car my friend described was not even there! I looked around at what other cars there were, and decided on this sporty little red one, it was quick, comfortable, and, my favourite feature, had a standard transmission. (I always wanted to learn how to drive stick)

I took the car home, with not too much trouble, considering it was the first time I handled the manual transmission, and tried to practice whenever I could in the following days. Just two short days after bringing it home, I was obviously doing something wrong with my shifting, and blew up the clutch, causing that car to become immobile. I called the guy that sold it to me, and he said he could fix it, thankfully. the problem with that was I no longer had a vehicle, again, and had to drive the newly repaired van. All felt right in the world, I had my van, some more memories were made, life went on.

A call came one fine day, and my car was ready, again. I went down to pick it up, and this time did not make the same mistakes that led to my demise previously. Eventually The manual transmission became second nature to me, and I have never looked back.

that pretty much says it all, my new car is still running great, I drive it every day, and would never want to drive anything else.

Dipping My Toes in the Water

So this is my first post. I'm not entirely sure what to do here, I guess I will talk a bit about what my blog will be about.

so basically, I would like to share the spontaneous adventures I have with my close friends that we come up with while bored with nothing to do. In addition to that, i would like to talk about news, or what other crazy stuff people do for fun, and give my opinion on how great or terrible of a plan it was.

So I guess that's all for now, more posts to come shortly.

The City at 3 in the Morning

This past weekend, sitting around with a few friends in the small town of Stonewall late at night proved to be very boring. On a whim, someone said, "Hey! Lets go catch a midnight movie in the city!" That seemed like the perfect Adventure for our boring Saturday night, so we all piled in my tiny 2-door, and hit the road.

Twenty minutes of loud music later, not only were our ears ringing, we arrived at the theatre where sadly, there was no midnight movie. We were all very disappointed, But being someone to never miss a moment, we used our trip to the city to find something to do; we were not going to head home, that would be boring again. First, we stopped at Wal-Mart to discover it was closed. Next we decided to head down portage avenue to see if any nice cars were out driving around. That was entertaining for a little while. We suddenly found ourselves on main street, so not to

end our journey there, I said, "Hey! Lets go explore the city!" That sounded like a great idea, so we started to drive around. We flipped a coin to decide which way to go, and eventually got lost in the depths of Winnipeg. The city is an interesting place. Me, living in small towns my whole life, have never been able to experience what it's like to be in a place so busy, even in the dead of the night.

The sights we saw were very exciting. We checked out Osborne Village, which is always exciting, drove down the Corydon Strip, which was also full of excitement. We turned down the music for a moment, rolled down the windows, and just listened to the sounds of the street, the people talking, cars whizzing by, chiming of the "Don't Walk" signal. It wasn't just the sounds that were exciting, the sights were also fascinating. There were people all dressed up for a night on the town, walking down the streets. Some buildings were lit up with all sorts of neon lights that changed colour over time. In the trees, bright colourful Christmas lights were strung. It was almost magical. It is difficult to think that this sort of stuff goes on every night, while back at home, its dark, and absolutely no one is to be found outside.

That trip was an eye opener to how much really goes on in the world that I was oblivious to. Now, my friends that went on the trip and I plan on having similar trips regularly, and once the last of us reach legal age, will maybe even go walk down that Corydon Strip, and join in the nightlife, making some memories of our own.