On the Road Again

The Bearded Backpacker here writing you live from Northwestern Ontario on the big lake they call Gitche Gumee. The lake it is said never gives up its dead when the skies of November turn gloomy. Thank you Gordon Lightfoot. Yes its true I have embarked on another road trip and this time I am meeting up with the folks in lovely Thunder Bay, Ontario. Oh what a place the Lakehead is. We are enjoying some warm, but windy weather in the centre of Canada. So yeah I am here to both celebrate my birthday and see my family. I am having a good time.

I guess its a bit better than what I did last weekend where I went out and embarrassed myself by doing some karaoke. Who whee was that a blast singing songs I really don't know the words to or the tune. Still I sang a bunch of songs with my work buddy Kelli. We sang stuff like American Pie, Cover of the Rolling Stone and Take Chance on Me by Abba. I was really hoping that I would have a chance to do my version of Britney Spears' Oops I did it Again, but alas they did not have that particular disk. I call BS.

Hey you should all know that you can look forward to reading about a second year of Softball highlights. That's right I'm going out to play for a second year and I hope the adventures of Scared Hitless provide some happier endings. Well that's all for now.

Later

Where Have You gone Joe Dimaggio?

The Bearded Backpacker has finally returned. I have been lost in the wilderness that is Facebook. This networking website has been dominating most of my online time and the online time of the people I know. Work even takes a back seat when you see a message from one of your friends on Facebook. Its been great catching up with a lot of people from all different stages of my life. There are the kids from elementary school, junior high, high school, university and college. There are even some people I have worked with in there. Anyway the site is a wee bit popular now. There are tonnes of people on there from nobodies to celebrities to dead celebrities. Fun fun fun.

I guess another reason I have been kind of lazy with the writing is because of the start of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Ottawa Senators were taking on the upstart Pittsburgh Penguins and the phenom Sidney Crosby. The Sens played a strong series and are on to the second round where they must face the New Jersey Devils. Meanwhile out here in Calgary the Flames are getting another early summer after losing out in the first round to the Detroit Red Wings. If it wasn't for the super Finn, Miikka Kiprusoff, who had to face over 250 shots during the series, it could have been a lot worse. The Flames road whoas came back to haunt them in this series as they showed almost no effort in the games played at the Joe Louis Arena. What will happen to the Flames now? Well there are some people who want the coach fired and half the team traded, but lets calm down a little. The Flames were a decent team this year, but in no way should they have been expected to beat Detroit. Of course there were tonnes of problems with this team all year when it came to its inability to win on the road. Anyway I think this team will be a lot better next year and should be making another trip to the Stanley Cup, if history repeats itself. The first time Calgary went to the Cup and lost they had to wait another three season before they got back there. So I'm counting on that. I am excluding the strike year because there was no season played. Make sense? Go Flames and Go Sens.

I really have nothing else to say at this time, but please continue to enjoy Facebook and the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Later.

I Come From a Land of Ice and Snow

Hey so its been awhile. I know, I know, what is the point of having a blog if you never write anything. That's just who I am and plus I have been busy. Really its true. The best part is I may have insulted a comedy legend. Cool.

So since the last time I was here I have made a complete ass of myself on a few occasions. A couple weeks ago I decided I would do something I never really feel comfortable about, performing in front of a crowd. You see I signed up to try out for the CBC Second City Next Comedy Legend reality type program they are doing. The tryouts were taking place in four cities across Canada and Calgary was one of them. A guy I work with was going so I said hell why not? It would prove to be a great and nerve racking experience.

We arrived at the Cowboys night club at around 8AM. The infamous Cowboys is known for its artificially endowed waitresses and cheap drinks. Today it would be known for comically endowed judges and cheap laughs, ha ha. We stood in line waiting for our turn to perform for around two hours. There was the bonus of meeting former WWE Diva Trish Stratus. She actually held my hand a bit after I told her I was feeling nervous. After I did that my body went out of control and I actually lost sensation in my baby fingers. It was weird. I think I may have suffered a tiny stroke. I don't know if I was really that nervous or I made myself go further out of control then planned. Anyway I met Trish, the day need no other excitement and it had none. Well at least until it was my turn to perform.

The audition required that people come up with three different characters. I think I had some decent ideas, but in reality I'm the only character worth doing and I should have just gone up there as myself, but no I tried the three characters and since I'm not a performer things did not work out that great. I forgot what i wanted to say and my focus was out the window. Oh well that's life. The best part though was I got to insult Joe Flaherty. Before we did our audition we filled out a sheet explaining why we were auditioning. I said it was to meet Eugene Levy, not knowing that Flaherty was one of the judges. Well I was asked why I wanted to meet Eugene Levy and if I was disappointed that I had to settle for Joe. I said that I still loved Joe, but Eugene has just been out there more. You know having a career. Okay so I didn't say the last part, but I might as well have.

So I did not get a call back, but hell it was fun and at least I tried it and conquered my fears a bit. I will have to fin another outlet for my comedic genius. How will I accomplish this? e will just have to wait and see.

Later