November 18, 2004

 

Well, of course dramatic things have been taking place in my life since I haven't written in a while.  Where to start?... Well, after the initial snow melted, we had our monthly karaoke night.  It was a lot of fun and not that many people were there.  I got to sing a lot of times.  There was a couple there, and the woman asked me if I would sing a certain song for her.  I wasn't sure of the words, but I gave it a shot anyway.  She was in tears when she came up to me afterward, and told me that her former husband had died of lung cancer and that was their song.  I was glad I could sing it for her and both she and her husband kept insisting they thought I was one of the best singers they had ever heard.  Of course I thanked them, and then I just went back to my table.  Well, later on I was singing once again and when I was done, they came up to me and said they wanted to talk to me about the possibility of financing my music career.  The guy was swearing to me that he had a lot of money, and his wife was glad to back him up about that.  He insisted that he wasn't some drunk who was trying to impress me, and that he wasn't trying to take me for a ride, and I explained that I'm completely broke, so it wouldn't matter if he was anyway.  I wasn't sure what to think.  It was so loud and dark in there that I couldn't be sure of how drunk either of them were.  Well, we exchanged info and I didn't know if I would hear from either of them again.  The next day my mother and I went shopping in Burlington.  We stopped into my college to say hi to some people, and anybody I saw that knew me couldn't believe how different I looked.  One priest friend I have, Father Mike, told me that he wasn't even sure it was me from a little way away from me because I was only half the size I was the last time he saw me.  I also saw one of my favorite professors from school, Dr. Putzel, and my mother and I talked to him for about an hour catching up on things.  It was nice to see everybody.  We didn't get home until around one in the morning.  First thing the next day, I was awoken by my mother saying Brad was on the phone for me.  Brad is the guy from the bar.  Right off he started firing questions at me.  Besides your wheelchair, do you have any other health problems?  No.  Are you on any medications?  No.  Do you have any drug or alchol problems?  Ha ha, no way.  Would you be able to sing from nine to one with only two fifteen minute breaks?  No problem.  Would you be willing to forsake everyone in your life, your friend or mother, to do this?  Well, I'm not going to sell her, but if you mean travelling away from home a lot, yes.  (He didn't give me a chance to tell him I hadn't had a friend in over five years.)  At this point, his wife told him he was an idiot and made him give her the phone.  She told me that they had been talking to some people about singing opportunities and making a demo.  She said it would be a lot of travelling and would be a huge time commitment and I would have to be willing to make that sacrifice.  I happily agreed.  Hmm... travelling around singing or sitting at home babysitting and cleaning the house?  Hard call.  So Kim (the wife) told me that she would be in touch within three days or so, and not to get worried if I didn't hear from her.  I was elated at the actual possibility of my lifelong dreams coming true.  Could it really happen for me?  Is this the opportunity I've felt was coming for months, or even years, now?  I'm not sure, but it certainly is a better prospective than the other choice of sitting in this house until I die.  Then my membership ran out at the gym.  It took a few days to scrape up enough money to go back, and I had gotten a little out of shape.  I've been sitting around the house eating and not working out, and I lost two pounds.  I think it's safe to say it was fat I was losing.  Well, when I got to the gym, the managers called me in the office and offered to let me volunteer a couple of hours a week to pay for my membership, since I was there so much anyway.  I was glad to accept.  So last night I sweat like I hadn't sweat since my first night there.  It felt good, though.  Then a couple of days ago, Curt had hernia surgery.  I've been helping him at home since then.  I kind of like being the caring older brother, watching over the sick little brother, helping him out.  It's the first time I've been able to help somebody else as much as I've needed help in the past.  I guess that's another thing to cross off the list.  He's doing better today and things are looking more up than ever for me.