Likes to Sing Guy + Monday Haiku

First and foremost I would like to congratulate the 2008-2009 NBA World Champion Los Angeles Lakers. A team I root for has not won a championship since the Angels in 2002. I

watched every playoff game this year and am pumped that my team are the champs. Kobe did work. I am excited to buy a championship T-Shirt and DVD.

They dominated most of game five and won handily. I try not to be a poor sport but it was satisfying that among the teams they eliminated were the Jazz, the Nuggets, and of course the Magic. They may have been flawed and maybe they didn't always play with maximum effort but every time they really needed a huge play...they got it.

I want to mention a couple of things, when I flew back to DC from home last month I saw there was a Laker T-Shirt in the airport. $20.oo dollars, just a basic Lakers T-Shirt in yellow by Addidas. I stopped, duffel bag over my shoulder, considered buying it, and then kept walking. I just couldn't risk the bad karma potential. Now I doubt that this one act of consumer restraint was won't shifted the cosmic balance, but as I mentioned earlier...I couldn't risk it.

So it's Monday and here we are. Another new week to look ahead to. My friend Tia, who is finishing her masters at VT mentioned on her blog (http://tiawilliamsuva.blogspot.com/) that she'll soon have more time on her hands and thus more time to blog. I figured, well I have time, I should blog more.

Before I get to the point of this blog entry, I have to tell a story. When I was younger I never sang in church. Never in sacrament meeting and I did sing in Primary until an unfortunate case of puberty caused my voice to do something unpredictable during a rousing version of "I Hope They Call Me On a Mission". Thus from ages 12-19 no singing. I think when I got into the MTC I would sing quality because I felt (was pressured) into thinking that is what missionaries do. Fast forward nine weeks and I am in my first area called Karlskrona. It was a smallish branch that could fluctuate in attendance between 18-45. The chapel was quite small, no real cultural hall, and a few classrooms. I remember on one particular Sunday that the congregation was its smallest. The Branch President was a good man but extremely reserved. I don't know if I ever saw him smile, let alone laugh. He most certainly didn't sing. That Sunday one of my favorite families in the Branch the Bloombergs were attending the Kalmar branch and thus their musicality (not sure that is a word) was also not in attendance. I remember thinking, if I don't sing, it is quite

possible no one will. So my comp and I sang. From that Sunday I have pretty well sung every song presented. Jump forward 20 months later and my parents have picked me up in Sweden and we have traveled to Germany and the town of Wurtzburg (Dirk Nowitski's home town, I saw his then GF [not the crazy con artist lady] who was a cute tallish German girl who wore Nike shox) where my Aunt and Uncle and Cousin Alexander live. We all went to church that Sunday and I sat next to my mom. As we were singing the hymns, my mom (miss her every day) turns to me and says "Sing right." I reply "I'm doing my best".

Anyone who has ever gone to Karaoke with me knows that singing is not one of my strong points. I am much better at identifying songs than singing them. I don't mind singing, in fact I enjoy it, I just can't stand to hear my own voice, I hate it. My solution to that problem is to sing quietly in church. This works particularly well in the Colonial ward as there are often 200 people singing and I am easily drowned out. This is more difficult in the Santa Gertrudes ward as my dad is a non singer, so I can sort of hear myself. Not a good thing.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Thankfully they aren't 1,000 words being sung

What, you may be asking is the point of all of this. So yesterday at church I am sitting in sacrament meeting next to Andrea (a remarkable singer) and we are singing, when I notice there is a guy who is singing just a little bit louder. At that moment I look up and see Ryan sitting in the row in front of me and we look at each other and we're both thinking "What is that?" Immediately I dubbed that vocal artist "Likes to Sing Guy" I'm sure you have all run into him on occasion, the guy who likes to sing a little too much, is a little too ambitious with singing the parts, and is just a little louder than everyone else. Needless to say I was thrilled by his performance. I'm thinking, I am aware of my voice, surely he knows that he is singing extra loud. Maybe, but that certainly isn't stopping him. I couldn't help but be reminded of the over ambitious chorister from last summer who stopped mid song and admonished us for not singing with fervor ( I wasn't there but I heard about it) and all of the people who take their musical performances just a bit too seriously. "Likes to sing guy", "Likes to cry girl", "No tie guy", "Ward hopper girl", "Future GA guy", and "Blatantly fake tan girl" are just a few of the cast of characters in a singles ward that no matter where you are, you are likely to run into.

So my dear Pete Chat readers I am asking you to let me know about "That Guy" and "That Girl" who show up at your ward, place of business, or other people you run into on a consistent basis.

Got a new Nephew

Lakers are World Champions

Newly Manscaped. Nice.