If you and your friends want to have a good time by getting in front of a room full of people and embarrassing the hell out of yourself then you need to go to Karaoke night at Carol’s. My friend Sean invited me out to this ne'er-do-well bar in Andersonville, Chicago. It’s a sad piece of pub property that seems to be a refuge for anyone who has bad hair, bad teeth and bad smells. If your name is Goober then this place is for you. For those of you who went to NIU just think of a small version of Otto’s without the college crowd. Karaoke night started of just as I remembered it back in its hay day over ten years ago. Bad, bad, bad. But I think that is what this form of (dare I say) entertainment is all about. I remember thinking, “It’s going to be a long night if I have to listen to this shit all night.” But once all of Sean’s friends arrived it actually started to be fun.

OK, the singing was still awful but just being around all of his friends spewing out positive energy and enjoying the moment (it was a birthday party) I really got into it. Four people from our group even got up and each one sang a ditty. None of them were that great but for that moment it didn’t matter. It was all about enjoying the moment. I think that is one of the things I try to keep with me on a conscious level. I was having fun because everyone around me was having fun. That’s a really good feeling. I know you are asking yourselves if I got up there and sang a song. HELL NO! Do you people think I’m crazy or something? Watching other people make a fool out of themselves is one thing. For me to do that requires massive quantities of liquor and some cute boy asking me to do it.

Since I don't really have anything new to write about I thought I would just record some observations while driving in Chicago. This has always been a pet peeve of mine. One day last week while I was at a stop light I noticed a driver on the cross street decided to stop at the intersection even though she had a green light and was not making a turn. Yup, she simply stopped at the intersection and looked left then right. Meanwhile cars are lining up behind her and were probably as perplexed as I was. I personally think her brain was misfiring at that moment.

Another thing I see quite often (especially in Logan Square where I live) is how impatient people are. Personally I hate the Chicago street lights. They are all on timers and you have to wait even if there is no cross traffic. When I lived in California the majority of the lights were on sensors. They would begin to change once you pulled up to the intersection. Anyway, here in Chicago people don’t wait for jack. They simply run the red light. No, the light was not turning red. These people are stopped at the light and decide they don’t feel like waiting and just run the light. I’ve seen this happen so many times I can’t even count. It just scares the hell out of me. The older I get the more nervous I get about driving. I just know there’s a beat up old piece of shit car out there just waiting to take me out!

I know, I know. I should be spanked with a wet noodle. I have not been keeping up with my journal like I should. After returning from Florence, IT I’ve just been trying to catch up on my job search, re-assessing my finances and just getting back into the swing of things. I applied for over 20 jobs last Thursday alone! I actually got a couple of calls back from recruiters. I take that as a good sign because for several weeks I wasn’t getting ANY calls from recruiters.

I actually started looking at those dreaded government jobs. Ugh!! It’s Kind of ironic since I talk about civil service employees so bad. As we all know they should take the word ‘service’ out of civil service because I don’t ever remember getting any service. I went to the federal website for gov’t jobs and found some interesting positions. I just got a little turned off because they want you to fill out 10,000 forms and jump through hoops for a $40,000/year job! This totally reminds me of when I went into the Marine Corps. I filled out so many forms my hand was hurting. Anyway, I’m back in the swing and will be updating my journal on a regular basis. I even turned on the webcam again. Stay tuned!