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Brings a smile to your face.
When two parallel universes collide in one stunning picture. Reality meets fantasy and the clear winner is a life that has been lived. – Dr. Andrew Thorne
There are certain things you do not see coming. The Spanish Inquisition, rogue asteroids, Sarah Palin and other unfortunate occurrences that interfere with humanity in significant ways. But this, this ladies and gentlemen, this is something that eclipses the awesome of finding a hidden tub of caramel mocha ice-cream in your freezer.
We have this!
Mr.Laraque, once responsible for chasing a rubber disk, but mostly in beating other people into goo, is now one of two deputy leaders of Canada’s Green Party. The CBC intones:
“The federal Green Party is hoping a former NHL tough guy will help beef up the party’s presence in Quebec.
Green Leader Elizabeth May on Saturday named Georges Laraque as a deputy leader of the Green Party of Canada.”
Wow.
Mr.Laraque will certainly have his hands full, although I have no doubt Georges will rise to the occasion. He is a very social individual, even hosting a radio show here in Edmonton while he played for the Edmonton Oilers. I think he probably has the charisma to do well in politics. I’m curious as to see how other politicians react when they debate Mr.Laraque as I am sure they know that in his former occupation he role was to apply his fists to other peoples noses.
Mr.Laraque has no skeletons that might haunt him, unlike NDP candidates of past that have said bad things on the intertoobz, but Mr.Laraque has engaged in at least what I would term questionable product sponsorship.
Carboned Water Beer Replacement Beverage? Blech.
It could be worse. Good Luck Green Party!
The second group lesson is easier they told me. They were correct. I was pleasantly surprised as my body did not decide to turn into knee knocking pudding based entity. I sang at an acceptable level relative to my skill. I think I could have used more practice as my Italian text was misplaced at times, as well as my finding a tricky interval from C to G#, but overall I had good experience during my time in front of my peers.
The sour cream of the crop?
What was also nice was that we had time to sing Bridge over Troubled water to the group as well. We snuck it in after Intransigentia’s fine performance in the spotlight. Most of the students by the end were singing with us, it was such a great feeling, almost makes me forget that my voice melted on one of the high G#’s near the end of the piece. Such is life, everyone seemed to have a good time and that was the important part.
Next up, a choral retreat in the misty land of British Columbia. I cannot wait. :)
I am sorta-kinda looking forward to the third group lesson, whenever that may be. I guess I’m starting to take to this whole singing thing.
My chosen ordeal by instrument.
I did it. I went to my first piano recital and played not one, not two, but three pieces I have been slaving over for the last couple of months.
You know what? I completely massacred two of the three. What I did not do was stop playing, my left hand encountered landmine after landmine in the bass clef, but I just kept on going. I think the wine had a lot to do with my confidence as I unskillfully added my musical renditions from J.S Bach’s Anna Magdalena’s Notebook: Musette BWV Anh 116, Minuet in G major 114, and the Minuet in G minor, BWV Anh. 115. It worked though, I kept a rough tempo and ended things with as much as a musical flourish as I am capable of. Hence, the piano musical WIN!
The performance was another major milestone for me, along with the gruelling group singing lesson that I participated in with my vocal instructor. You see, I also sing with Intransigentia, she has a beautiful soprano voice that she also happens to be honing with the same vocal instructor. We sing a haunting duet of Ave Maria that Intransigentia arranged for us.
We sang the duet at the group lesson once through, then our teacher asked Intransigentia to sit down. I was about 
to follow her, but was quickly waved back up to the music stand. The next, oh million years (20 minutes), was spent meticulously going over the fine points of my part, especially the really high parts (my vocal folds were in full revolt by the seventh time the high G# came around). This was the first time I had sung this song in a small group learning situation; my knees were jelly and my stomach was fluttering about trying to do its bit for chaos theory.
But I survived. I sang in front of strangers and was corrected (repeatedly) while doing so. I bent, but I did not break. The confidence I gained allowed me to perform the next Sunday at a church much better than I could have without this Ogre of a lesson.
Confidence is a massive part of performing music, and it seems that I am gaining some small modicum of it. It only gets harder from here, but I’m all over that. :)
bleatmop
Mystro
Dead Wild Roses 
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