Well, my dear friends... I come to you today through rain. And wind. Lots of wind. So much wind it's blowing up and down as well as sideways. Or so it feels. *chuckles*

Went for another walk today. YES, in the wind and rain. I love the rain, folks. I would have liked a pair of gloves, tho. I think I might just purchase myself a pair. Knit ones so I can wear them when I go to Gulf War this Spring. Just in case it's cold enough to need them. Tho I doubt it will be.

I've been crocheting a shawl type thing. It's long and big so that I can wrap it around me. Solid, dark green. Good color for me. It will highlight my hair. *chuckles* AND, it will make my eyes a little more gray. I like that.

My eyes change color with mood and clothing choice. *chuckles*

Anyway... I really have nothing to talk about really... I'm just kind of... well... doing a sorta non-entry kind of entry tonight.

OHHHHHHHH... I'd mentioned Dirk yesterday. Perhaps I can use up some space by talking about him again.

One thing that occured to me was that I almost never mention females in all my conversations about friends and interaction with other people. *chuckles* That's cause I generally get along far better with males than females.

Something about the competition, I think. *grins*

Throughout my life, all my best friends have been male. I just.... dunno.... I like guys more than I like girls.

And the stereotypical women? *shudders* Can't stand em.

Well... okay, that's not exactly true. I can stand em, but not for long.

Ya know, that screaming thing really bothers me. Ya know, when two females see each other after not having done so in a while, they greet, squeal and scream each other's names, jump around, hugging and all.... I hate that.

I've had a couple friends who tried that with me a few times. Once each.

They came into the room I was in, jumped a little, spread their arms and started squealing my name and how wonderful it was to see me. *laughs* I responded with something akin to... "Uh... yeah... Nice to see you too." In my low voice.

I'd blink slowly, raise a brow and wait until they were done being all hyper and such. Then I'd extend my hand for a shake and greet them rather formally, blink slowly again then wait until they'd calmed down and looked at me with that what the fuck is up with you, Mrs. Oscar The Grouch look. *chuckles* Then I'd tell them that I don't scream and a simple, "Hey Jen, good to see you again." was enough of a greeting for me.

*grins*

I've been told, on more than one occassion, that I tend to take the fun out of things. I don't think so. I just think that I take the screaming out of things. There is absolutely no need to scream and squeal at sight of someone you miss. Hell, My dog doesn't even do that.

It just seems like such a waist of breath to me.

Of course, I don't scream either. When I'm scared, I tend to gasp once. Maybe twice. If someone scares me, ya know like jumping out and saying "boo" or something... I tend to jump back, gasping as my breath catches in my throat, then, realizing there's no genuine threat, I usually say in a rather deadpan voice... "eek"

*chuckles*

If there's a situation in which I'm scared, ya know like the car's about to roll over the side of a cliff, or like the scenario I described yesterday, with the drunk asswipe who hit us...

My usual response is something akin to stating my explitive of choice (shit) and then bracing myself for the worst.

ANYWAY.....

woah, talk about a tangent.

So... Dirk.

I know that I've talked about him in here before.

Anyway... he was the guy that actually got me hooked on the Karaoke scene. This is back when I was living in Belfair, damn, 9 years ago now.

There was this little cafe and bar, the name of which I simply can't remember right now, that had Karaoke in the lounge every friday and saturday night. I went the first time cause they advertised Karaoke. I'd sung Karaoke twice before, at my usual hang out in Tacoma.

So, I walked into this place, and the guy that was hosting the Karaoke thing looked so..... *shrugs* wierd.

*laughs*

He was about 6'4 or so. Including hair. *smirks* He had a mohawk that was nearly 8 inches tall. So it added some substantial height. *smirks*

He was so energetic and happy and cheerful. I loved that.

Oh, I definately had a crush on him, but he was too short. Great body, of course. But way too short for me. Hell, at that time I was still wearing heels. So I would be aproximately 6'3" on average.

Anyway, he started me with Karaoke Suicide. I'd look through the books and sing the songs I knew. I liked em, I knew em, I was comfortable with em. Dirk told me, point blank (this was after I'd been hangin out there for a month or so) that I needed to do some different stuff.

At first, I was a little hurt, but he looked at me, shrugged and said something like... "You've got a great voice, and you sing well... but you're stale. Look through the songs and try something you've never done before."

*laughs*

So, I looked through the books, picked a song that I hadn't done yet, but that I knew... I wrote it down, took it up to him and he called me up next. And lo and behold, the song that came up for me to sing?

*rolls her eyes*

Three blind mice.

I looked at Dirk and he told me to sing it anyway. So, I did. And then the real fun began. He started using the voice modulator, so I sounded like the chipmonks. Then down, so I sounded like Old Man River himself.

*laughs brightly*

What I really enjoy most from Dirk... what I have learned from him, and keep with me... is to have fun. I learned how to laugh at myself. I learned how to just have fun. To go in, guns blazing, paying no heed to whether or not I"d run out of ammo.

I learned that it was Karaoke. It was like a B movie. It didn't matter if I knew my lines, the point was to have fun.

I had a lot of fun.

And, I must admit, I became a Karaoke groupie because of Dirk. I followed him to the three other places he hosted. He was at the NorthShore in Tahuya. (tuh hoo yuh) Um... La Cocina, I think. In Bremerton. He was there tuesdays and thursdays.... Um... He also hosted at the Keg in Bremerton.

He was my favorite Karaoke host ever. Lonnie is a close runner up, but Dirk? He's my fave. He was just.... just... awesome. Everything was fun with him. He'd play air guitar while I sang. It was like watchin a show.

He was awesome.

He was just...... awesome.

If any of you know him... you really can't ever mistake him for anyone else.... Tell him I said hello. Red... the tall, fat red head from Belfair nearly ten years ago.

He was my favorite.

I really wish I could find him now.

But, I don't even know his last name. I think I knew it at one point, but hell, my brain's mushy.

Anyway... out of all the Karaoke hosts I've sung with/played with/hung out with... Dirk was my absolute fave. Lonnie is second fave. And a close second at that. He's got Lonman Productions. And he hosts at the Thunderbird in Tacoma. If I move back to Tacoma any time in the near future, I'm gonna start hangin out there again. Damn, I miss being able to Karaoke every single night of the week.

I love singing.

Anyway...... I figure I could put more stuff here, but I"m kinda brain dead and I wanna get a post up on Tiger's diary, so I'm gonna cut this short.

Peace unto thy hearts, friends.

May each and every one of you find someone as special and wonderful and important to your life as Dirk was to me. Dirk will never know how important he was. Cause I didn't realize it until just a few years back.

Regardless... He's way cool.

Love and all to you and yours, mine dahlinks.