Strip clubs, voice acting, karaoke, etc.

Hey gang, it's been an eventful few days. Well, as eventful as things ever get when you live by yourself, you're currently unemployed, and your classes haven't started yet. Last night, I went out to a bar with some other Syracuse grad students to have a couple drinks, socialize, etc. This was the second time I've gone out with this group, although I think some of them have gone out more often than that. As far as I know, no one in the group knew anyone else until we moved to Syracuse to start the grad program, but we were all in the same boat, so we used the email listserv the grad school set up to start communicating with each other, and eventually people started organizing stuff like this. Anyway, it was a good time, I really dig these people, very interesting folks for the most part, and it looks like I'm going out with them again tonight. For Karaoke. Yep, karaoke. I don't think I'll be shocking anyone when I say I'm not really a karaoke kind of guy, but somebody mentioned they were planning on going to a karaoke bar tonight and they asked if I was in. I not only said I was in, I boldly declared that I would sing. See, this is something the D.A.R.E. officers don't tell you about, but they probably should. In addition to all the health and legal issues that go along with drinking, someone should forewarn children that after a couple drinks one may start to make dubious claims and commit himself to doing things he would never ordinarily do. So now I'm trying to decide what I should sing tonight. "Play that Funky Music" by Wild Cherry is my go-to song for situations like this, because A.) it's awesome B.) I know all the words and C.) it does not require a great deal of talent to sing it. I'm also considering "Angel is the Centerfold," and a couple others. Let's hope by the time I sing everyone will be so drunk they won't notice I'm terrible.

One of the more interesting things that's going on with me right now is that I'm auditioning to be a voice actor for this audio book. I saw an advertisement about it in the arts section of the Syracuse Post-Standard last Friday, and I was drawn to the name: Bruce Coville's Full Cast Audio. Bruce Coville is my favorite children's author, known for the My Teacher is an Alien series, Goblins in the Castle, and other fine books. The ad said they were looking for young men ages 15-23. As I just barely fit in that age range, I called the number to set up an audition. The guy I talked to said all their appointments were booked, but apparently they desperately need men in my age range, so he suggested we set up a private audition. I'm going to his office in Syracuse on Thursday evening to read for a part. Now, I decided to do this purely on a whim. I have never done any voice acting, hadn't even really considered it until I saw this ad, and I'm not sure my voice is at all pleasing to the ear. But the guy emailed me a couple pages of material that I'll be reading at the audition, encouraged me to practice it as much as possible, and even talked to me for a few minutes about the character's backstory and the kind of emotions he's feeling at the time. So even though I set this up on nothing more than a whim, I'm going to take it seriously and do the best I can when I go in on Thursday.

The part I'm auditioning for is the first-person narrator of a story about a high school football player, Mick, who starts using steroids. So if I were to get the part I would be reading almost the entire book, everything except the dialogue of other characters. I have absolutely no idea how much a gig like this would pay, but I'm assuming it would be a decent amount since mine would be by far the largest part. But, of course, I'm looking at it as a very long shot at this point, considering I've never done any voice acting or anything. On the other hand, I'm an excellent reader and I seem to have a gift for public speaking (based on the reactions I got from speeches I gave at my high school graduation and my sister's wedding reception, among others), so who knows? Oh, oddly enough, the book I'm auditioning for is not written by Bruce Coville, and there has actually been no mention of Coville in any correspondence I've had with the company. I might ask them about that when I go in for the audition. Maybe Coville owns the company or something, I don't know.

Even though I've only been living in my new place for less than two weeks, I'll be returning home this weekend for my buddy Darren's bachelor party and my cousin Zach's high school graduation. A bunch of us are going to Canada for the bachelor party, though I'm not really sure why. I mean, we're all over 21, so we can drink legally in the States (if that statement didn't make any sense to you it would be useful to know the drinking age is 19 in Ontario). I guess it's because they decided to go to a strip club for the bachelor party, and the skin bars in Canada are apparently superior to those in Buffalo. I can believe it, after my only previous Buffalo strip club visit, to Rick's Tally Ho. Rick's Tally Ho sucks. 'Nuff said. Considering a bachelor party is supposed to be one last night of debauchery for the groom before he ties the knot, considering we are all red-blooded males in our early twenties, considering we will probably consume copious amounts of alcohol, and considering we will be in a foreign country, I am somewhat concerned about the possibility of an embarrassing incident (readers of Rage Pirates will remember my cautionary tale on the perils of strip clubs, which can be read here: http://www.ragepirates.com/articles/lapdance.html ). I'm not concerned about myself, because I've matured (at least a little) in the five years since "The Strip Club Story" took place, and I really can't afford to blow money at a strip club at this point. Excotic dancers are strictly a luxury item. So I will be going to the club as only a spectator, not a participant. No lap dances for this guy. Hopefully everyone will maintain a semblance of orderly behavior and the night will go smoothly. (By the way, I'm more or less joking about my concerns that something might happen. We're a pretty low-key group. I mean, we like to party occasionally, but no one is going to mistake us for Tucker Max's crew.) Anyway, it should be a great time. Darren and I have tossed around the idea of going to Canada for a night like this for years now, but we've never gotten around to it. Two weeks before his wedding seems like as good a time as any.

In a previous entry, I recounted my disappointment that using the bus service to get to and from campus isn't really a viable option, so I decided to get a parking pass. Well, yesterday I went to campus to buy said parking pass, and suffered further disappointment. I was under the impression that I would be able to buy a full-year permit, and it would be good for one year from when it was issued (this makes sense, right?). Turns out that's not the case. Admittedly, this is partly my fault. Had I read the parking web site closely or read all the info in the parking brochure the university sent me, I would have known this already. But I didn't. I actually have to buy a separate parking pass for the summer term, which is good through the end of August, THEN I can buy the full-year permit for the rest of my time here. I don't know why summer does not count as part of "full-year," but I'm sure there's a good reason. Or they're greedy and trying to make as much money as possible from parking. That could be it too. So I was kind of pissed about the additional expense, but I handed over the credit card. I'm not entirely sure it was worth the money, but it was kind of nice when I drove to campus last night and knew I had a spot in the garage, rather than having to circle campus desperately looking for an open spot by a meter.

There's other stuff I could write about, but this entry is getting a little long already, and I can always add more tomorrow or the day after. So I'm out for now. Wish me luck at karaoke tonight; this white boy's getting funky.