Shot

I was just talking about SingShot and kSolo with Patty and Anna this morning and realized that I haven't blogged about it yet. You see, one day, I wanted to sing some karaoke. Not in public of course. Just me and my imaginary audience. I have bouts of that, you know. I start singing and wish I knew the lyrics to the song. Of course, there are song lyrics online, but sometimes I need some sort of musical accompaniment, even if only for the sake of not looking weird. I figured that maybe somebody out there had already invented a kind of online karaoke system. I then proceeded to search for online karaoke sites, and lo and behold! There are actually several of them in existence.

The most professional looking ones that offer services for free are SingShot and kSolo. SingShot seems to have a wider song selection, and it is home to Geoff52. He's a 53 yr.-old Briton whose rather popular takes on such a varied list of songs, from "Funkytown" to the Backstreet Boys' "I Want It That Way," have gained him quite a following. He's recorded over 400 songs in SingShot. You see, with these online karaoke sites, you can record yourself (audio-visually or audio only) and upload your recording for other members to critique. And you have nothing to worry about because I haven't uploaded and don't intend to upload in the near future a recording of mine.

Anyway, I hear that kSolo has just been bought by Fox Interactive, which makes a kSolo-American Idol tie-in less improbable. In the words of Fred Perry, that's "very clevah."

Speaking of tennis, I am now officially an Ana Ivanovic fan! I first heard about her last year in Roland Garros...live via satellite, of course. (We weren't actually there.) My sister and mother "discovered" her, and we all thought she was very pretty. Then, Roland Garros ended, and I didn't get to watch any other tennis tournament after that. A year went by quite quickly, and the French Open season started again. My father was watching a women's singles match and commented that this girl who was reminding him of Jordin Sparks was leading Maria Sharapova, 6-2, 4-0! Of course, I looked and realized it was Ana. I've been a fan ever since. And it's not because my father thought she looked like Jordin. She actually reminds me, when she smiles, of my other favorite tennis player, Martina Hingis, whom Ana incidentally beat last year in the Canada Masters final. Of course, Ana won that match against Sharapova 6-2, 6-1, paving the way for her first ever appearance in a Grand Slam final. She eventually lost to the Queen of Clay Justine Henin, but no matter! Ana is now no. 6 in the world! And losing to Justine on clay is like losing to a snake in a staring contest.

Snakes don't blink.

It was forty years ago today...

...that Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was released.

Actually, that would be forty years and five days ago for the UK and forty years and three days ago in the US. I only discovered it today. This is probably why the American Idol finale Beatles tribute was drawn primarily from Sgt. Pepper's. Or maybe not.

And it was my best friend Patty Rodriguez's birthday yesterday! Happy Birthday, Patty!

Atticus

I would like to introduce you all to my new pet finch, Atticus. He's a zebra finch of, most likely, the fawn variety. I made him a little seed pot with my toy pottery wheel, and I intend to use up the rest of my air-dry clay a little bird bath dish. I got him a water tube and a little cuttlefish bone (which he poked viciously this morning), some seeds and a perch. My sister and I also a made him a nest box out of cardboard box card and have tried feeding him tomatoes as diet supplements. At around 6pm everyday, he gets into that nest box and gets ready for bed, at which point he becomes absolutely adorable as he snuggles up into the corner of the box and squishes all his fats and feathers together. He becomes a cute ball of feather with a beak and two tiny black, beady eyes.




There are probably a gazillion finches in the world named Jem and Scout or even Atticus. If I get a mate for Atticus, I might name her Frances after Harper Lee's mother. Then, I can hope for little chicks and name two Jeremy Atticus or "Jem" and Jean Louise or "Scout." Then Jem and Scout can befriend a maya bird named Charles Baker "Dill" Harris...

...and it could go on and on.

Of course there is also the temptation of naming them Blake and Jordin. Heehee.

Atticus, as pinpointed by someone in the FinchWorld forum, has poor feather condition. I hope its just poor diet and not lice or mites.

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In other news, MME was finally canonized yesterday! Hooray!

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Enrollment starts tomorrow, and I have yet to figure out how realtime enlistment works.