Legacy of the Happy

[Vince T]

Oh for fuck's sake! For 34 years I have now manage to get through my life without ever breaking a bone. Now yesterday, I had to pick up a parcel from a lazy DHL guy and, while climbing the stairs back up, hit one of them badly and cracked a toe.

[Ol]

Well, happy Christmas everyone. Hope you all have a good new year too!

[Vince T]

18 months and no post. That’s harsh!

Oh wait, here‘s one! Makes me HAPPY!

[Griffin]

*Trips on a banana, falls over, lands on a frying pan, can't stop laughing, life is good*

[Vince T]

Today is the day I stood face to face and shoulder to shoulder with one of my greatest idols as a singer/actor in german musical. I can die happy now!
Well right after I finish the SC1....
... and that one thing ...
... and that other thing ...

[Vince T]

Speaking of musical, I‘m so looking forward to the coming weekend when I‘ll be on stage performing as part of a best-of-musical concert. I‘m so hyped

[Bunita Ronin]

Matter of curiosity, G_T, who was the idol you got to meet, and what's the setlist for the best-of concert?

[Vince T]

His name‘s Thomas Borchert, he‘s one of the male Stars in German musical, playin lead roles and/or Villains in musicals like Dance of the Vampires, Jekyll & Hyde, Dracula and many more. Met him at a concert he was giving.

The gala concert I participated consisted of songs from various musicals on the setlist, such as Elisabeth(about the famed empress of 19th century Austria), 3 Musketeers, Sister Act, Les Miserables, Jekyl & Hyde, Dance of the Vampires(which is basicslly a best of Jim Steinman).

Today was also the very first gig for a new vocal ensemble I founded, called made4music.

[Bunita Ronin]

That's wonderful! How did the gig with the new group go?

I'm glad you got to see one of your favorite musicians in person - sounds like it was a wonderful experience!

[Vince T]

It went great! We were part of a concert by various acapella ensembles, each around 5-6 people. The atmosphere was great, audience was great and we were very well received.

Odd thing was I spent 80% of the time mingling becaus half the place seemed to know me from days past

[Vince T]

Gee I kinda miss the days when the HAPPY would actually die after 930-ish posts. Modern software takes all the magic away ...

[Rookie_One1]

We can always try on gamefaqs, their threads still end after 500 if i'm not mistaken

[Vince T]

Yay! I accomplished my first ever 10 km running training today and that at an average pace of 5‘52“/km, which is fantastic for me, especially given the distance.

[Mako]

good work gt keep it up.

[Vince T]

Ok big things coming up. Tomorrow I‘ll be taking a plane to NYC, where in 10 days from now I‘ll be performing as part of an international choir in Carnegie Hall. How awesome is that?!
TBH the part is comparably minor, some 40 minutes along with 300 other singers plus not necessarily my personal choicce of music, but hey, it‘s Carnegie effin‘ Hall!

[BattleDog]

Well done, how'd it go?

[Vince T]

Was great! That sure was the experience of a lifetime! Not to mention that city‘s just amazing. For me hailing fro a fairly meager town the scale is just insane

[BattleDog]

I'm jealous, never been to New York, never left the Old World, actually.

[Vince T]

Alright, this was really awkward ...

You may know I've been singing and playing music for some 15 or so years by now. A few months ago I quit my old voice coach and started looking for a new one, both for logistical reasons and to broaden my horizon - can't learn everything from only one teache. Soooo today I had a preview lesson with a new teacher located much closer to my place.

In the the end he basically rejected me, explaining that technique-wise there was nothing he could teach me and I'd already be an par with some of the professionals he's working with.

Kinda flattering and sobering at the same time *sigh*

[Trevor]

Oh well, there is your answer, your a Pro now

Trev

[Vince T]

Pfffft as if

[WildstarBlue9]

Let's see...I left off with the 900 series here, I believe. I've tried to parlay the bowling media "street cred" I gained from that event into promoting bowling not only here in my hometown, but in the rest of the New England region, and I've been sharing the important stuff on a Facebook page I started just for my website as well as the IBMA's group there (where I was a member about a year before the 900). There's been one more 900 series in New England since the one bowled here, and I know that bowler, as well, as he won a New England Bowlers Association (NEBA) tournament here at Westgate before his 900. In fact, the three most recent 900s (including two in the state of New York) were all bowled by NEBA champions. When I mentioned that fact to "Mr. NEBA", Mike Lichstein, who holds their all-time record with 31 titles, at the AXS trios event in Rhode Island on New Year's Day, he told me was glad I told him.

I've gotten involved in more than bowling since my last "Happy" thread post, as well. I developed a friendship with a guy who had a hobby shop downtown, which also served as the Downtown Brockton Museum. Being a big history buff, particularly about my hometown, I became at least a member of many of his Brockton-related Facebook groups. Knowing I'm a huge sports fan as well, my friend had something special in mind I could help with. He developed an idea for a Brockton Athletic Hall of Fame out of the fact that our two most famous sports figures, boxing legends Rocky Marciano and Marvelous Marvin Hagler, can't be in the Brockton High School Hall of Fame because they didn't graduate from the high school (Rocky went off to the US Army during WW2), and many others can't be in because the high school doesn't offer their sport (arm wrestling champion Al Turner is often brought up as an example). I fell into a role as lead researcher, and our first inductions took place last year (we're saving the celebrities for next year, when a year-long bicentennial celebration is being planned). This friend has also gotten me involved with the Brockton Lions Club.

Working with the bowlers has actually also helped me land a "dream job" I never expected. My class' 35th reunion was last year, and I became involved with my high school's alumni association. I was able to do so because I was the one helping out with the reunion who could attend the board meetings, and representatives of the year's reunion groups are invited to these. Our executive director at the time made me feel welcome with the group, so I continued to attend the meetings even after the reunion. The executive director was not retained at the end of the year (his title with the association was attached to a position with the school district), and he was doing the social media, so our president approached me with the offer of taking over for him, as she was aware I was very familiar with Facebook. It should be said I wear my Boxer pride more or less on my sleeve (and even designed a bowling jersey to show it), so I had to accept the offer. I get to keep the alumni informed on what's happening at the high school, and hope I can, in turn, tell the students, through our new public page (we'd had just our group on Facebook before I came aboard), what our alumni are doing, to keep them motivated. I've been getting great feedback from everyone, so so far, so good. As far as other social media, I needed it for this new gig, and I'd had brief exposure to Twitter, but had to learn Instagram, to the point that I put the bowlers (as the recently-merged BPUSBC) there as an exercise. There's also our alumni group on LinkedIn, and I'd been on LinkedIn before I took ownership of the group there.

A lot of the immediate future depends on how the current situation plays out, so please hope I stay safe.

[Griffin]

*Does not know what 900 series is, and before the bowling ball hits him, gets knocked off a cliff by GT with a frying pan from behind*

...begins tragic fall to the sea below...

[Vince T]

Erm this is the happy thread, not the frying pan war but oh well

*Leaps after Griffin and gives him a Terence-Hill style slap barrage while falling*

[WildstarBlue9]

*Does not know what 900 series is, and before the bowling ball hits him, gets knocked off a cliff by GT with a frying pan from behind*

...begins tragic fall to the sea below...

I'll explain for Griffin. A 300 is a perfect game in bowling. In most competition (a typical league night, for instance), you bowl three games, so a 900 series is just three perfect games in succession. It's only been done 35 times in the history of the USBC, the national governing body of bowling here. And it happened for the 27th time at my home bowling center five years ago, so I was fortunate to have written one up for my website.