Best Moment of the Year (so far)
The story begins a few weeks ago, when I decided to participate in "Parkside Idol". Parkside, the building I live in, was having a mock-American Idol competition. Believing it would be like the TV show, I thought performances were to be just vocals with a music track. Needless to say, I was surprised and disappointed to find out that instruments were allowed. The three people who won were the three people in the competition who played piano and sang. I was not one of them.
When I went to work last night, I walked in to find some of the tech boys setting up for an event. I asked what was going on and they said "They're having Trojan Idol". It was basically the same contest, only open to the whole campus. I saw the piano on stage and asked the guy in charge of the event if he would accept last minute sign-ups. He said sure, so I signed up to play my song, "The Siren's Song", on piano.
Since I didn't know I was going to be performing, none of my friends were there and I saw no familiar faces in the crowd. I figured that, since the contest was going to be judged based on audience voting, there was no way in hell I was going to win anything because people were going to vote for their friends. I was okay with that though, I just wanted to play for a new crowd instead of just the Open Mic Night regulars.
I won third place.
When I went up to accept my prize (two free passes to Universal Studios Hollywood), I tripped and fell on stage in front of the whole crowd. It was fantastic. I really wish I had captured it on video so I could show everyone.
It feels really good to know that people who don't know me voted for me, regardless. I know that people were voting for me because they thought I was good, not because they were my friends. If I had invited my friends, I think I would have won. But third place without any friend-votes feels fantastic. And, since I hate theme parks, my sister gets to take a friend to Universal.
When I went to work last night, I walked in to find some of the tech boys setting up for an event. I asked what was going on and they said "They're having Trojan Idol". It was basically the same contest, only open to the whole campus. I saw the piano on stage and asked the guy in charge of the event if he would accept last minute sign-ups. He said sure, so I signed up to play my song, "The Siren's Song", on piano.
Since I didn't know I was going to be performing, none of my friends were there and I saw no familiar faces in the crowd. I figured that, since the contest was going to be judged based on audience voting, there was no way in hell I was going to win anything because people were going to vote for their friends. I was okay with that though, I just wanted to play for a new crowd instead of just the Open Mic Night regulars.
I won third place.
When I went up to accept my prize (two free passes to Universal Studios Hollywood), I tripped and fell on stage in front of the whole crowd. It was fantastic. I really wish I had captured it on video so I could show everyone.
It feels really good to know that people who don't know me voted for me, regardless. I know that people were voting for me because they thought I was good, not because they were my friends. If I had invited my friends, I think I would have won. But third place without any friend-votes feels fantastic. And, since I hate theme parks, my sister gets to take a friend to Universal.