Why must the show go on?

Show of comments: how many readers think the phrase ”Can't win; don't try” is a good motto to live by? It's certainly a message that my trademark luck has hammered in again and again, yet every now and then I go against my natural instincts. Knowing when to give up may be hard, but there comes a time when the road ahead is fraught with too many obstacles, and it would be foolish to continue.

Take today, for example. Still feeling lousy, I had no desire to march in the light but steady drizzle outside. Still, there was no phone call from our band leader, so we had to drive in just in case. When we arrived in Astoria at the meeting place, the lobby of a local studio, various bands and military officials were in place, waiting for the parade to begin. As the drizzle intermittently became sheets of rain, I was sure the day would be called. Even if we were paid a reduced amount for at least showing up, it would have been fine. Our leader informed us that the officials “had to get it in”, but that they would cut it short and go straight through. We all lined up outside in the street a good fifteen minutes before the event was scheduled to begin, apparently to absorb the maximum amount of water. Of course, we couldn't truly begin until the mayor and his entourage arrived to lead us.

Though my dad later assured me that I “was the whole band”, as he's fond of saying in his fatherly pride, I don't think I've ever played worse in my life. With my cold, I had trouble breathing and often faded out on phrases, the last few notes barely audible until I could gasp in more air. The high winds that joined the rain made it worse, as did the pace. The pace was the real insanity. What they considered cutting the parade short wasn't a change in the route as I'd expected, no. Instead, we simply walked FASTER without stopping until we reached the end a mile or so further. I was soaked. Worst of all, I have to do this again tomorrow, albeit closer to home and a shorter route. Hopefully the weather will hold out.

The Astoria parade is a tradition dating back for years, but would it have been terrible not to “get this one in”? As I sit here typing and wheezing, my opinion in this matter is not unbiased. But there's a funny thing about the wisdom in avoiding a no-win situation. Last weekend, some friends of mine won a large screen television in a raffle. My reaction consisted not only of happiness for them but, as it often does in these situations, the thought that “I never win anything.” Then I reached an epiphany, and realized I never enter any contests or play the lottery. Therein lies the flaw of “Can't win; don't try”, because a person who doesn't try will never win. Maybe the rain would have let up today. It didn't, and we got drenched, but if we stayed home we wouldn't have gotten paid, and if the sun did come out we'd have lost for sure. There's no shame in “losing”, because odds are the dice can't always come up Snake-Eyes.

Unless you're a Nexus of Improbability, of course...

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Tonight's show will now go on as planned, from whining about rain and germs to participating in a meme spotted at Darrell's and Wendy's, which they found over at Name Hidden's. Appropriately enough, this one deals with lucky sevens:

7 Things That Scare Me:
(1) Dogs.
(2) Flying.
(3) Losing my parents.
(4) Blindness.
(5) Change.
(6) Dying alone.
(7) Lorena Bobbitt.

7 Things I like most:
(1) Movies.
(2) The internet.
(3) The outdoors.
(4) Cats.
(5) Video Games.
(6) Friends.
(7) Television.

7 Most important things in my room:
(1) My bed.
(2) My Imac.
(3) My digital camera.
(4) My DVD collection.
(5) My comic book collection.
(6) My sketchpad.
(7) My Sharona...wait, wait no I don't have one of those. I'll go with My Wallet instead.

7 Random facts about me:
(1) I'm only 5'6”
(2) I'm Italian, Neapolitan on my dad's side and Sicilian on my mom's.
(3) I attended public school up until the eighth grade, after which my parents thought it would be “fun” to send me to an all-boys Catholic high school for four years. They still think I'm going to thank them for it someday.
(4) I'm very quiet until I get comfortable around people, and it's often impossible to say anything coherent to a pretty girl, if I speak at all.
(5) I don't actually own a cloak.
(6) I tend to be oversensitive and struggle with low self-esteem.
(7) I sometimes worry about looking like Rob Schneider.

7 Things I plan(hope) to do before I die:
(1) Get married.
(2) Raise a son.
(3) Gain a cult following.
(4) Own a house.
(5) See every movie ever made.
(6) Change the world in some small but eternal way.
(7) Visit Italy.

7 Things I can do:
(1) Draw.
(2) Play the Baritone Horn, Euphonium, Trombone, and Recorder.
(3) Run three miles in half an hour.
(4) Use Photoshop, Illustrator, QuarkXPress, InDesign, ImageReady and, on a good day, a toaster.
(5) Name every original Transformers figure.
(6) Find the answer to nearly any question using the internet relatively quickly.
(7) Love a woman.

7 Things I can't do:
(1) Draw well.
(2) Play guitar.
(3) Perform heart bypass surgery.
(4) Transmute lead into gold.
(5) Stick to walls.
(6) Find the answer to EVERY question using the internet.
(7) Get a woman.

7 Words I say the most:
(1) Like.
(2) Crap.
(3) Sick.
(4) Creepy.
(5) Hot.
(6) Cool.
(7) Whuh?

7 Celeb crushes:
(1) Jennifer Garner.
(2) Evangeline Lilly.
(3) Winona Ryder.
(4) Judy Greer.
(5) Eliza Dushku.
(6) Rachel Nichols
(7) Kirsten Dunst.

Like, I'm supposed to tag seven people or some crap with this sick meme, but I think that would make me seem creepy instead of hot or cool, and people would just be like “whuh?”, so if you enjoyed this meme and want to do it on your own blog, go for it.