Karaoke

I know it has been at least 20 years since I have blogged, but I admit that once school started, I am always too preoccupied with school assignments and so forth to put much thought and/or effort into blogging. But I did have an experience a while ago that I told some friends I would relate via blog, so I take this brief time I have at work to fill everyone in.
First off, doesn't the word "karaoke" look funny? It doesn't look like it sounds to me and I always have to look it up after wards to make sure I spelled it right. Anyway, where was I... Oh yeah, CostCo. As a matter of fact, I am at CostCo quite often these days, the reasons for which I may have to elaborate upon in a later post. This particular day we had taken a a "field trip" from work (my job is way close to CostCo) to go and get a bunch of free samples for lunch.
It was a good day, we made the usual round from the bakery through the cheese area and up and down the cold aisles to make sure we didn't miss any, ending on the waffles with real maple syrup. Now, there is a delicate art to sample-collection. If you can manage to get a good dialogue going with the sample people, then they will likely give you more and/or bigger samples. This worked particularly well on the chimichanga sample-man who ended up cutting them in thirds instead of fifths and offering multiple pieces to us, score! Yet I digress...
After all the cold aisles, we ended up wandering through the seasonal stuff and we came across a neato little karaoke machine, with built in microphones and speakers. Of course, for Tosh and I, this proved to be an irresistible opportunity to push the limits of our comfort zones and have a little fun at the same time. There were no good songs, and each one we attempted was thoroughly embarrassing. We didn't know most of them, but we did our best, the girls were too wimpy to join in, so they watched from afar and pretended not to know us. After a couple songs, we got a couple of fans, one older, foreign lady actually came up to us to express her enjoyment. We felt our deed was done, until I realized we had one more spectator who deserved a personal tribute...
It was at this point that a song I was actually somewhat familiar came on the screen. It was "All You Wanted" by Michelle Branch. Not the most ideal song for a couple of guys to sing, but it would have to do. The introductory notes started playing and I shouted into the microphone a dedication of this song to the waffle sample lady. It was as stirring a rendition of a Michelle Branch song I had ever sang publicly.
If you are wondering if there is a point to this blog post, you can stop now, because there really isn't. But if I had to make one up for some reason, I would say that it is a tribute to the people in our lives who labor tirelessly to bring joy and happiness to others without seeking personal recognition. In particular, the waffle ladies in each of our lives. So next time you are at CostCo, remember to thank the sample people for the joy that they bring into your life each and every visit, and if you are not in too much of a hurry, stop and sing them a little song. You will not only get the joy of bringing a smile (or look of utter confusion) to some random old-person's face, but you may just get another sample out of them, and that is what it is really all about.