As I mentioned in the prior post, I ended up going to Colorado for Christmas. It also turns out my old high school friend, Mike Wise, happened to have moved out there. He was kind enough to drive all the way out to where my sister lived and join us for a Mexican dinner and some games.
We got Mike and his wife Lara the new version of Flux (rules). Turns out the new version is more than just a reprint of the basic rule starting card, but that there are totally new goals, keepers, and some very clever new rules. Our personal favorite being inflation, which increments the numerical value of every rule in play; draw two, play two – etc.
Mike was kind enough to offer to come back and get us the last day of our visit in order to give us a ride to the airport. This saved us from having to get up between 3 and 4 in the morning.
So, on Tuesday he came and took us back to his place, and as an added treat, he took us out to his favorite Italian restaurant, La Dolce Vita. While the food was amazingly good, and the service great, I was totally surprised when I realized the soundtrack we were listening to was actually live. A young attractive lady was going around taking requests and, I tell you, she sounded exactly like the artists of the original songs.
I’m a total stickler when it comes to singing; if the tempo, key, or inflection is off, it grinds on my ears like fingernails on a chalkboard. That never happened, not once — even more complimentary, it look liked she was just doing an excellent job of lip sync-ing to the actual songs until she came over to our table, my wife made a request, and she stood right there and sung it.
All throughout the rest of the meal, I kept wondering why on earth she was working here and not professionally recording or doing a show in Vegas. She was that good.
I tried to find her website in order to post a link, but it appears she doesn’t have one. Luckily, I grabbed a business card. So, should you be in Colorado and have a wedding, dinner party, or special occasion and need one kick-ass female vocal singer to entertain, contact Carole McNeil of Sweet Sounds at 303-633-1234 or at sweetsoundsbycarole@yahoo.com. She also had two home-made CDs of high quality for sale as well.
Mike, you really surprised us and treated us to something very unique and special.
Ever since we re-connected on the phone I had been REALLY looking forward to catching up with you. I still can’t believe it’s been 22 years since we used to hang out at your house every day after school. You said it best at your sister’s place last week, “It’s as though we are picking up our conversation from only 5 minutes ago.” Seeing you laugh and joke with simultaneously clever and nit-witted humor really reminded me why we were good friends in the day – and I’m SO glad that some things don’t change.
You and Tamara wonderfully compliment each other and it’s so good to see two people that are so right for one another. Tamara, thank you for laughing at our nonsense and Lara is relieved to know she is not the only one who bears the burden.
Lara and I are talking about visiting you guys this summer!
We would certainly love to have you over — as many people can atest, there’s a lot of whackiness at Ashburn Party Central.