Karaoke Vendredi

OK, I know today's title isn't too terribly creative, but you try thinking of five bajillion ways to say Karaoke Friday. Anyway, one of my many not so secret dreams is to be a rock star. If someone were to come up to me and say, "Hey, would you like me to make you a rock star?" I'd say yes. So, I spend a lot of my karaoke singing pretending to be a rock star and this week's song is one of my favorite pretend-to-be-a-rock-star song. I imagine I'm performing in a HUGE stadium and people are waving lighters at me and I'm breaking some sort of public deceny law. So here I am singing Stone Temple Pilots' Plush.

By the way, I witnessed the fury of the praying mantis this morning. While I was sitting there eating my yogurt and Grape Nuts, I look over to the tank and the praying mantis is hanging from a branch directly above one of the hapless crickets when, BAM!, he snatched that cricket up faster than a greased pig on a slip-n-slide. I called my daughter in and she watched it for a few seconds before she said, "This is really disgusting."

Unfortunately, my husband was in the shower, so he missed most of the action. He did comment on the irony that the only person in the house who wasn't too terribly excited about watching the praying mantis in action was the one who ended up seeing it. What can I say? C'est la vie.

On a grimer note, last night was the first time I got a chance to sit down and watch the news a little about Katrina and I have to say I was shocked by the video. People walking around in thigh-deep water carrying around garbage bags full of stuff. You know, I really can't imagine what it must be like to lose everything like that. Of course, this is something that's been happening for as long as people have wanted to live in areas vulnerable to natural disaster. But there is something about what's happening in New Orleans that seems so different than other post-hurricane stories we've seen in the past and it's all about the human element. I can't believe people are shooting at rescue teams. I can't believe--in this country of abundance--we are not getting the necessary aid to the people in need. And explain the looting to me. Where are they going to take all the stuff they've stolen? If they're in the city, I'm assuming they don't have anywhere to take it. It's complete pandemonium, it's like watching something on another planet. All I can say, is lets just pray for all people in need down there.