Stupid human tricks

Most Saturday afternoons, there's a whole lot of "usual". Mowing the lawn, going to the park - all good, but still "usual".

This past Saturday though brought a quick detour into the strange and funny world of David Letterman's Stupid Human Tricks. You see, I have pretty much one skill in life, one thing that separates me from the rest. I can belt out a siren (police or fire engine, take your choice) that has been known to pull quite a few cars over and at the very least will either drive people crazy or have them laughing and yelling for more (especially at sports events).

On Thursday, a friend at work who as been trying to figure out a way to get me on Letterman shot me an email that they were having tryouts down at the convention center on Saturday. I fired off a quick description on the web form and before long, I got the reply to come on down for a shot!

The "tryout" was actually a little spot at the far edge of the San Jose Home and Garden show. I had thoughts of something a little more grand, or at least TV-like. But, it was really, really cheesy. There were 26 participants with a good number of the pet acts unable to live up to their owner's expectations. Here's a good description of the day, but unfortunately the reporter must have left before I went on (I was #22). Unfortunately, I was a complete goof and forgot to even bring a camera!

My own performance was quite a bit less than my best. Allergies have been kicking my butt the past few weeks and my wheezy lungs weren't quite up to the task. I belted the first one out, but it didn't have a very good sound. The host asked for another siren and I happily obliged; it had a much better sound, but it was not very long.

We'll see if I hear anything from them in the next few days; my own daughter gave me a 45% chance of getting a call back. Till then...