Like the title says, it's rare when you get a second chance. So don't do what I did tonight and make a fool out of yourself in front of a large number of strangers.

If you remember I attempted to enter a Guitar Hero Tournament last week, and missed qualifying for the Finals by a very slim margin. Well, I was told by the guy running it that if there was a no-show the following week it was possible I could get in.

Well, it happened. There were two no-shows. Ironically enough, the guy who beat me last week to take the last spot in the finals was one of them. Apparently he chickened out at the last minute and decided not to come. The guy running it, to be fair, opened the floor to anybody who was interested in competeing. It turned out it was just me, and one other guy.

So now, I was forced to play The Last Vegas' "Raw Dog" on Expert. Expert being the difficulty I had never played on before. It was a battle for a tournament slot that really should've been mine. But not everybody else knew that, and I suppose he didn't want to appear to be showing any sort of bias or favortism.

Needless to say, I got stomped. Not because the other guy had played Expert, but because he just managed to struggle through it less. The final tally was 76% to 60%, so the scores weren't even close. Later on in the night (after a rocking rendition of Free Bird on expert) I challenged him to a rematch and lost 95%-93% on Nirvana's "Heart Shaped Box". I felt that justified things. And watching the rest of the tournament, I decided I wouldn't have stood a chance. Though the practice would've been nice.

The long story/short is, if you get your second chance in life. Be ready for it. I had opportunities to practice playing a bit over the past week, but I spent it trying to catch up on Voltron and Pokemon Diamond (I caught Dialga...YAY!).