An ELT Glossary : The Historic Present

The  historic present is the name given to the use of  present tense verbs to narrate a sequence of past events. It gives a dramatic "here and now" feel to the narrative and its use is common in the genre of anecdote telling, where the speaker wants to entertain or amuse the listeners.

Example : So I'm just sitting there minding my own business and this guy comes up to me and looks at me as if I've  just insulted his mother or something...