Just got back from my first time ever singin' karaoke, thanks to brokenbeatnik, who obliged in hitting the town with me tonight.
Let me be straight (for a second, then I'll get right back to my usual swervy ways): I sucked at karaoke. I feel sorry for anyone at that bar who had ears. But, you know? Sucking ass at something can actually be really fun.
In the past, i've tended to ruin even the most enjoyable experiences in my life by fretting about how I'm doing and comparing myself to other people. For example. when I was a kid, I loved singing. However, instead of starting a little garage band, like I wanted to, I signed up for classical voice lessons. I'm such a perfectionist - I thought that if I was going to sing, I'd have to have the best kind of training and background possible. I proceded to sing seriously for five years and even started to learn some opera. A couple of my friends took lessons with me, so you'd think I would have had a blast, but actually, what I remember most about those days is the angst. I worried about how I compared to other singers, I worried about what "the cool kids" would think if they found out I was an opera geek, I worried about whether I was smart enough to understand the deeper aspects of musical theory, and basically, I let my anxiety ruin something that had once been a real joy for me.
So, tonight, not having sung in....about....8 years, I decided to put myself to a real test and try, for the first time, to actually have a good time with music.
My voice, bouncing back at me off the glass windows of the karaoke bar, sounded like something that might have escaped from the throat of a drowning monkey....make that a tone deaf, drowning monkey on helium. But despite that, singing tonight was actually kind of fun! And it was definitely more fun than any voice lesson or recital I've been involved in.
So, I guess if I had to choose, out of all the vocal performances I've given in my life, which I was the most proud of? It would have to be the one that sounded the worst. Cause squeaking my way through Dead Milkmen's "Punk Rock Girl" felt, by far, the best.
P.S. I'm so stoked to have enough control over my interstitial cystitis that I can actually hang out with people now! Man, it is good when the shit you've been working toward in your life starts to pay off.
Let me be straight (for a second, then I'll get right back to my usual swervy ways): I sucked at karaoke. I feel sorry for anyone at that bar who had ears. But, you know? Sucking ass at something can actually be really fun.
In the past, i've tended to ruin even the most enjoyable experiences in my life by fretting about how I'm doing and comparing myself to other people. For example. when I was a kid, I loved singing. However, instead of starting a little garage band, like I wanted to, I signed up for classical voice lessons. I'm such a perfectionist - I thought that if I was going to sing, I'd have to have the best kind of training and background possible. I proceded to sing seriously for five years and even started to learn some opera. A couple of my friends took lessons with me, so you'd think I would have had a blast, but actually, what I remember most about those days is the angst. I worried about how I compared to other singers, I worried about what "the cool kids" would think if they found out I was an opera geek, I worried about whether I was smart enough to understand the deeper aspects of musical theory, and basically, I let my anxiety ruin something that had once been a real joy for me.
So, tonight, not having sung in....about....8 years, I decided to put myself to a real test and try, for the first time, to actually have a good time with music.
My voice, bouncing back at me off the glass windows of the karaoke bar, sounded like something that might have escaped from the throat of a drowning monkey....make that a tone deaf, drowning monkey on helium. But despite that, singing tonight was actually kind of fun! And it was definitely more fun than any voice lesson or recital I've been involved in.
So, I guess if I had to choose, out of all the vocal performances I've given in my life, which I was the most proud of? It would have to be the one that sounded the worst. Cause squeaking my way through Dead Milkmen's "Punk Rock Girl" felt, by far, the best.
P.S. I'm so stoked to have enough control over my interstitial cystitis that I can actually hang out with people now! Man, it is good when the shit you've been working toward in your life starts to pay off.
VIEW 18 of 18 COMMENTS
missmyla:
Ah you're back! I thought that you were gone for good 
brokenbeatnik:
low key drinking and hanging out about to commmence at County Cork or similar. Join if you care to.