Karaoke is Okey-Dokey

Actually, I think it's more than okey-dokey, but I realize it's not everyone's bag.   :-)  I had no idea it was going to become my bag, but sure enough, Ms. 42's got a brand new bag and yes, it is karaoke.

My first karaoke experience was in 1999 at a corporate retreat. A large part of the discussion that week centered on putting yourself out there, taking risks, etc., so the last night of the event involved a dance/karaoke party. I had never done karaoke before but sang with a group of girls for my first song (and I can't remember what song we sang). After a couple more beers, I sang a duet of "Killing Me Softly"--the Roberta Flack version.

I really didn't think about it for the next 13 years. Occasionally we would happen upon a bar or restaurant that was having a karaoke night, but I never sang and we usually didn't stay long.

Karaoke was apparently looking for me, though.

I found out someone close to me was a big karaoke fan. I have never heard her sing, but she is certainly a very enthusiastic karaoke participant, which usually counts for more than vocal ability. Check out this video where she goes a little overboard on "Greased Lightning" and accidentally punches out her friend.

I soon learned I had some more closeted karaoke-lovin' friends back in Nebraska, and we finished up the night of our going-away party at a karaoke bar, where I sang another duet, "These Boots Are Made for Walkin.'" My friend who sang with me said she couldn't hear me at all, and she probably couldn't (I didn't know how to properly sing into the microphone), but probably no one else could hear us either. That particular bar was a good place to cut my karaoke teeth again, because it had no stage and was a very crowded, very noisy and very indifferent bar full of heavy drinkers, most of whom could not see/hear the singers and weren't paying attention anyway.

Fast forward to a Sunday in October 2012. We hadn't been in town long, and after a movie, we were looking for a late dinner and beers at a pub close to home. We didn't realize it was karaoke night at the pub, but we had so much fun watching the singers that we stayed and cheered and clapped for everybody. I met a new friend that night who encouraged me to sing.

That following week, I did.

First song: "LA Woman" by the Doors. And it wasn't bad. I wasn't a great singer, but I was an okay singer. And ... the whole thing was surprisingly non-scary! You don't have time to be scared when you're so worried about keeping up with the lyrics, staying on tempo and trying to sing on key as much as possible!

I was hooked.

Soon I was singing two songs a night. We started staying a little longer and I would sometimes squeeze in a third before we called it a night. We made some friends at our regular neighborhood Sunday karaoke venue who were quite serious about their karaoke (though some of them were not necessarily good singers) and who went to 3 or 4 different bars a week just to sing. We tried some other places on different nights, and eventually found a bar/karaoke DJ/crowd that felt the most comfortable. It has a small stage, which does make a difference. I feel much more like I am "performing" if there is a stage, and I think people pay a bit more attention, too.

We have met some more new friends through karaoke, too, with whom we share a few other interests besides karaoke, which is a cool thing.

I hadn't really done any singing since a brief stint in 8th grade choir, but thanks to karaoke nights I am improving as a singer. My breath control is getting better--I can sing quite loud and sustain a note for a long time. I started out singing songs originally performed by men and was most comfortable in the lower end of my range for awhile, but I am singing more "girl" songs now and exploring songs that require higher notes and/or a little more vocal ability.

I was doing "Sweet Transvestite" from Rocky Horror Show when this photo was taken.
[Boom, chick-a-boom, chick-a-boom!] (I know some of you will know what that means.)

I do not always sing on key.  Fortunately, that's not a requirement for karaoke.  :-)

Like they have said on "American Idol," (which I haven't watched since the season with Ruben and Clay, for the record), song selection is super important. I know almost instantly when I have chosen the wrong song and it's usually a dismal failure. But ... so what? It's just karaoke. I'll also sing with anybody, and anybody is welcome to sing with me. (Last week I even tried to make a couple guys sing with me and held the mic too close to the speakers, resulting in awful squeals of feedback. Oops! I'm a dork!)  I didn't know the gentleman in the picture below--he was never at the bar before that night and I haven't seen him since. He was a very good singer, and after singing several Beatles songs that night he asked me to duet with him on "I Got You Babe" by Sonny and Cher. It was super fun!

Some other totally cool things have happened at karaoke nights, too:

• A notable movie star--Tyler Mane from X-Men, the new Rob Zombie Halloween films, among others--came into one of the venues. He was premiering a film here and he and his entourage held their after-party in the upstairs room. I saw him come in but we had already left for the night when he came back downstairs and took pictures with a bunch of the singers. He is extremely tall, by the way.
• Two young guys sat next to us last week and acted a bit shy about singing, and then one of them went up there and freakin' nailed his song. Obviously a pro, which is not an uncommon thing here at karaoke nights, and he confessed: the two are performing in one of the Broadway shows that's playing here for the next few weeks. They were nice guys and we had a good time with them that night. I looked them up later and found out one of them has actually been in a production that was on Broadway and was also in a movie some of you may have seen called Across the Universe.

If you asked me a few months ago if I thought I would be doing this, I would have said no. I am now one of those nerdy peeps who keeps a list of potential karaoke songs on her phone. I have my favorite karaoke DJ's online song list stored as a favorite. I have not started putting actual karaoke songs on my phone or a thumb drive yet, but other people do this and I reserve the right to do so in the future.

I should acknowledge, too, that part of what made my karaoke mania possible is the fact that I have been looking for full-time work since our move. I don't have to be up early for a job at this time. I have decided to make the most of my temporary part-time employment and go to karaoke on "school nights" if I feel like it. I know the time will come when I am working full-time again and probably will have to restrict my karaoke activity to the weekends, which will be okay, too. In the meantime, I'm gonna have fun while there is fun to be had!

Props to Mr. 42, who will probably never sing at any of the karaoke nights ever but is my faithful companion. (He likes to drink beer, watch and listen to other people singing and strike up barstool conversations with anyone who is sitting next to him. These things make karaoke night a win-win for us.)

(Photos courtesy of Dr. Thunder Karaoke.)

Cat Pee and Other Cat Concerns

Some of you know that we had a pet emergency this week. Boycat started peeing blood on Thursday and the vet (whom we had never needed to see here in Philly, at least not yet) was kind enough to rush us right in.

The official diagnosis was Feline Idiopathic Cystitis, but lab tests showed multiple bacteria present as well, so he's on an antibiotic, a painkiller and because the problem appears to have been exacerbated by the noises of the ongoing construction (building-wide window replacement) taking place, an anti-anxiety pill for humans (and cats) called Buspar (buspirone).

I filled his Buspar prescription at Walgreen's. His bottle has his first and
last name, plus "The Cat." Cute.  :-) 

The painkillers are some tasty flavored chewable pills and he begs for those when I open the package.

He ate his antibiotic wrapped in turkey the first day, but apparently he's wise to us now. I got a Buspar down him using tuna and tuna water to disguise it, but we could not get him to take his antibiotic in food yesterday and had to resort to cat-pilling. Ugh. Such unpleasant (but very necessary) business. And since he's now attuned to the possible presence of pills in tuna, turkey, etc., it looks like we'll be doing it three times a day for a couple weeks. One of several videos I found helpful is below.

I just hope he starts feeling better soon. He was still peeing a bit of blood yesterday, and peeing only tiny amounts in spite of all the wet food, tuna water and bottled water he's been consuming. I never saw him lick his whizzer even once when he was healthy, but he's doing it all the time now, apparently 'cause it's in such pain. He's also leaving little pee spritzes in assorted non-appropriate locations around the house. (He never pee'd outside his box before, which would have been a sure sign of something wrong even without the bloody pee.)

Human friends, have you ever had cystitis/bladder infection/UTI? I remember being pretty miserable with it. You want to jump out of your skin, which is probably what Boycat has been feeling the last couple of days.

That being said, we have a list of household goods and clothing casualties that continues to grow. He pee'd on two pairs of my suede boots, both of which are probably not salvageable. Even if the bloody pee stains come out, the aroma probably will not. I do not want to be the person who causes everyone to ask, "Do you smell cat pee?" when I walk by in a pair of these boots. He also pee'd on (and in) my rainboots, so they're goners, as well as a pair of Mr. 42's flip-flops. A couple shirts and an afghan also got hit and will be taking a turn through the washer in the near future. I have newspapers down at the particular spot on the carpet that he's taken to spritzing. The smell of cat pee in our small apartment is pretty unpleasant and we're probably not done with the sprayings yet.  Nature's Miracle is on its way from Amazon.com as we speak.

To avoid future recurrences, the vet recommend we transition him to an all wet-food diet, so we're going to transition both cats at the same time. They already get periodic wet food as a treat and they like it, but both are very attached to their fancy-pants grain-free dry cat food. (Which I had just bought a big bag of, too. Damn the luck.)

On a brighter note, our new window installation was completed yesterday (hooray!) so Boycat's immediate perceived threats from strange noises and strange people are greatly diminished. He and Girlcat LOVE sitting in the new windows. We love the windows, too, since the old ones were almost completely rotten and we had to put plastic up in the winter due to the drafts. Plus they open all the way up, which is helping with the cat pee smell.

Bonus shot of Girlcat, just 'cause she's so pretty and hardly ever sits still for pictures: