A haiku for the ages…
Drinking can be fun,
Karaoke can be fun.
Pair them up and, whooooooooo!
Tag Archive: karaoke
Of drinking and karaoke
Shameless, unattached, fatigued, etc.
After eating dinner, unexpectedly the plans for the night suddenly included karaoke. It was happy hour in the nearby lounge so Yuki, Raien and I decided to take advantage. At $10 a head, it was well worth it. I hadn’t been to a karaoke place since I was in Japan so this was nice for me. It took me a while for the inhibitions to ease but once I started belting out the tunes I felt increasingly comfortable. I have got to work on not making too many weird faces though. Some pictures were taken and I’m trying to decide whether I like them enough to post them or not. On the one hand those pictures present a shameless part of me that doesn’t often make public appearances. On the other hand…they don’t seem all too flattering. Heh. Well, if anyone is interested, IM me or something. Anyway, the experience makes me wonder about why I’m shy about singing. I’m not all that great, but I think I’ve at least got some sense of tone. When I’m in the mood, I can rock things out. It’s just that it takes me so much effort to get to that point. It may be a factor of living in a house with a karaoke machine. I don’t want to sing too much at home only to have my parents call on me with increased frequency to “hear [my] singing voice.” Uh huh. Well whatever. Our time in the lounge was short-lived. Nonetheless, we enjoyed ourselves a great deal.
We all moved over to the nearby tea house to eat, drink, and chat. The topic inevitably moved to relationships. I think I summarized my last few months as just having more of the status quo. Back in 2005 I wrote a bit of a bitter/humorous entry about how V-day sucks and how relationships suck. I was going over that list a week or two again and I thought about how even though three years have passed a lot of it still applies to me today. Sure, there has been a failed relationship or two during that time span…but it’s not like it’s really given me so much more perspective. Nope. Last night the girls were really encouraging me to put myself out there more, but I know how I am. “More of the same” is the likely outcome. Of course, anything can happen. Who knows?
So yeah, that was my night. I’m glad they brought me out. It really helped keep my mind off things. During the night Yuki commented about how I looked tired. Apparently I had these dark bags under my eyes. Well, when I got home one of the first things I did was look in the mirror. Oh man, yeah, I did look like I was in rough shape. I didn’t notice before, but that was because I didn’t bother just looking, and I mean really looking. When I saw myself, I thought I sort of looked like Dr. House, except…without the vicodin-gauntness. That bad, eh. Well, it’s around 10pm now. I suppose the best thing I can do now is to get that extra hour or two of sleep. It’s all good.
Broadcast, live!
The family was gathered in the living room, commenting on just how they were impressed with Mel’s Viennese Waltz. Just as the judges were starting to analyze the dance, the cable went out, leaving us hanging. I think one of my aunts went into a panic: “What the hell happened?! Oh my gawwwwd!”
Well, after a while of wishing for it to come back, my aunts gave up and just turned on the karaoke machine. This session was a little bit more boisterous than usual because we were all being silly. We played a game where someone would sing a Filipino song and the rest of us would translate the lyrics into English in real-time. What was more fun though was when someone sang an English song and the rest of us would translate the lyrics into Filipino. Oh man, it was funny and really loud. I was saying, “good thing the neighbours can’t hear.”
Anyway, as the other aunts (and my mother) were singing, I spoke with my aunt that owns the place about contracting. She wanted to show me the backyard to show just what was built. As the two of us stepped out and closed the door, we still heard everyone singing inside. I wondered out loud: “why the heck is is so loud?” I mean, it wasn’t blaring, but I was under the impression that you couldn’t hear anything out there. My aunt wondered too. That’s when I realized, “OH SHIT!” See, the house has outdoor speakers that are useful for parties when you want to pump music outside. Somehow the switch for the outdoor speakers was switched on, meaning that you could hear all of that craziness, and singing outdoors. Hoooooly shit. It wasn’t too loud, and the neighbours probably could only hear it clearly if they really listened. However, this is still the type of thing that could leave you mortified.
All my aunt and I could do was laugh at the silliness of it all.
LIIIIIIIIIIIVE!
Bits of plastic debris
Once in a while, I fantasize that I’m in the backyard taking a sledgehammer to the karaoke machine. I imagine it all broken into little bits of plastic debris from my orgy of violence and I get giddy seeing it all laid to waste.
Then I realize that depriving the family of the machine would somehow be cruel and unusual punishment.
Fake language barriers
Because I was born here in Canada, it’s pretty common for most of the older Filipino folk to assume that I don’t understand Tagalog. I guess it’s a safe assumption, I mean, I’m guessing that it’s just really common for us First-gen Canadian children to not know their ancestral language. Thing is, from the beginning my parents spoke to me in both English and Tagalog. So, I’ve got a good enough grasp on the latter. Yeah, speaking it is sort of tough. In fact, whenever someone asks whether I can speak it, I say that I can but it’s pretty broken up. Still, I can understand most of the language.
Anyway, I’ve come across so many situations where some Filipino people would talk about me in Tagalog likely assuming that I wouldn’t understand, even if I’m next to them. Moments later, they might start talking to me in English, sometimes asking the same thing they were talking about just moments before in the other language. For example, at this past evening’s get together (which is still going on right now: they’ve moved onto karaoke), I was giving out cans of Coke to the guests while they were having a late dinner. There was this husband and wife (whom I don’t know) sitting there eating. As I passed by, the woman turned to her husband and said in Tagalog “their son is big!”
EH?
I looked at them a little bit funny, but continued handing out pop. I didn’t take it to be something rude about my weight. For a Filipino, I’m just kinda big. Anyway, the husband asked me in English, “how old are you?” I took a few moments to remember correctly, and replied that I was 25.
I’m sure I’m not the only one whose experienced something similar. In fact, I’m sure it’s relatively common. Still, it puts me situations where I can become a little bit uncomfortable if I allow myself to get that way. Sometimes, I feel like a double agent. Maybe it’s mildly dishonest to listen in and feign ignorance when people talk openly about stuff they’re (poorly) attempting to keep private via a language barrier. However, this is definitely something out of my control. I’m sure if I spoke the language more around guests they’d know better, but where’s the fun in that, right?
May flowers
This past Saturday, he had what was expected to be a small gathering at our house. Every year, in May, my family participates in a prayer group. This weekend was our turn to host. Prior to the day, I had announced my intentions that I did not want to participate. I mean, I was there every year, and it was always pretty stressful for me. This year, I just wanted out. My mother wasn’t too happy about it. It wasn’t so much that she was disappointed that I didn’t want to participate in the prayer part, but that without me there, she would have little to no help. The social aspect of the event seemed to be very important to her. It wasn’t until a few days before Saturday that I relented and agreed to stay. I made it clear though that I was only doing it to help out.
On Friday, we started preparing the food that we’d be serving. I prepared a double batch of blueberry buckle. I also spent a lot of time washing vegetables, cutting fruit and washing dishes. The preparations went well into midday Saturday. By the afternoon, we were all exhausted. As we laid out everything that we had bought and prepared, we started thinking that it was way too much food. Of course, it’s better to overdo things, right? Our long dining table became a buffet area full of the main course parts. The round dining table held all of the desserts. When the prayer part started, we all piled down into the basement. It seemed like we had an average crowd. As it went on, I started seeing more and more people arrive. Those people had also brought food items. When the prayer part was done. I went upstairs to see what was going on. There was a sudden rush to get everything organized. With all of the new food, we were struggling to find spots for everything. The two tables were packed.
Soon enough, the crowd came upstairs to eat. That’s when I finally realized just how big the group was. I swear, there must have been 30+ people there. After people got their food, they were finding places to sit down. All of our main floor got good use. I had never seen so many people crammed out on the deck. As more people went out, my father and I were rushing to the basement, trying to get more chairs out there. The temperature inside the house rose to 27°C from all the people there. The air conditioning wasn’t really helping much at all.
I spent most of my time manning the sink. I took people’s plates and plunked them in the dishwasher. We eventually ran out of cutlery, so I spent a lot of time cleaning forks so that people could get dessert. In between that, I had the coffee maker and kettle going continually to get coffee and tea out. We ran out of some mugs, so I had to clean some out when they returned. This went on for 2-3 hours! I was damn exhausted! I only got a little bit of reprieve when my father turned on the karaoke machine.
(Hey…this was a Filipino get together…of course there was karaoke)
All this time, all I could think was, “man…if I had left, mom would be so screwed.”
I think…many of the people who came did so because of the karaoke and not so much the prayer part. What really struck me as interesting though was that many of the people who were more interested in the prayer part actually stayed for a good chunk of the night. If I recall correctly, in past years, they left in the early evening. I really don’t know what was different this time. They seemed to gather mostly in the sitting room (away from the singing), but they were comfortable having conversations and eating.
In the end, most of the food was gone. My mother and I were lamenting that there were some food items that we never had a chance to eat. Oh man. I can only imagine that next year, when it’s our turn again, the gathering will be just as large. I don’t want to admit it, but I’m sort of glad I stayed, you know?
I slept well that night–and with good reason. 
Empty orchestra
I was surfing around eBay for a few moments a little while ago. I was searching half-heartedly for a copy of Karaoke Revolution. Neither Futureshop or Best Buy stocked the game anymore, so I resorted to the auction site. I mean, that where I was able to pick up a copy of Katamari Damacy. Anyway, I was disappointed to see that most listings had a ridiculous shipping fee to Canada, so I put off getting the game.
I looked around some more and found out that a new KR game had come out. Thing is, it’s a special American Idol version. Hum. Well, I decided to go fetch it anyway since it was a chance to see what KR is like, and to get a microphone for my PS2. Well, I can unashamedly say that I enjoy the game. Even though the electronic versions of the judges constantly berate my bad singing, it’s still entertaining nonetheless. I have a quibble about the game though: the song list seems a bit limited. I guess it’s longer (40 songs) than some of the older KR games, but, do I really want to attempt to sing the song that Taylor fucking Hicks sang? Not really.
Anyway, since I enjoyed the game, I ewnt back to eBay and acquired a copy of Karaoke Revolution Party. The song list seems a bit more agreeable, so, I’m looking forward to putting my vocal chords to the test.
Sake and karaoke
It’s morning here. You know, if you’d have told me that last night I’d be doing karaoke somewhere across town, drinking sake with a friend and two people from England who I’d just met, I’d think you were right mad. However, that’s the result of me asking whether Jay wanted to hang out. Well, I’m thankful that I didn’t end up just lying in bed watching shitty Japanese TV (and it really is crap). Instead, I was singing famous Japanese rock songs which I’d only heard for the second time.
Go figure.
Anyway, today is my last day here. I know! Already! Well, I wass given the suggestion to head to Kamakura, which is full of temples and a big huge statue of Buddha. I’m really tired and not enirely looking forward to the walk, but this seems to be a great place to visit. I guess it sure beats doing nothing more than visiting Sensoji a third time (yeah that was originally part of today’s plan). I’m not sure how Kamakura will turn out, but whatever. In the end I can say I’ve been there.
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