Karaoke-ing

(photo of us at the K-Box, taken with my Sony Ericsson K700i)

Last night, I finally experienced what so many people in the world have come to enjoy all over the world since the 80s. That is, getting high on alcohol and singing loudly into a mic in an enclosed room accompanied by friends while watching an MTV with minus one music blasting over the speakers. Yup, it's karaoke, a form of music entertainment that become popular in Singapore quite some time ago and something I've never really tried.

I'm not even sure why I've never really tried it. My uncle was big into karaoke and he tried to get my entire family into it on two occasions years ago and although I gamely tried to sing 500 Miles at his home, no one else was interested and that was about the extent of my experience. I don't even consider it a proper karaoke experience, just felt like a sing-a-long at a campfire.

Earlier in the week, a few of my colleagues asked me if I wanted to join them at a karaoke session at K-Box at Paradiz Centre. It is one of the bigger, if not the biggest, karaoke chain in Singapore I believe. Well, at least even I have heard of K-Box. Since I had never been to one and also because it was Lee Cheng, who had just quit, who asked me to go, I agreed. So after work, eight of us made our way to K-Box. We were going to eat at the foodcourt nearby but the constant and heavy rain all day yesterday ensured that traffic down the PIE was impossible and by the time we got there we only had time to buy takeaway. So we decided to grab some Prosperity Burgers from McDonald's, which are quite sinfully yummy if I might add and headed into K-Box.

Pix of the Prosperity Burgers (courtesy of McDonald's Singapore)

Initially, I was really a bit shy as while I know most of the songs that were sung last night, I didn't know any of the songs well and even though my colleagues urged me to pick a song, I held back. But by the time Pooch persuaded me to sing the Beatles Let it be with her, the gin tonic had already made it's way through my system so after Faye Wong's 執迷不悔, Lee Cheng quite easily conned me into picking a Stefanie Sun Yanzi song to sing. She said she was going to help me sing 我要的幸福 but she cheated and I ended up singing it mostly by myself.... grrrr. =) Although, the others complained that I was too soft, I think I was quite loud =D, at least I sounded loud to myself. =) Whatever the case, even though I did a piss poor job at singing the song, I did enjoy it immensely. Even though I didn't pick another song to sing last night I still had fun listening to the others who all sang rather well and with great enthusiasm. The evening ended on a high with me joining in the chorus, rocker action and all, to S.H.E.'s Superstar.

I really had a blast last night and if they invite me to another karaoke session, I'll say yes. Meanwhile, I'll have to drag out my Stefanie Sun karaoke MTV collection and learn to sing more than just 我要的幸福. I think I have a Mavis Hee (许美静) karaoke MTV dvd somewhere and I have tons of cds too.

I'll end off this entry with these words...卡拉永远OK. It's the title of an Alan Tam song which I feel is quite appropriate for an entry on karaoke.

cheers