Karaoke!!!

Yes! I got my fix of Karaoke. There is a Norebang set up in town now! (Karaoke in your own room) I had been thinking of getting one started when I got back and apparently someone else had seen the need first. (thank goodness!) It was such a blast from Korea. The almost exact same set up with all the crazy random music videos from Japan and Korea playing in the background as you sing your English classic rock and pop songs. I got a high five from the guy running the thing for knowing how to work the massively elaborate controller. Made me rather pleased to have made use of something I learned on my trip.

Now this post is rather hard because basically ever memory from last night sends me off on musings of Korea... so lets give this a try.

1) The servers all had gaps in their knowledge of English.
Ok so there is a language gap. There seemed to be a need for a phrase book at times but things got sorted easily enough eventually.

2) The server to my friends for their meal reminded me of Martin.
Martin is one of the Korean translators that my friend Mike uses while he's in Korea. Basically the guy last night just seem to have the same smile and reactions that I would expect Martin to have... Like I was seeing a younger brother of his because he wasn't as nice as Martin... No one on earth can be as nice as Martin.

3) The Karaoke place was advertised on the street with a sign above the door with a big arrow and a 2.
Signs like that have led me to some of my most interesting experiences.

4) We rocked out!
Nothing really that different... just we rocked out hard. 2 hours of singing and then everyone saying "ONE MORE HOUR!" I realized that I can sing ABBA, Aqua, Chumbawamba, and Mika all with great ease. Pleasing, very pleasing.

5) I felt like I could catch a cab back to Mike's at the end of the night.
A flood of memories hit me as I left. I should be going back to Mike's, where is my code for the door?
And even now the little voice of his elevator is singing in my head:
"Chi chin da"
"Levela di da"
And then Mike and I burst into singing Whigfield's Saturday night.

I'm so happy right now.

Childhood memories

I get great fulfillment from my childhood observations matching up with my current assessment.

Mostly this comes from my enjoyment of the movie Anastasia this weekend. I headed up/down/over (what ever your point of reference) to Winnipeg and spent time with Sarah and the many people she's living and working with. They had tried to find the movie a few weeks earlier but Winnipeg apparently does not feel like stocking that movie for rental or purchase. Sad news for them. Thankfully they had me coming to visit with a VHS. There was the fear that our fond memories were going to be disappointed but watching was even better than remembered. Bartok maintained his title as the best part of the show as we laughed at his every line.

A second instance of childhood memories being justified is a great deal different. I went to a friend's birthday and we ended up watching The Muppets perform various songs. I was struck with the need to share a song that has been almost haunting me in my memories. For some reason I liked it as a child but remembered it to be creepy. I didn't really know if what still creeped me out was really that strange or just my memories coming in to mess around. For the longest time I had thought it was all a dream. It was one of the first things I looked for on youtube when it first started up. Nothing for several years... eventually someone did upload it.

I got to share it with my friends and have them end with saying:

"WHat the hell was that?!"
"That was on a kids show?!"

30 minutes later....
"...it's still in my head!"

I'll check back with them in 20 years and see if they still remember it. I'm guessing they will.

Enjoy.

You're Always Welcome At Our House.