My life is a musical

I've mentioned it occasionally, but I've never actually written a blog post about karaoke!

Gasp. This has to be fixed. Right now...

Karaoke is a pretty big deal in Japan. It's a Japanese word, in fact. It means "empty orchestra." Americans don't pronounce this word the same way that the Japanese do. In fact, whenever I say "karaoke" ("care-ee-o-key") -- in my supposed Hoosier accent -- to a Japanese friend, I often get the response of, "Heeehhh???" FYI: The proper way to pronounce it is "kah-dah-o-kay."

I love karaoke. (No matter how you pronounce it!) I've determined that the reason I like karaoke so much is that my life is a musical. Truly. I sing in the shower, in the car, in my apartment...and I sometimes catch myself humming along to my iPod as I walk down the street.

Yep, I am that girl who snaps her fingers while strolling down the sidewalk, then randomly bursts into song and dance about how great life is! Ok, only kidding. But it really isn't a total stretch of the imagination!

Anyway, my point is that singing is great fun, and I do it a lot. So it's really no wonder that I like karaoke so much and go sing with friends probably an average of once a week! (That's why it shocks me that I haven't written much about it before now.)

Here are a few karaoke highlights that I'm finally sharing pictures of...

• My welcome party with co-workers back in August was my first karaoke experience in Japan. It was amusing to hear Japanese folks singing English songs -- especially my "Beatles buddy" from City Hall. Here is a clip of him singing... :)

• Oliver's birthday in September involved all of the Kuji ALTs and Kenji.

Oliver got numbchucks for his birthday, which is what he's wearing around his neck, haha.

• At Jesse's going away party (a.k.a Jesse Fest), karaoke was three hours long! Of course all the of the times I've heard Jesse scream/sing at karaoke are definitely...memorable. ;) By the way, Jesse just shared this cool video with me, and it's sure to make you smile! After sticking around Kuji a few extra weeks, Jesse heads for home today. He will certainly be missed.

I had a brilliant time at Jesse's party singing "Shine" by British band Take That with my Irish friend Jarlath, and British friends Becky and Bobby.

I've actually been on a British entertainment kick recently (in Japan, go figure) -- listening to British music and reading novels by British author Sophie Kinsella. And of course Tomoki still likes to speak British English when he comes over. :)

Well, I'm singing off...err, I mean signing off, for now. Cheerio! La la la la la...

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