do you remember the time...

So now that my life consists of being a mom to a newborn and all the good and bad that that entals, I've had a lot of time to think about life and stuff that I have done. There is probably an equal number of things that i miss about my old life and things that i really am so glad to be done with. But let's focus on the things that i miss. I miss buying tickets to whatever concert or play that I wanted to see, I miss planning quarterly vacations to play around with friends, I miss hanging out with my friends during a late night karaoke session at the local hangout.
My friend Em loves karaoke and we started going for her birthday, I remember even hitting up a karaoke bar as the only patrons in Mexico on our trip 4 years ago...well the love kept us going back for more. We used to go two times a week (wed and thurs) and even though it was a work night we would stay until close at 1:00am listening to horrible singers, or mystifying the patrons with our awesome performances. Now usually the crowd were more country lovers than hip hoppers but I like to think we changed a couple people's minds with our renditions. So in honor of our once permanent past time here are my

TOP TEN FAVORITE PERFORMANCES OF KARAOKE

10. My friend Josiah (aka J dogg) was always a trooper when he was in town and would totally come hang with us at karaoke. He would also put in a couple numbers as well. usually they were songs or bands that nobody had ever heard of, but one time he thought he would "american pie". Now for you karaoke beginners here is a little lesson: MAKE SURE YOU KNOW HOW LONG A SONG IS BEFORE YOU DECIDE TO SING IT. For those of you who don't know the song "american pie" is a freakin' long song! Now to josiah's credit he did tell the dj that he only wanted to sing a few minutes of it, but he was told that he had to sing it all. 8 minutes into the song we were all wishing that that was day the "music would die" (literally).

9. Sometimes it's not so much the song but the performance that can make or break a singer. Now I can't remember what song my friend Emily decided to sing for this particular occasion (i think it was either britney, PCD, or fergie) but the thing I remember is that She was so desperate to step it up a notch and really get the crowd going that she stepped up on a table (totally forgetting she was not 100 lbs) and almost fell to her death, because the table was totally not sturdy. HILARIOUS! Now to em's credit she didn't stop singing and kept making her way through the crowd...what a professional.

8. Another karaoke tip: MAKE SURE YOU ACTUALLY KNOW ALL THE WORDS TO A SONG. Michelle, em, I had often sung "drop it like its hot" and one night, when em was unable to come, michelle and I decided to give it a go on our own. 2 seconds into the song we realized that Em was the one who knew all the words, and we were more "hype" people who only knew the chorus. EMBARRASSING!

7. I have always considered myself more of a mimick singer than someone who can actually hold a tune. In fact i am pretty amazing at those singing games for playstation cause they totally judge based on the ability to sound like the singers. Now for someone like emily who actually has a voice and like to manipulate it in her own way, those games give her no love. But I digress. There have been a couple amazing performances at karaoke by people who pretty much nailed the song. Kyle Jackson can do an amazing Oasis impersonation for "wonderwall", another guy we nicknamed "michelle's boyfriend" can do an amazing willie nelson for "always on my mind" and a great johnny cash "folsom prison blues", and another guy who is totally nameless rocked our world with his Tone Loc impersonation on "Wild Thing".

6. Emily and I made a trip to Reno in april of 2007 and of course we had to hit up a karaoke bar...one problem the only ones our host knew were gay bars...but of course nothing could stand in the way of our music. So we hit up a lesbian bar and did the most amazing version of "Don't cha" that Reno has ever heard. Seriously. There is nothing more amazing than two heterosexual females singing "don't cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me..." in a lesbian bar. needless to say we were a hit!

5. On Thanksgiving 2007 I allowed my mom and brother jared to come with us, and see this karaoke world that we had created. I had no idea that we would bring the house down not once but twice that night. First was me and emily doing our best impersonations of 80's music artists as we sung USA for Africa's "we are the world". We pretty much nailed that. Then my brother jared decided he would get in the game and put in his name for "send me an angel", the 80's synth pop classic. I joined him for the chorus part, but he was the true star that night!

4. Ever since 8 mile came out I have always wanted to be able to perfectly execute a performance of eminem's "lose yourself" and I decided that january of 2008 would be that time. This ended up being one of my last performances, and I'm glad I went out on a high note. I had practiced in my car a couple times, to get the timing and beat right, and went up with a little lack of confidence but high hopes. Em joined me on stage as my entourage and hype girl (all good hip hop artists have them)...and if I do say so myself.....I KICKED THE TRASH OUT OF THAT SONG!

3. My friend Emily has an amazing voice, and especially when we were going two times a week her voice was a well tuned instrument and she used it to perfection in one of my favorite performaces from her. Dreamgirls had just come out, and Beyonce's "listen" was the jam. We told Emily she needed to try it, and after some practice she finally wrote it on the paper and got up on stage. Now somewhere in the world beyonce was shakin' in her boots, cause she knew my friend emily was killin that song (and by killin' i mean she was freakin' amazing). She had the whole bar totally captivated and gave me chills from beginning to end.

2. I love hip hop and no artists are closer to my heart than Dre and Snoop. One night this guy Luke kept trying to convince me to go up and sing "nuthin but a g thang" with him. I was very apprehensive, cause in my mind if you destroy a hip hop song that is cause for a major beating or perhaps drive by shooting, and I didn't know if i could pull off that song. After some pushing from my friends I got up there and hoped for the best. I took the "snoop" section and started it off with 1, 2, 3, and to the 4.... Little did i know that Luke was a total moron and had no idea what the words were, so I was forced to sing the entire song by myself. Not to toot my own horn here but I pretty much dominated that song. I had the swagger, the correct words, and the beats on my side and I was so happy.

1. No karaoke experience could ever compare to the domination and excitement that we gave to the Tropicana in Vegas in June of 2006. My friends and I had gone to vegas for my 30th birthday and of course we had to hit up some karaoke. That was towards the beginning of our karaoke obsession and i hadn't really gotten up the confidence yet, so that night I was just going to sit and watch Emily do her thing...but after an hour or so I decided to give it a try. Emily and i decided to do Salt and pepa's "shoop", and history was made. From what we hear from our friends, the whole crowd was lovin us, and everyone stopped talking and just stared with smiles on their faces at the two white girls rappin "you're packed and you're stacked especially in the back..." Emily and I had the chemistry of veteran performers, and totally fed off each other's energy. At the end of the song, at the peaked of our performance, right before the guy comes in to rap the song cut off...I was thrown off at first but quickly rebounded and decided to finish the song acapella. The whole room was quiet as me and em freestyled the ending then turned off the mic's, smiled, and left the stage. WE'RE SO HOOD! As we left the bar we got some high praise from a group of black people from New York who thought we were pretty dope....of course we were!