I was gonna write last night
but I got high.
I was gonna sit down and tell it right
but I got high.
Soon I was signing off
and I know why
cuz I got high, cuz I got high, cuz I got high,
La de da da da da.
Boy, I wish that was the case yesterday.
Don't you just hate it when somebody changes the words to a song you like? Then you probably don't like karaoke.
Not that I believe anybody could really like the above song, but even that one isn't immune.
karaoke. People either love it or hate it. Admit it, you know which group you fall in. As usual, I'm somewhere in the middle. I love it if the sound is good, the crowd is right, somebody with TB isn't singing into the mic, and that I get to sing.
The way I look at it is, if I'm going to be there anyway having a couole of drinks, it's something to do in the meantime.
Entertainment if you will.
The people that sing good are entertaining, and the people that really suck are entertaining too.
I just wish that sometimes I could be just a wee bit less entertaining.
Do you realize that it's now November, and that this tr started in the end of May? Man, where did the time go?
So, with a picture that was probably posted back in early June, once again, this moron will be your guide today.
A little background here:
Diane has the right approach to karaoke. Girls just wanna have fun. That's her approach. She likes to get up and sing, have fun, and not worry if somebody is going to give her a recording contract or not. She's only got about 4 songs in her repartoire (wow, how many spelling errors in that word) and she's fine with that.
Me? I'm a nervous wreck, even after doing it on and off after about ten years. It might be just the stagefright syndrome at work here, I don't know, but when I get back to the table after singing a song, I cannot pick up a full shot glass.
I'm shaking that bad!
Why do I do it?
I don't know, I guess it's the adrenaline rush I get from it.
And that's exactly what it is. I got the same feeling at the drag strip, sitting in my Challenger at the line, waiting for the "Christmas Tree" lights to come down and hit green.
No, I don't, I now have a Hyundai, so I guess karaoke will have to do.
Part of my nervousness could have resulted from an incident about ten years ago.
For reasons beyond my control, I ended up in a bar on the south side of Chicago, and karaoke broke out. After I got talked into putting in a song, a guy named Big Jim got up to sing a country song. He wasn't very good at all, but there was no way I was going to "hurt" his feelings, not behind his back and most certainly not to his face.
He was about 6-4, 280, and the reason he probably didn't sing too well is cuz he only had one tooth I think.
Nope, you don't mess around with Jim.
But this one table did.
"Oh Man, YOU SUCK!"
"SIT DOWN, YOU"RE KILLKING US"
No, they didn't know him and they weren't doing it in fun. Well, maybe their own fun. I could see him glance at them, and when he was done, he walked over to them, brought his fist down on the table which almost split it in two, picked up one guy and played paper airplanes with him, then went back to the bar and sat down.
Of course Big Jim got thrown out, but after the dust settled, the group of jerks were right back at it.
They gave the next girl almost the same grief, reducing her to tears, and the whole damn place seemed to be into it now. We talked about leaving, but a full beer just arrived, and it would have been really obvious.
Oh YEAH! I can't wait to get up in front of them and sing. Right.
Then you hear those words.
"Next up, we have Nebo!"
As I'm sitting there going "crap, crap, crap" they are all looking around to see what a Nebo is.
Then I decided, screw it! I got up and told the KJ to change the song, and gave it all I had. This is easy to do when on the way to the little stage, one of the guys stopped me and said, "You had just better be good." When I was done, I stepped outside for a moment, thinking I was going to throw up, then I went back in.
But they didn't heckle me. They didn't exactly run over and ask me for my autograph either, but that was fine by me.
Ever since that day, that song has always had a special place in my heart now. The song?
"Behind Blue Eyes" by the Who.
This could have been the origin of my nervousness, but probably not, it's probably just me. I will say this, there is no way I'm getting up there without at least a couple of drinks in me. Which now brings us back to the Swan.
I drove over there, we got there a little early, so I brought out the killer Sunny D I had made back in the room. Just walking around the grounds, we wished we were staying here again. The flowers along the bridge walkway that goes to the Dolphin are really pretty in the spring. Of course we had to go into the Dolphin lobby area to look at the fountain, too.
Standing on the beach at the Swan, we were able to catch some of Illuminations at nine o'clock. With my Sunny D dead, we went inside, ordered a couple of beers, just as they were starting. We have stayed at the Dolphin once before in 05', and did the karaoke back then.
So this is a return engagement if you will.
I'm just hoping that THIS time I don't end up making a total fool out of myself, like the last time. I know, hard to imagine, but I did.
It happened like this.
I told my nerves to take a hike that night, and used Diane's policy of just having fun. Oh boy, did I!
I figured I'm 1250 miles from home, I'm never going to see any of these people again, so who cares? Right?
And I even chose "fun" things to sing.
Real oldies.
"Itsy bitsy, teenie weenie, yellow polka dot bikini"
Yep, I did it.
Then I went up and did the Banana Boat Song. You know, "Day-o, day-a-a-O, daylight come every one go home." Remember that from Beetlejuice?
Well, next to us was a huge group of people. One guy leaned over and said "Hey buddy, your pretty good, where you from?"
"Illinois" (I'm trying to pick up my beer without spilling it)
"Yeah? Whereabouts?"
"Chicago area"
"Yeah? Whereabouts?"
"Carpentersville"
"Yeah? Whereabouts?"
"HUH?"
This should have shut him up.
It turned out that this whole group was from Texas, but 4 of them used to live about a mile from where we now live.
And ONE of them still lived there, a block away, even though his home was up for sale.
No, let's NOT all start singing "IT's a Small World After All"
Well, so much for anonymity.
Anyway, this group turned into our biggest fans, almost embarrassingly so.
Bought us each a beer, then when I'd get called again, they would chant Nebo, Nebo! I was almost missing those guys from the south side of Chicago.
After I sang my next song, the KJ told me to wait up there, and called up Smidgy to join me in a duet. Now, in 05, American Idol was really big then. As I'm waiting for Diane to "come on down", one of my fan group yells out "Hey, you should be on American Idol."
Yeah, right. I'm just a tad old for that.
But I had to say something, especially since I'm holding a mic in my hands.
"American Idol?" "I don't think so."
"Maybe if they had an "American Midol", I might have a chance."
Well, I thought I was really clever, the whole place was laughing out loud and I just stood there beaming.
Until Diane climbed the stairs and took the other microphone.
"Um Nebo? I think you're thinking of Geritol. Midol? You don't want to go there."
Yeah, she got me. From the sound of drinks being spit up at the bar and the tables, got a lot of other people as well.
After we got done singing Chad and Jememy's "A Summer Song", I half expected her to turn to me and say "Say goodnight, Gracie."
So that was two years ago.
As we were looking for songs in the book, the KJ started it off, then a guy in the back got up and sang. Diane turned in our two slips, and she got called up immediately. Evidently even though it's about half full, with more folks trickling in, there's not to many singers.
Diane did her best song right away, "These Boots are made for Walking" and she did it really good. I followed that with an old Ricky Nelson song, "Hello, Mary Lou."
Ah, it always feels better to get that first song under the belt.
Next round, Diane did a Trisha Yearwood song, "That's what I like about you", I followed that up with "This Magic Moment", and I was really pleased cuz this time I didn't even need the vice grips for the high notes.
Ok, that one deserves a smiley;
Then the waitress comes over and says a secret admirer wants to buy us each a beer. We both looked at each other thinking Deja Vu all over again, but said, SURE!
This time it was hard to figure out where the drinks came from. We suspected this one table with 3 guys and a woman sitting at it, but couldn't be sure.
Diane skipped the next round, and since I was hitting the high notes tonight, I tried Elton John's "Can you feel the love tonight?"
Hey, you can't go wrong singing The Lion King at disney, right?
When I finished, I went straight to the bathroom, which is outside in the hallway. As I entered, another guy came in right behind me. I couldn't believe how big this restroom was for this area. It belonged next to Space Mountain or in another high traffic zone.
As I walk up to one urinal, he takes one about 4 down from me. Now, any guy will tell you, what you do now is just stare straight ahead, you never even glance at the other guy.
But I could feel him looking at me.
A little glance to the left;
and sure enough, he has his whole head turned to me, with a big grin on his face.
Ok.
But the damage was done now, he saw me seeing him sawing me.
You know what I mean.
I knew he was about to say something. And he did.
"I can tell you've done this before." meaning, karaoke.
Still staring straight ahead, I responded;
"Oh hell yes, and the more beers I have, the more often I'll be in here."
After a couple of seconds of silence, I had to take another peek.
He was looking straight down now, making these little "chup, chup," noises, with his shoulders bobbing up and down.
Apparently, he got it.
I followed him out this time, and he went and sat down at the table we suspected were our secret admirers. On a hunch, I stopped, and said thanks for the beers. One guy said, "Hey, no problem, you guys are fun."
One question to you readers. When did "Your Welcome" become "No Problem," and when can we have "Your Welcome" back?
For the next round, we both turned in our tickets in secret. Not that it was meant to be that way, it's just the way it turned out.
It's time to get on my high horse here, and tell you what I DON"T like about karaoke.
One thing is what I call the Karaoke Killers. We've all met them. They are the couple that get's up and sings "I got you Babe" thinking they are really original.
They are also the ones that get up and do "Hey Jude" or bring about 5 of them up to sing all 52 verses of "American Pie". And if I never hear another song from "Grease" again for the rest of my life, that's just fine with me.
Another Karaoke Killer are the ones that use the forum just to be able to swear. They pick the meanest sounding rap songs just to be able to yell the f word at the top of there lungs.
Again, I never need to hear the Puddle of Mud song, "She ------- Hates ME! I think it was that classy group, Puddle of Mud, I'm sure I'll be corrected if I'm wrong.
Now, a little risque? That I don't mind.
A good thing too.
Because Diane is now up there singing Madonna's "Hanky Panky" to everyone's amusement.
What happens is, and she knows this, is that everybody then looks at the guy she is with, to see what reaction he has to it.
I used to slide out of my chair, until I'm under the table, but I don't do that anymore.
Now I just bury my head in my arms and sob.
I'm kidding. I just sit there and smile, and wait for it to be done.
And once again, I'm next. The song I had turned in is an old Bobby Rydell song named "Wild One".
Hang on, here's Smidgy doing her Hanky Panky:
Once again, my Wild One had to come right after her Hanky Panky, and the girl running the karaoke just loved it.
"Oh, these two make a GREAT couple."
"She's singing about tying her hands behind her back, and he's saying he's gonna tame her down."
Let me just say, that we could have gotten hammered there that night, without spending another dime!
But I was driving, so after a 15 minute wait, we got up and did the Dave Clark Five's "Because" together. Then it was time to go.
Well, at least we tried to.
On the way out, my bathroom buddy stopped us, and said the john reminded him of a song, and would I mind singing it before I left.
Diane rolled her eyes, and went back and sat down. He went up and talked to the KJ, and within 5 minutes, I was up there again, now doing a "special request".
C'mon, Disneydad, you ready?
"867-5309"
With that, we left, and since the guardhouse was empty and the gate was up, we didn't have to pay a non disney parking fee.
Both of us had a lot of fun this day, even with the multitasking episode and the Smidgy boo boo. It's funny how the "DO Nothing" days can usually be the most hectic. take care, see you soon, hopefully for karaoke sometime!
Dad 44 
Me 13 
Dear Sister 8 
Dear Sister 5 
DPuppy 3 
: And I'm serious! If it wasn't for you guys this would more than likely be just a "then we did Splash mountain, then Pirates" kind of report. All of you bring out the worst in me. 
And some oldtimers have stopped back in as well, Haley, Suzflee, Disney 4 ever, and Nanadeb. I haven't even gotten through all the posts, yet. But it's nice to see that I'm not only a disease that's hard to shake, Smidgy and I are Chronic, too. 
Nicole
(Don't ask why I felt the need to add this sign 
)
