Well, I Earned It

"Don't Stop Believing;

Hold On To That Feeling;

Streetlight people...ahhhaaaahaaaaaaaaaa"

--Steve Perry; Journey.

My mother was not too thrilled with me because I have taken a break from blogging.

Last week was parent night, the week before was a grade issue at work, and the week before that, Guinness the Maine Coon cat puked on the keyboard.

One new keyboard later and an ensuing trip to the computer fix-it-store for a reset keyboard in the laptop hopefully this week; and I am fine.

Last night Jen and I went to the Prairie Thunder Hockey game in Bloomington. As per usual, we lost. I think I have only seen them win two games out of six this season thus far.

Anyway, we arrived early and were talking when some gal who worked for the Thunder stopped by and asked if I would participate in “finish the song” which is a kind of karaoke thing to a popular song.

Me, sing with a mike and they show it on the big screen? Are you kidding me? Hell yeah, I will sing anything.

The girl said to me, “you can talk the words if you wish, but we really like it if you would sing.”

“No problem,” I said. “Just remember, you asked for it.”

The best part besides looking like a fool and playing to an audience, is if you finish the song, you win two pounds of chicken wings from a local haunt of good bar food called Schooners.

I even agreed before I knew what the song was. So I then asked what song. I mean, if one is going to make a fool of one’s self, one should be informed.

The song was “Don’t Stop Believing” by Journey. For the record, I freaking hate Journey.

So the game went on and I went to the restroom in the first intermission and awaited the second one. Must have been nerves.

The girl came by, they put me on the big screen, my name appeared with the Schoner’s logo, and I was pumped.

The time approached in the middle of the second intermission and I rose to sing. What I did not know is how long the intro was, so I started singing the lyrics on the screen, and then Steve Perry’s voice came on. Oh well, so I started singing with his voice—“Just a small town girl….blah blah blah…” Second verse, I jumped ahead again—you see, I really hate Journey and do not play them…so I retraced my way and started singing when the voice came on again. “A singer in a smoky room…blah blah blah.”

It was then that I figured out that without the words to “finish the song,” I would sing the chorus on my own with no big screen lyrics to help.

So I just started: “Don’t stop believing…hold on to that feeling” and then my mind went blank. I knew the lyrics sound like street lights beat right or some damn thing and so I belted that out and muffled it. And then I muttered the last three syllables ( I think I said “in the darkkkkkkk”) and I knew I had to end on a high note which I did. Talk about totally faking it.

So curious, I looked it up today on the net:
Don’t Stop Believing
Hold on to that feeling
Streetlight people”—and then Perry improvises by going ahhaaahaaaaaaa (high pitched).

Well anyway, everyone laughed; I hammed it up; Jen was crying because she laughed so hard (or was embarrassed—not really sure); everyone clapped; and the game went on.

And me, after the red face faded, I earned my two pounds of wings.