The March Hare

Last night I slammed two beers, then sang 'Criminal' in the style of Fiona Apple into a microphone. The background was turned up so high that I couldn't hear myself at all, so I relied on hot dance moves to pull me through. After another quick beer, I did the Tina part on "Proud Mary" complete with high-pitched "ooh ooh ooh's" and more hot moves. Once again, couldn't hear myself at all. But it was okay, I was there, the only other people in the karaoke room of the bar were close personal friends who had probably seen me do worse things without even beer to blame, and the time was just, right. Right for acting foolish in front of others.

But, while I was waiting to do my number, I had this thought. I thought, you can either go up and act incredibly goofy the way the guys are, or you can be kind of shy and embarassed and giggly the way the girls are. You can be ladylike, or you can be one of the boys. And then I thought, oh hell, what is this, high school? While I know that some of the people there probably looked askance at my exuberant performance, I had a really good time. I was neither ladylike nor tomboyish, I was just me singing a stupid song in a stupid situation and making the most of it, and so I feel actually kind of proud of my karaoke today, because I could have chosen to be a girl about it, singing softly and blushing when bad notes came out, trying to look cute whilst doing the most ridiculous thing ever. I would not have had nearly as much fun that way.