I'm a Karaoke Whore

I don't know when or how it happened. A year and a half ago, I would have proudly rolled my eyes and exclaimed "Ugh, I hate karaoke" but sometime, somewhere, I ended up going to this place, and then, a year later, I finally was brave enough and decided to sing some karaoke too.

Since then? I have been going up on stage every. single. time. I can't help it. I'm just as bad as I have always been, no change there. But I go up, sing (which is an overstatement to what I actually sound like), and have a blast.

But my beloved Royal Lee? Closed down a week and a half ago, and us Royal Lee orphans (there are a few of us) are now on the lookout for a new spot.

We have officially become karaoke whores. If they have karaoke, we are making plans to go there and check it out at some point. We are craving a similar spot as the Royal Lee. A good dive bar, with people our age, friendly DJ's and bartenders, a crowd that cheers you on and encourages you no matter how bad you may sound.

I ended up at the bar where I first took on the microphone last Saturday, and had a surprisingly great time. The crowd was cheering me on as I sang Flagpole Sitta (my best -- least worst? -- performance yet. I totally thought I kicked ass!). The "family friendly" restaurant atmosphere that I have always disliked about that place was quickly overlooked once the place got crowded with cute boys in every corner, and friendly people.

I am now in need of more... Case in point...

I have even started to look for other songs to sing, aside from my 4 go-to songs (Flagpole Sitta, Semi Charmed Life, Dani California and Snow).

I have embarrassed myself attempting to sing Teenagers and Losing my Religion.

I am considering taking a shot a Mr. Brightside.

I am waiting for the karaoke gods to finally get Psycho so I can try that as well.

I am scrolling down my iTunes list to see what else I might not be too bad at?

Tomorrow we're trying a different karaoke place. Yesterday, we were celebrating my friend's divorce (4 of us got dressed up and went out for dinner at Vapiano -- if you haven't been, the food is amazing -- and then our plan was to go for drinks at another bar).

We were dying to go for karaoke, but we didn't know of any place that had karaoke on Tuesdays. We were trying to figure out where to go to after dinner, and since Bailey's was around the corner, let's see how is it there, and if it's empty, we can go to Old Town or Clarendon.

Funnily enough, as we approached the door, there was a sign for "Karaoke tonight!" We were like children in a candy store, giggling with excitement. The karaoke? Was pretty bad, to be honest. No one but us was singing, the DJ played more music than karaoke (which doesn't encourage other people to take a stab at it), the sound system wasn't the best (it didn't make us sound too good, which is usually the way karaoke system works: it makes you sound better than normal). But we still had fun.

Before the Royal Lee closed down, we had started going there 2-3 times a week, to get as much time there as we could. Now we got used to going to karaoke that often. We're like addicts, always looking for our next fix.

And we need new karaoke spots. I really don't know when it happened. I am embarrassed to admit...

But hello people, I'm a karaokaholic.