I love singing. For those who didn’t know, I earned the nickname “Material (Science) Girl” because I like singing Madonna’s songs on the karaoke. I don’t know if I had an uncanny similarity to M’s singing, but for some reason people loved it when I sing “La Isla Bonita.” Well, the Material Girl became a Material Mom, and my trips to the karaoke room became fewer as my motherly duties increased. And besides, Baggy does not like karaokes very much; it’s just no fun singing alone, d’oh!

Ooh la la. They’ve upgraded the system, and I didn’t even know it. This song’s for Aya.

And so it’s been a while since I’ve been inside a karaoke room. Fortunately, though, my li’l sister Lai is now staying with us – and ever since she arrived, she has been insisting on going to karaoke. Well, we finally had our chance last Monday, which happened to be a holiday here in Japan. We took Aya along, of course, because we might as well train her to love singing this early if we ever want to go karaokeing with her when she grows up. Baggy had to tag along too, para naman may audience kami hahaha. 😛

Ladies and gentlemen, this is the making of a diva.

When the staff ushered us to our room, she asked us if we need some help with the controls. Hello? This is like the nth time for me to go karaokeing in this establishment. Confident that I was already familiar with the controls, I politely declined. Much to my surprise, though, the remote controller was not working. I tried the usual keys, but no dice. I flipped through the printed volume but found out that the arrangements are entirely different. I couldn’t even locate where the English songs are. Defeated, I called the staff and asked her to come back. As it turned out, they are now using new controllers for the karaoke system. Instead of the usual remote controls (like the ones used for tvs), they are now using these digital touch-pads controls where you can search songs and singers in a zap! Songs are reserved through these controls, and one can even surprise others by reserving a song in “secret!” Has it been that long since I’ve gone to karaoke? How long has it been since they’ve upgraded their system? At any rate, it was a happy surprise. Thanks to technology, our karaoke experience is much more stress-free and we can enjoy those extra minutes afforded by the ease of control.

Karaoke fees are much higher during nighttime, where most of the customers flock. But since we went there in the afternoon, the fees were lower. We only had to pay 200 yen per person per hour. We booked the room for two hours, so that’s only 400 yen per person. As expected, we ended up with hoarse voices (after all that screaming, what do you expect?). Others get to unload by doing sports, shopping, or eating. We get to do that by singing our hearts out.

Can’t wait for the next karaoke trip. Even Material Moms have to unload every once in a while, you know. 🙂