I did karaoke today for the first time, and it was something of an extravaganza. Karaoke is a very different thing here than it is in America - you don't do it in front of a whole bunch of strangers, but in a private room that you rent by the hour. They have about a million songs, so it's pretty easy to find something good to sing. I murdered "Norwegian Wood" as my inaugural song, and it was great. I even got a chance to mangle "Lovefool" by the Cardigans, so life is wonderful. The two Japanese girls who went with us are amazing singers, so they were busily belting out incredibly complicated melodies and words while I sat fighting my way through "Karma Police." The room had this incomprehensible Hello Kitty marriage/church theme, so there were Hello Kitty crosses and sunday-school-style fake stained glass on the walls. Am I scandalized by the massacre of all that is holy for cheap kitschy decorative purposes? I would be, but isn't it written that "Hello Kitty is the way, the truth and the life"? In any case, two hours of this only whetted my appetite for more. I begin to see how people can karaoke into the early morn. Ayed and I broke out a duet of "Bohemian Rhapsody" that stirred the very foundations of the earth with its power and beauty. That is to say, we kept forgetting the tune and sort of making it up as we went along so I'm sure that every dead rocker was spinning in his grave by the time we were done.
Japanese names are so cool. They are all just normal words (especially women's names), so you can name your child pretty much anything you want. One of the chicks who went is named Hibiki, which means resonance. Her dad is a famous conductor, so he gave her a name that reflects his love of music - and it fits her quite well, as she sings excellently. I really envy the Japanese the ability to give names that really mean something. I mean, sure, John means "God is gracious," which is great, but that's different from naming your child "Godisgracious," using the words of contemporary speech. For example, I just found a great way to write my first name in kanji - it is written thusly and means "the resonant sound of reason" or "the poetry of logic." Now seriously, how cool is that?
