a new conquest

I have a new goal and achieving it is proving to be very very exciting.

Last Thursday the guys had dinner at my place… because it was Sherry’s birthday! Afterwards we went to Hibiki and I was my usual high self.
In fairness to me, I was getting better and better at Underneath Your Clothes. And Joan, the waiter who controls the song list, knew that it was my last song, paired with the last bull frog I had for the midnight. They obviously decided that I was already a regular. Regular is fine, at least a notch higher than a nameless face in the crowd, but of course regular is what it is --- plain, same old fellow, hi hello, come and go.

I want to be a VIP. One of the UPAA UAE members, Sir Cheng, is definitely a VIP. He goes there and gets served his usual drinks, and he doesn’t have to wait to sing his song… they play it immediately. Nanginginig pa! And I had the pleasure of singing with him. He was actually mastering the rap in Where Is the Love, just as everybody had forgotten about it. That was a bit of a laugh, but it was soooo much fun. I sang the chorus parts --- all five of them, over and over again…
Where is the love, where is the love, where is the love, the love, the love????
And we sang it again last night. And we will sing it again next time.

The highlight of last night’s karaoke was the great showdown. The bartenders just made each one of us come up on stage and give it our best shot.
I didn’t. I was pathetic. I sang Dilemma by Nelly and Kelly Rowland.
But I won. And I think everyone believed that I deserved the gift certificate from Hibiki. Why? Because I was both Nelly and Kelly, didn’t let anyone do the rapping. And I even showed off my moves, moves that no fifty-something lonely white man could showcase in front of a crowd and actually impress them.
Yes, it was bloody awful. I rapped like a gangsta wannabe from Vaseco Compound and sang like an aspiring diva from Sampaloc.
But I did both. And I finished the song. And I won.

Yes, my friend. I’m definitely on the way to where I want to be. And my VIP status at Hibiki will be the greatest milestone in my Dubai life, aside from my professional achievements (they’re not much but I almost sold my soul to get to where I am now).

Now someone to sing with is going to be my next Zeena project.