The Zen of Karaoke

Well, Folks, September is here and my fall quarterly meeting for the New Hampshire Lands Surveyors Association will soon be upon us. At each quarterly meeting, I have to give a report, as Director of Education, about the success or lack thereof of seminars we have put on, and to give some insight into upcoming seminars.

Some quarterlies are sparsely attended, 25-30 people, maybe. The Fall quarterly and the Annual  in December usually have over 100 members. Now if you follow me here, or on Facebook, you probably realize that giving reports, presentations and public speaking are one of my un-favorite things. I usually feel the specters of fear and anxiety start to hover over my bed in the early morning hours, weeks before the day I have to do my thing..

So I was thinking about the upcoming quarterly this morning, and what I would have to report on, as I slowly drove along Poocham Road, and it occurred to me… I don’t have a even a tad of fear or anxiety. I’m looking forward to the meeting, and I have stuff to say. What gives?

I have to chalk up it up a lot to experience I guess. I’ve been doing these presentations in front of the membership for over 4 years now, and I have even presented a few seminars myself. It gets easier every time. Still, even as late as last spring, I was tortured by the thought of having to stand up in front of people and talk. And really, it doesn’t just pertain to my professional association duties, but public speaking in general; I go to planning boards, zoning boards and school functions. Yet, today, I feel fine.

    I was mulling this over, and for some reason, karaoke popped into my head. So I have to tell you, recently I went to an event hosted by my wife’s Roller Derby Team, The Elm City Derby Damez…. A karaoke fundraiser. … And I got up and did a number!

Of course, I’m not that over the fear and anxiety of being in front of a crowd, but I have a lot of new friends lately who seemed adamant that I participate. Daisy heckled and manhandled me to give it a go; John decided we should do a duet, it was our duty as the Derby men; and Spark came up and sang with us. She knew neither John nor I were too thrilled to get up on stage, so she brought the courage. And really, what could be better than having a pretty, confident girl who likes to sing on stage with you to focus eyes away from the nerdy white guy. (That’d be me) So we did it, and I had fun.

So I was thinking about this and how Karaoke, before recently, would seem a fate worse than death; but I did it with only minor prompting (and maybe a couple glasses of bravery) The thought occurred to me that karaoke was both a strengthening experience and an insight to where I’m at in life.

If I could stand up in front of a 100+ crowd, mostly drunken strangers who had no reservations about heckling me, while attempting to sing a song whose lyrics I only half knew and make an ass of myself, then standing up in front of a small group of sober, polite, respectful fellow surveyors and delivering a small report on a topic that I have expertise in, is a walk in the park. The same holds true with planning board or client meetings.

Now, its not that I think it was all because of karaoke or that I’m going to seek out karaoke every weekend as a means to build character and find my true path… I’m just saying…