It's Monday

I'm sure most of you know that President Hinckley passed away last night. He was 97 years old a lived a long and meaningful life. I remember when I was in seminary during High School and my teacher said that many people in her generation felt like David O. McKay was the president of the Church that they most identified with. I would say the same thing about President Hinckley. He is the man who called me on my mission to Sweden and signed my diploma. When I found out last night I called my dad and my sisters. Everyone was a little surprised but very much at peace with it. I think it was my sister Chrissi who said it best. When you are 97 it can happen any time. He lead a remarkable life and helped spread the gospel throughout the world.

On a lighter note on Friday night a few of us went to sing Karaoke. Some of you know that I love to sing but unfortunately I can't carry a tune at all. I am too shy to sing in front of strangers but in front of people I know, it isn't a big deal. That is what makes Korean style karaoke the best. I had done it once in High School with Jarom, JJ, Clint, and Wyatt. The problem was that I couldn't remember what it was called. I was explaining the concept to my friend David and he told me that it was Korean style Karaoke. I googled it and found an article from the Washington Post that mentioned some of the places that had this Noraebang (that is what it is really called) here in the area. The essence of Noraebang is that you get your own room and you just sing away rather than singing in front of a bunch of strangers you just sing in front or along with your friends. You might be wondering what inspired me to think that karaoke was a good idea. Over the last week I absolutely could not get the song "Young Girl" by Gary Puckett out of my head. I bought it on iTunes played it loudly throughout the house until my roommates were sick of it as well. I was singing it all the time. I knew that in order to "exorcise" this song from my head I really needed to sing.

Once we got to the place we found out that the smaller rooms were taken. Rather than wait an hour we just took a larger room. We were briefly taught the procedure on how to control the karaoke machine and then proceeded to sing the hits. They included:

• Wanted-Bon Jovi
• Suspicious Minds-Elvis
• Gimme Gimme Gimme-Abba
• Winds of Change-Scorpions
• I want it that Way -Backstreet Boys
• Sweet Caroline-Neil Diamond
• Livin' on a Prayer-Bon Jovi
• Careless Whispers-Wham
• Since U Been Gone- Kelly Clarkson
• Don't Stop Believing-Journey

We ended with a rousing rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen. Karaoke is a lot harder than it seems. Sometimes it is actually quite difficult to sing some of the songs. Unfortunately Cruel Summer by Bananarama and Young Girl were not available. Besides those two songs every tune I looked for they had.

As you are singing you watch these videos that are totally unrelated to the song you are singing. They involve one of three things. People fighting, loving , or crying. Sometimes all three. They are quite bizarre and lended nicely to the ambiance. I give Noraebang my highest recommendation.

After an hour of singing our voices had had enough and we said thank you and good bye (I even said it in Korean) to our host and headed home, knowing that with a few voice lessons I was on my way to being a pop star.