OPINION: ‘Absolutely brilliant’ Christmas present

But, Jay made me feel like it was OK to get up there and have a good time. After that night, although I only sang on stage three times, I went back to many of the sessions to cheer the other participants on and to listen to Jay’s funny commentary.

Man I loved that guy!

I asked my parents for a karaoke machine; they weren’t very surprised. My dad also enjoys singing, but like me, it always sounds better in our heads. Maybe it’s just better that we don’t know how bad we really are. Hey, we can dream! And besides with us, it’s not about talent. It’s about the entertainment. We may sing worse than Britney Spears without all the editing, but we can entertain like Prince.

My dad, being the Eager Beaver he is, decided to go ahead and give me my Christmas present early. Like, at Halloween early! He was so excited and couldn’t wait to sing! Since then we have accumulated a lot of karaoke discs.

Our favorite is definitely Grease 2. No, not the original Grease. I’m talking about the cheesy 1982 sequel which happens to be my favorite movie. I was so excited to discover that there is s karaoke version of the entire soundtrack!

My dad and I have been singing with it, and in our opinions we are pretty good (by our standards of course). We see this as a training opportunity. If we ever go on a cruise again, we have already made it clear that it will be the ship that Jay is on. We are going to bring our discs and perform hits of Grease 2 in front of any one and everyone!

During our karaoke time, our animals act like our American Idol judges. My dog Bailey is like Paula. Even though we are horrible, she still loves us and thinks we are awesome. Our newest cat, Riley, she’s like Randy because she will stay in the living room but sometimes she tries to unplug us. And Karlee? That kitty is definitely our Simon. She will leave the room when we start belting out “Karma Chameleon,” or if she chooses to stick around, she covers her ears with her paws.

Well, even though we don’t have approval in our own home, my dad and I really don’t care. We are having a good time and we plan to keep it that way. Next time we cruise, watch out!

It looks like Christmas came early for me, but on Christmas day you know what I’ll be doing. I’m going to keep training to get better and better so I can perform and make Jay proud! We shall be “Absolutely Brilliant!

Jessica Brown is the staff photographer for the Barrow Journal. You can reach her at jessica@picsbyjessica.com.