A Singing Feeling

On a whim, I stayed behind in school today (Tuesday) to audition for a small-scale singing competition organised by a student club.

It was nice to tear myself away from work for a while; to run down the empty corridors and sit in an unfamiliar auditorium, awaiting my turn.

It was nice to experience the mild excitement of performing without the usual hassle of formal rehearsals, and to leave immediately after I was done, with no further obligations. (It's like waking up one weekend morning and deciding to spend the afternoon in a foreign country, flying there and back within the same day.)

It was nice that it was a cosy, casual affair; with students running the show. And it was funny that so many of the auditionees sang Mandarin songs, reminding me once more that my anglophile world is actually a marginal one in this country. (I also think the well-established practice among Mandarin pop artistes of releasing karaoke VCDs has a profound effect on growing the number of hopefuls).

But the nicest thing, of course, was being phoned past midnight and being informed that I'd made it to the next (and in fact, final) round on Friday.