Sweet-Sounding Karaoke

'Ello my lovely family!

I write to you today on very little sleep. However, I have broken a barrier that I honestly never thought I would. That's right, I broke the space-time continuum barrier! Just kidding, of course, but I did sing karaoke...I know, right????

Here's what happened: After we went to the aquarium, Liz and I walked around town a little bit (Sandra wasn't feeling well, so she rested for awhile). We found this awesome candle shop where the guy carves them into cool designs and...it's hard to explain, but I got his business card so we can check it out online. While we were out, we thought we'd look for where we might eat dinner. There it was, flashing disco lights and all, on the corner of Prescott and Cannery Row...a little corner shack pizza place. Oh yeah, and they have karaoke on the weekends. It took surprisingly little convincing to get Liz to agree that it might be fun! So off we went to talk Sandra into a night on the town. After a few practice runs at the hotel and a whole lot of primping (just kidding), we were pumped and ready to embarrass ourselves in front of complete strangers.

Before I show you the songs, I need to mention that the picture on the left here is some guy totally hitting on Sandra. The songs started out pretty tame, some even lame. Here's one guy who sang a couple times. I feel that any comment I make would further incriminate me...listen at your own risk.

But we sought to liven things up with our sweet rendition of La Bamba. It probably would have stunk if we hadn't added our tantalizing dance moves (ripped straight from "Twist and Shout") and wicked vocals, complete with the whole Mexican cat call thing. That's when the party really got started. Sandy was hooked from that point on and immediately put in her song request (much to my surprise and delight, it was some fantastic rock). The one request we had received when word of this song expedition spread home was "Please sing Dancing Queen." This one's for mom: Liz and I were called to the mic. A brief moment of silence hushed through the restaurant. The lyric screen flashed "Dancing Queen" as the music began blazing the eager ears of all those present. A second passed. The crowd was on their feet, roaring, dancing, cat calling. Liz and I rock the house with 4 minutes of musical happiness. At one point, we did have people behind us swaying to the song, singing along. Feel free to check it out.

So we didn't sound the greatest...who cares? We had so much fun and the crowd really loved it! It was around 12:30 by the time we finally left. The bed was super comfy, even with three of us, and we all slept great for what little time we had to sleep. We needed to get up early this morning to get to the meeting in Monterey at 9:30.

The Public Talk this morning was phenomonal! The brother related thrilling experiences and used such wonderful illustrations that I got goosebumps more than once. The talk was based on Galatians 5:22 about the fruits of the spirit, but especially joy (how to gain and keep our joy in serving Jehovah). One of the experiences was of an elderly Catholic woman who was regular in attending church. When her husband died, she eagerly sought answers to where her husband was now. Her priest told her that, since her husband had not been so faithful in attending church, he was in purgatory but that her faithful attendence and generous donations would keep him out of hell and possibly move him to heaven. When the Witnesses came to her house, she asked them the same questions and received more logical answers that were based on the Bible. She learned the real condition of the dead, and decided to discontinue membership with the Catholic Church. When she told her priest about this, he was furious! "Right now, an angel is in purgatory, holding your husband by the hair of his head. If you stop attending this congregation," he threatened, "that angel will drop your husband into the burning lake of fire!" The woman replied with a smile on her face, "Well now I know you're lying. My husband was bald!"

After enjoying our spiritual food, we were pretty hungry. We decided to eat at a little place in town that we could get to after taking a short drive along the shore. Of course, that sort of drive never ends quickly as we just had to get out and enjoy the beach. We picked up some really cool shells and explored the strange sea life in the rocks nearby. It was quite fun, but it was also time for lunch so we left for the restaurant. After eating, we headed home. It was the lovely calming end to a fantastically exciting weekend!!

Love,

Kate