Categories: journal
Date: 05 October 2010 06:06:56
Saturday night was Karaoke Night (for people associated with the groups my children and I sing (and act) with). When I told my colleagues at work, they challenged me to get up and sing. Sensibly, I found a song (from my childhood, which would be the most recent time that I attempted this sort of singing (apart from a bizarre performance of "Bold Lochnagar" at a church AGM). I hoped that the Rolf Harris classic, "Two Little Boys" would still figure in a list of popular songs (and I could dedicate my performance to Ed and Dave).
Sadly, on the night, I could only find "Tie me kangaroo down, sport", which I hadn't prepared. Plan B - find another song. I came across Simon and Garfunkel's "Bridge over Troubled Water", a piano version of which I used to play. I couldn't, at that point, remember the actual melody, and the karaoke system wasn't supplying melodies, just accompaniment, but I hoped it would come back to me.
What I hadn't included in my calculations was that Art Garfunkel sang with a high, light tenor voice, and I usually sing bass. It didn't go too badly, however (I think), and I was buoyed up enough to go back to the list in search of a follow up. What about Monty Python's "Always look on the bright side of life"? Perhaps more realistically, I also found Ralph mcTell's "Streets of London", which could have worked, but plenty of other people, including my children, were keen to sing, and I was happy to listen.
Work continues to be difficult. Battle metaphors keep springing to mind. I'm still not on great terms with God, but I have started to pray about individual calls (when someone asks for help, it goes into our call management system, so we refer to incidents as calls). Yesterday, I felt that at least one prayer was answered (but one swallow doesn't make a summer). So, this morning, I repeated to myself, "I have confidence in Jesus." But the music reasserts itself, and along with Julie Andrews, I sing that, "I have confidence in confidence itself ..."